OP
OP
hturnerfamily
Well-known member
- First Name
- William
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2022
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- 1,880
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- 2,250
- Location
- rural Georgia
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- 22 LIGHTNING PRO IcedBlueSilver 8/23/2022
- Occupation
- Owner
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- #16
let me add, too, that some have lauded the need to have the Tesla 'Membership' thru their app so that you can SAVE money on the 'high cost' of Tesla Supercharging, and you're likely a moron if you don't... hmmmmm. I beg to differ.
Now, I'll admit up front that I am NOT a fan of ANY subscription service, when that product is available to you WITHOUT a membership, whether Tesla, or EA, or anyone else...BUT, I'll also clue you into 'why' my feeling are set this way.
I am also a very 'money'/numbers person, financially speaking, for both my personal needs, and my business: Insurance and Investments, and not only for me, but also for my customers.
I want them to keep every PENNY in their pocket that they worked hard for, and not to be lured in by seemingly 'needed' subscriptions or membership that 'must' be best for them, especially because a neighbor, friend, loved you, sibling, or church member 'told' them it was.
A) Any Lightning owner can already charge at Tesla Superchargers without any Tesla account, membership, or subscription.
The Plug-N-Charge activation protocol is already available for Lightnings thru the Ford BlueOval charging account.
It simply authorizes the payment, activates the station, and then passes along the Tesla charging fees to your preferred payment method, sending you a nice Ford receipt, via email.
B) The charging per/kWh Supercharger Fee is set by the station owner, Tesla. The price is the same for Tesla owners, although Ford and Rivian owners have an additional 'non-tesla' fee as part of the final price. Tesla does not really disclose this exactly, although the Tesla Membership subscription seems to lean toward 10cents per/kWh.
C) The Tesla Membership subscription is ONLY to bypass this additional 'non-Tesla' per/kWh fee. Period. And, now you must use THEIR app to activate your charge. No More Plug-N-Charge.
D) The cost for this membership is currently $12.99 monthly.
______________________________________________________________
so, if you want to consider being a 'member', and hopefully bypassing this additional fee, to ultimately 'save money', as compared to a non-member price, you need to:
1 ) Consider how MUCH you will be DC Fast Charging, thru Tesla Supercharger locations, over the next 12 months. I'm sure that NO ONE will be able to accurately forecast their Supercharger KWH of charging for the next year, but most may just 'assume' that it's a good deal and 'sure, I'm sure I'll charge enough to make this make sense'... with little data to back it up.
2 ) While there are exceptions, most EV owners DC Fast Charge VERY infrequently, as, of course, we mostly ONLY ever want to use this type of EXPENSIVE charging when we are away from home, and mostly ONLY when LONG RANGE travels are at hand. This is very difficult to 'guess' at, especially when you consider the next point:
3 ) Let's CALCULATE the cost of the membership, based on a simple 12 months per calendar year: $13 x 12 = $156.00
This cost is GUARANTEED to be paid to Tesla. You don't get to 'skip' a payment, or get to have Tesla 'waive' your monthly subscription cost in any month you don't use it. It's there. Period. You WILL spend at a MINIMUM of $156.00 per year even BEFORE you leave your carport.
4 ) Next, let's CALCULATE what this 'discount' price means, over the course of the year:
If the discount is 10cents per/kWh, which might 'sound' good, on the surface, that amount equates to 1560 KWH of power into your vehicle[$156.00 cost/ .10 discount per/kwh = 1560].
What this means is that you must now USE 1,560 KWH of Tesla Supercharger power in order to JUST BREAK EVEN.
5 ) Lastly, let's CALCULATE how many charging sessions, on average, you'll need to use Tesla Superchargers in order to get to that simple 'break even' point, BEFORE you ever start 'saving money'.
If the average charging stop is an arrival at 20%, for instance, and you complete your charging at 80%, that equates to 60KWH of power for a Pro SR Lightning, for instance, with a ~100kwh battery pack.
There would more KWH used for a ER Lightning, in this same scenario, and may be much less for other EVs, with smaller battery packs.
60kwh of power x .10 discount = $6.00. Doesn't sound 'bad', right?
But, let's look at how that compares to what you ALREADY paid Tesla: $12.99.
So, yes, you could potentially charge MORE THAN TWICE per month to arrive at any 'savings',
BUT, the question then becomes ' AM I really going to be charging 60%, per charge, and while traveling MORE than TWICE in EVERY MONTH, or at least enough during the WHOLE 12 MONTH YEAR to make this 'make cents' '?
No, I'll bet that almost NO normal EV owner will be charging THIS OFTEN, and ONLY at Tesla Superchargers, where this 'discount' is provided.
We also have to consider what this means, psychologically: Tesla wants to ENCOURAGE you to use your membership - after all, you've already PAID them to use it.
This means that we are pushed, by your own financial reasonings, to use Superchargers, even sometimes if another option was CHEAPER, or even sometimes even if we don't really 'need' to, but, after all, we HAVE a membership, so 'why not?'...
