Tesla to offer ‘Supercharger credits’ for Model 3 vehicles
Inactive HTML code discovered on Tesla's website indicates that the company may introduce "Supercharger Credits" allowing Model 3 owners to pre-pay for access to the Supercharger network. A pay-per-kWh model will be welcome news for investors as it will open up a new revenue stream, allowing competitor vehicle owners to pay per use in addition to Model 3 owners. Tesla Model S and X vehicles currently enjoy free access to Superchargers due to their premium pricing.

As we reported back in June, Tesla confirmed that while the Model 3 will have access to its Supercharger network, a global network fast charging stations, it will be optional unlike for the more expensive Model S and Model X which currently have unlimited access.

Today, Tesla updated its website to show a hidden payment option to buy ‘Supercharger credits’ per KWh block – hinting at a business model surrounding the Model 3 access to Superchargers…

While Tesla made clear that it was going to be a paid option, it wasn’t clear if it would be a one-time $2500 fee like it is for the original Model S 60 and 40 or if it would be on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Now our readers have pointed to an inactive code on the MyTesla page of Model 3 reservation holders – see mine as a reference above – that shows that Tesla added an option to attach a credit card to your account in order to buy “Supercharger Credit” per kWh.

Again, the feature is not active.

The Model 3 is not set to enter production for another year. The code is also present on Model S/X pages as well and considering we’re over a year out from the first Model 3 deliveries, it is reasonable to conclude that Tesla might start this pay as you go option for Model S/X owners. That theoretically would chop off around $2,500 from the price of a new Model S/X in an upcoming price update.

Tesla still offers the option to enable Supercharging access for $2,500 on the original Model S 40/60 vehicles still out there without it.

We asked Tesla for a comment on their plan with this new feature and we will update if we get an answer.

Update: as a reader pointed out in the comment section below, a line for “idle fees” is also found in the updated code of the page.