The Tesla Model S first hit the market 12 long years ago. It’s had plenty of updates in that time, but sales have slowed as it’s started to show its age. Tesla isn’t giving up on the Model S just yet, though. It’s attempting to revitalize interest with a return to its popular free Supercharging offer.
One of the benefits of an electric car is that it’s (usually) cheaper to run than a gasoline-powered vehicle. If you’re not paying for charging, you’re coming out even farther ahead. Tesla won many fans when it offered free access to its Supercharger network in the early days. It sold more cars by giving the electrons away for free. That gravy train ended in 2018, as Tesla stopped the program citing its unsustainability.
Now, free Supercharging looks to be back. It’s not quite as generous as it was before, but it could win Tesla a few more crucial buyers as it looks to keep the Model S kicking along in its old age.
Model S now comes with free Supercharging in the US pic.twitter.com/mwiMIyVjzk
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 14, 2024
Model S orders after December 13 are eligible to receive the offer, which is tied to the owner. What that means is that the free Supercharging access does not stick with the car, unlike earlier offers. You can use it as long as you own the car, but if you sell the vehicle, the new owner won’t get to recharge for free. In the past, free Supercharging stayed with the vehicle, which saw older Teslas with this access sell for a premium on the used market. That won’t be the case this time.
It’s also worth noting that the “free” part only refers to charging itself. You get to juice up your car for zero dollars, but you’re still subject to idle and congestion fees when using the network. Tesla also notes it may remove your free access in the case of “excessive charging or unpaid fees.” You’re also not allowed to use this for rideshare purposes—so you’re out of luck if you thought this was a way to maximize your Uber revenue.
A cynical read says this is Tesla trying to keep an elderly model on life support. The company doesn’t break down sales on a per-model basis, making it hard to track the success of the Model S in recent years. However, we can tease out the story nonetheless. In Q3 2024, Tesla delivered just 22,915 cars that weren’t the Model 3 or Model Y. Kelley Blue Book figures tell us that 16,692 of those units were Cybertrucks, meaning just 6,223 examples of the Model S and Model X were sold in turn.
We can’t split that figure down to a specific number for the Model S, but suffice it to say—it’s low. Anything that boosts Model S sales a little higher is welcome, as it helps justify the cost of running the production line. A free Supercharging offer is probably only worth a few thousand dollars to the average driver, given most will do plenty of charging at home. Still, the perceived convenience could make a positive difference in the mind of the buyer. The company has also thrown in three months of access to its Full Self-Driving driver assist, too. What will hurt is that the model also saw a $5,000 rise to MSRP, which is less enticing for new customers.
Will this latest round of free Supercharging juice Model S sales back to their former glory? Maybe, maybe not. It’s an aging model in a rapidly-developing segment, but it does still have its fans. This could just push a few more buyers over the line, or tilt them away from rival product. In any case, this is a reminder that at Tesla, sometimes the old tricks are still the best tricks.
Image credits: Tesla
…so really it’s more like “free” supercharging. They will determine whether you abuse it and it gets revoked.
Musk is a POS and I would not drive his crap if you gave it to me. Having options that have been paid for bricked when the car changes hands is lower than whale shit.
It’s $100,000, but a lot of car for the money.
pffft.
Tesla needs to update the styling of the Model S if they want to get serious. While I agree with most of the comments that it is a nice design, that doesn’t matter in the luxury space. It needs to be updated to everyone knows you got the new one. No point in existing Model S owners to buy a new one, when it looks like the old ones.
I grudgingly agree. I love keeping things the same when they don’t need to change, while upgrading the internals. That doesn’t totally square with reality though. A new skin on the S could probably allow the platform to live for another ten years!
“You’re also not allowed to use this for rideshare purposes—so you’re out of luck if you thought this was a way to maximize your Uber revenue.”
That’s disappointing. I think they should allow it for rideshare or maybe allow 1 free charge session per 24 hours.
Given how much more the Model S costs compared to the Y or 3, I could see them still making money.
Also given how much more the Model S costs, I think they should bring back a wider array of colour options.
