Tesla offers months of free charging to move inventory cars

16 June 2023 - 14:31 By Dana Hull
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Tesla started offering three months of free fast-charging in the US with the goal of clearing inventory of Model 3 sedans before the end of the quarter.
Tesla started offering three months of free fast-charging in the US with the goal of clearing inventory of Model 3 sedans before the end of the quarter.
Image: Supplied

Tesla started offering three months of free fast-charging in the US with the goal of clearing inventory of Model 3 sedans before the end of the quarter.

The offer on new Model 3 cars applies to customers who take delivery by June 30, Tesla’s website shows. The company is offering the perk even after all versions of the sedan became eligible for the full $7,500 (roughly R136,084) federal tax credit in the US earlier this month.

Investor concern about Tesla producing more vehicles than it’s been delivering has dissipated recently as the carmaker has scored big wins with its formerly proprietary plugs. Earlier this week, several charging companies joined Ford and General Motors in embracing Tesla’s North American Charging Standard, which looks poised to live up to the billing Tesla gave its connectors when the company invited competitors to start using them.

Tesla repeatedly slashed prices of its vehicles in the first few months of this year, with CEO Elon Musk saying he’s willing to compromise profit margins for continued sales growth. The carmaker delivered 422,875 vehicles in the first quarter and needs to pick up the pace in the duration of the year to hit its 1.8 million annual target.

In addition to leveraging its Supercharger network to help sell Model 3 inventory cars, Tesla is using a three years of free fast-charging offer to entice customers to take delivery of its more expensive Model S and Model X before the end of the quarter.

Tesla shares opened down 3.7% but pared their decline to 1.2% as of 9.50am New York time on Thursday, a day after a record streak of gains that added $240bn (roughly R4.54-trillion) to its market valuation ended.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com


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