In Taiwan, the free charging services of Tesla’s supercharger stations will officially end, except for those who have a credit of free unlimited supercharging for life. In order to provide a better environment of recharging electricity for Tesla drivers and improve the efficiency of supercharger stations, Tesla Taiwan recently announced that starting from October 15 at 12am in Taiwan's time zone, drivers will be asked to pay a fee when using a supercharger station. According to Tesla Taiwan's official website's announcement, a varying electricity cost of 7~12 NTD per kilowatt-hour will be charged.
In the past, Tesla would charge an idle fee for cars that remain plugged into the supercharger after the charging is done so as to slightly decrease the waiting time for drivers. From Tesla’s perspective, if the supercharging fee can shorten the waiting line for Tesla car owners, then the majority of these owners should be happy. In other words, it can be argued that Tesla isn’t actually charging the drivers an “extra” fee. Rather, it is charging the necessary energy expenses that are reasonably and gradually normalized.
It is worth noting that the floating price will vary depending on the time and location of the drivers who are recharging their Tesla cars. Based on the information above, the vehicle owners should decide on a proper time for recharging their Tesla.
To find the latest recharging price, an owner of a Tesla vehicle can check the real-time fees via the vehicle's touch screen or smartphone app when locating a supercharger station's address. On a Tesla's built-in touch screen, an owner needs to upgrade information via the over-the-air (OTA) software.
When it comes to payment methods, if a Tesla car owner doesn't have any credit, then the user will be charged with a credit card on file with the smartphone app for the power used in the charger pole. In other words, the car owner doesn't pay with cash at the charger.
Regarding some users that have monetary credits for free charging, the system will automatically deduct points from their credit. When the credit quota has run out, the owner's credit card will be charged. In comparison, for owners who purchased "free unlimited supercharging for life" when they ordered the car, their service plan will still be effective.
▲ There are over 20 Tesla supercharging stations in Taiwan.
In view of the quantity of supercharger stations in Taiwan, for now there are a total of 22 facilities in Taiwan. Tesla plans to increase supercharging facilities in Taiwan by 3 by the end of 2020. They will be located in Taoyuan, Yilan, and Taichung. The total number of chargers in the Supercharger stations is expected to reach nearly 200.
From the Taiwanese government's perspective, it needs to promote low-carbon transportation vehicles or construct public-access charging stalls in the future. The government should play a fair role among different battery electric vehicle brands. However, Tesla has actively constructed supercharger stations to a land-slide market share in the long term. The rest of the market’s brands aren't willing to invest such a huge amount of capital to build charging poles infrastructure.
In other words, the government definitely will face a widespread criticism about the balance of various brands' availability and compatibility for their charging stalls. For the government's best interests, it will be wise to think and plan ahead of the upcoming events.
(Photo credit: Tesla)