Also of note… this is only in the USA. In Canada, they are only offering 3 months of free self driving and supercharging.
Can you really be an uber driver and swing the cost of a model S?
For a while, it was very possible because of Uber Black/Platinum and Lyft Black/Comfort. I’m sure it can be done, but varies a lot based on what market you drive in.
These days, the two I knew who got Teslas to do rideshare have them up as rentals on Turo instead. Lower earnings, but more than enough to cover expenses, with far less time invested.
“In completely unrelated news: Tesla will be shutting down all of its Superchargers…”
Or renaming them to Patriot Stations so any contracts regarding Superchargers are void
Apropos continuous improvement, here is a history of changes to the Model S since 2012:
https://tesla-info.com/model-history/MS
Do they still offer the rear facing kid seats that put them in the trunk effectively?
That option was dropped in 2018.
I mean that was one option I kind of liked. if only they sound proofed that area for mother in laws that would be a selling point for me.
There is an aftermarket solution for sound proofing mother in laws:
https://t4.ftcdn.net/jpg/00/60/26/49/360_F_60264928_sBE0k00JbjYDgIeDKy8Zl5V3i39NlnRU.jpg
I don’t get the obsession with tweaking the exterior every year. The S is the best looking car in the Tesla lineup, and still looks sleek, muscular, and clean. Meanwhile, Tesla has updated the Model S batteries, motors, software, nav system, interior, entertainment, …
Sure, I’d like to see some new colors, but they have a classic design.
Does anyone remember the VW Beetle print ad showing the chassis “This we change” and the body “This we don’t”?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1248929949/vintage-1960s-volkswagen-2-page-print
Legitimately the best point to make.
The S is the only Tesla that I think looks good. The rest… or at least most of them, are really just meh-shaped lozenges tumbling through space.
Wait, you can tell the different models apart?
“Lifetime” = until Musk changes his mind again.
Maybe he can get an RFK Jr. brainworm to help with that.
Given he is even less coherent than Kennedy much of the time, who’s to say he doesn’t already? Of course Occam’s Razor sez it’s the drugs.
I’m still impressed how Holzhausen pulled off this design, so fresh after all years and a testament you don’t need a refresh every year. Don’t know if the driving behavior of the S is outdated, the 3 is very quick but not very comfortable nor precise in corners
Perhaps a better strategy is tossing the unlikeable and VERY expensive CEO, and refreshing the design of the car?
These START at $104k in Canada. Who the hell is buying these?!
Can’t wait for Elon to change the definition of “excessive”
It’ll be right around the time he changes the definition of “free”.
Free Supercharging for life is the Tesla equivalent of Tivo’s lifetime subscription which they rolled out every time they needed to juice their sales.
While Elon is canny enough to rig everything in his favor for his companies, at some point the fact that Tesla’s models are ancient is going to finally become apparent.
It’s the oldest but also the best looking car in their current line-up.
By a long shot. “Scaling” its design both taller and smaller has resulted in 3 cars that haven’t grown on me (visually) a single bit since inception. And then the Big Metal Kidney Stone came out, which I’m still convinced is just to make their Array of Suppositories look better by comparison.
Technically, all Tesla product lineups are current lineups.
The first-gen roadster is no longer sold.
No, but it still ran on current.
Goddamnit.
Cotd
“Masterful gambit”
This is true, the one sausage/different lengths and filling volumes idea didn’t all that well for their other designs, the Model 3 is OK, but the X and Y just look overinflated
That is an *extremely* low bar.
I’ve never gotten the love for these – they just look like a generic mash-up of every European luxury car with zero character. “Generic large premium car”. And they have somehow made it look worse with every “refresh”. Plus the balls to charge extra for a proper steering wheel, assuming Musk hasn’t walked that nonsense back.
Wow, if this is Elon’s idea of innovative economic thinking, I can’t wait to see what Muskman and Rama come up with to improve government efficiency. Got a feeling that DOGE won’t hunt.
If that’s not a National Review article headline, I don’t know what is.
