Tesla to charge for road trip 'leccy, promises it will cost less than petrol

Tesla has abandoned its practice of offering free electricity at its Supercharger facilities, the 'leccy car charging network it has built to enable long-distance journeys.

The company will now offer new buyers credits for 400 kWh of electricity, which translat3s to about 1,600km (1,000 miles) of driving each year, or about the range obtainable from four full charges for the company's 85kw battery.

After that, according to the company's explanatory blog post, owners will pay “a small fee to Supercharge which will be charged incrementally and cost less than the price of filling up a comparable gas car.”

The company expects that most Tesla owners will charge their cars at home or at work, with the Superchargers used on longer journeys.

The company is therefore pitching its new arrangement as “a change to the economics of Supercharging – one that allows us to reinvest in the network, accelerate its growth and bring all owners, current and future, the best Supercharging experience.”

If you hurry up and buy a Tesla before the end of the year and pick it up before April Fools' Day 2017, you'll still get Supercharging gratis. Which means the forthcoming, cheaper and massively popular Model 3 can't be included in the free plan. Every Tesla will still include hardware to enable supercharging.

Some will say that Tesla is backing down on a promise of free charging forever, but the company never promised free energy for all. Some Tesla owners have hoarded Supercharger slots, but many more charge at their own expense. And the company promises it's still running Superchargers as a break-even affair, at best. Which isn't a bad deal. Maybe even for investors. ®