The only reason we have hung on to our 2016 Model S P100D is the free charging for life. It’ll smoke just about 98% of any production car out there off the line . . . but that’s about it. It’s still just a computer with four tires and anything that can go wrong on a computer goes wrong with this car.
Still hawking “Full Self Driving.” Translation: be the beta tester for us because our owner would prefer you to be the guinea pig.
And he’s currently lobbying Trump to eliminate crash reporting… Nothing to see here, folks. You and your family are PERFECTLY safe.
His pet president is already being a good boi and falling in line with that.
Who’s a good boi?? That’s right, Donnie’s a good boi!
Not that I can afford one of these, but could someone please explain “idle and congestion fees”? I thought you just paid for the electrons like at a gas pump, only way slower.
Once you’re charged up, if you sit around hooked up to the charger, this blocks others from being able to charge. So they charge a fee. If there’s a big demand at a specific station they charge a fee to anyone who charges during the busiest hours, hoping that the people who can come back later, or go to a less busy charging station will pick one of those choices.
Is the Model S the new Frontier?
I’d say maybe the new Checker, in that it’s a domestic full size sedan that just keeps going and going for years without immediately obvious changes
I don’t think it’s cynical at all to think that this is to sell more units of an aging model, it absolutely is. That’s not to say the Model S is necessarily a bad package, because it’s still reasonably quick, efficient and with the recently updated horizontal screen to match the M3/Y, is on current software with similar support to the more popular models. While Tesla rightly gets criticism for quality control and bizarre design choices (MX and CT as a whole for example) they do continuous improvement better than almost anyone. The Model S at this point is an extremely mature and complete package, it’s just getting old.
I’d argue it’s STILL a better package than something like the EQS or E-Tron GT just due to efficiency, but with competition like the Lucid Air and the fact that the exterior design is comin up on it’s 9th model year on sale, the car needs some help to move more than a few units. That and Musks image has certainly not been doing Tesla sales any favors, but that’s a different issue from the Model S specific problems.
The thing (well, *A* thing) that turned me off from the S were the musk-driven UI changes to things like the turn signals and shifter because “self-driving” or some nonsense. I’d rather have a slightly less efficient car that isn’t infuriating to drive.
It shows you how far ahead Tesla was, and in some cases is, with the battery technology and overall design of its vehicles that the S is still near the top of its class. If they had spent that lead advancing battery tech and and their cars overall instead of chasing things like FSD and the Cybertruck they would still be way ahead.
This is absolutely true, and it’s really a testament to how off the rails Musk has gone with actual leadership of the company. The Model 3 and Y were massive steps forward for Tesla and EVs in general, a second gen Roadster would have actually sold well if it had ever been released when promised, as would a true replacement S and X (if the X became more normal).
Instead the company has been chasing Musk vanity projects like soalr roofs that nobody can get, the ridiculous robots (dudes in costumes), the Cybertruck (an unreliable commercial failure) the CyberCab (lol, lmao even) and a swath of bizarre staffing and PR decisions like dumping the entire Supercharger team right as legacy OEMs invest in it.
Tesla has and still does have a ton of promise, great tech, a solid brand identity and best in class charging infrastructure and compatibility, but it’s rapidly being squandered by bad leadership under Musk who has zero accountability from the board, and shrinking market share that will eventually come to haunt the brand. It’s a damn shame really, because the Brand could be doing so much more than it is.
The head of Lucid engineered the Model S while at Tesla, so that tells you a lot.
So what I’m reading is that “free” supercharging was added as a $5000 option.
The 3 card monte is still alive at Tesla
Next you’re gonna say some crazy thing like “paying for Amazon Prime means that, by definition, you are not getting ‘free’ shipping.”
Fair, but I promise Amazon loses a lot of money on shipping with us 🙂
I’m probably the reason they added commercials to Prime shows. I’ll punch myself for you.
I had to scroll alllll the way to the end to read the one comment that popped into my head 15 seconds into reading the post.
It’s juuuust like Kohls who will mark up a shirt 20% to put it on sale for 20% off. “Dude, I’m getting a sweeeet deal on this shi
rt!”