This is MARKETING, at it's best. Period. It is NOT savings for the vast MAJORITY of users, as this would then NOT make sense, business wise, for Tesla.
They are NOT in the business to lose money, only to MAKE money.
Yes, they are making the 'same' relative money, per charge, as for any of the Tesla owners, but that's also a different case: those owners also probably have subscriptions from Tesla for OTHER memberships and technology and software upgrades - Tesla doesn't get the 'sell' those to us.
_____________________________________________________________
I'll pass on any 'membership'. I'll also pass this along this reasoning to my friends and customers, as it makes little overall long-term financial reasoning, in the real world.
I'll continue to just ENJOY plug-n-charge whenever I visit a Supercharger, or even any EA station, for all the same reasons.
I charge at HOME 99% of the time, every year. DC Fast Charging, or any slight 'discount', is such a VERY LITTLE part of that overall financial consideration.
: ) Enjoy! Just go out and charge - don't sweat it !
Now, I'll admit up front that I am NOT a fan of ANY subscription service, when that product is available to you WITHOUT a membership, whether Tesla, or EA, or anyone else...BUT, I'll also clue you into 'why' my feeling are set this way.
I am also a very 'money'/numbers person, financially speaking, for both my personal needs, and my business: Insurance and Investments, and not only for me, but also for my customers.
I want them to keep every PENNY in their pocket that they worked hard for, and not to be lured in by seemingly 'needed' subscriptions or membership that 'must' be best for them, especially because a neighbor, friend, loved you, sibling, or church member 'told' them it was.
A) Any Lightning owner can already charge at Tesla Superchargers without any Tesla account, membership, or subscription.
The Plug-N-Charge activation protocol is already available for Lightnings thru the Ford BlueOval charging account.
It simply authorizes the payment, activates the station, and then passes along the Tesla charging fees to your preferred payment method, sending you a nice Ford receipt, via email.
B) The charging per/kWh Supercharger Fee is set by the station owner, Tesla. The price is the same for Tesla owners, although Ford and Rivian owners have an additional 'non-tesla' fee as part of the final price. Tesla does not really disclose this exactly, although the Tesla Membership subscription seems to lean toward 10cents per/kWh.
C) The Tesla Membership subscription is ONLY to bypass this additional 'non-Tesla' per/kWh fee. Period. And, now you must use THEIR app to activate your charge. No More Plug-N-Charge.
D) The cost for this membership is currently $12.99 monthly.
______________________________________________________________
so, if you want to consider being a 'member', and hopefully bypassing this additional fee, to ultimately 'save money', as compared to a non-member price, you need to:
1 ) Consider how MUCH you will be DC Fast Charging, thru Tesla Supercharger locations, over the next 12 months. I'm sure that NO ONE will be able to accurately forecast their Supercharger KWH of charging for the next year, but most may just 'assume' that it's a good deal and 'sure, I'm sure I'll charge enough to make this make sense'... with little data to back it up.
2 ) While there are exceptions, most EV owners DC Fast Charge VERY infrequently, as, of course, we mostly ONLY ever want to use this type of EXPENSIVE charging when we are away from home, and mostly ONLY when LONG RANGE travels are at hand. This is very difficult to 'guess' at, especially when you consider the next point:
3 ) Let's CALCULATE the cost of the membership, based on a simple 12 months per calendar year: $13 x 12 = $156.00
This cost is GUARANTEED to be paid to Tesla. You don't get to 'skip' a payment, or get to have Tesla 'waive' your monthly subscription cost in any month you don't use it. It's there. Period. You WILL spend at a MINIMUM of $156.00 per year even BEFORE you leave your carport.
4 ) Next, let's CALCULATE what this 'discount' price means, over the course of the year:
If the discount is 10cents per/kWh, which might 'sound' good, on the surface, that amount equates to 1560 KWH of power into your vehicle[$156.00 cost/ .10 discount per/kwh = 1560].
What this means is that you must now USE 1,560 KWH of Tesla Supercharger power in order to JUST BREAK EVEN.
5 ) Lastly, let's CALCULATE how many charging sessions, on average, you'll need to use Tesla Superchargers in order to get to that simple 'break even' point, BEFORE you ever start 'saving money'.
If the average charging stop is an arrival at 20%, for instance, and you complete your charging at 80%, that equates to 60KWH of power for a Pro SR Lightning, for instance, with a ~100kwh battery pack.
There would more KWH used for a ER Lightning, in this same scenario, and may be much less for other EVs, with smaller battery packs.
60kwh of power x .10 discount = $6.00. Doesn't sound 'bad', right?
But, let's look at how that compares to what you ALREADY paid Tesla: $12.99.
So, yes, you could potentially charge MORE THAN TWICE per month to arrive at any 'savings',
BUT, the question then becomes ' AM I really going to be charging 60%, per charge, and while traveling MORE than TWICE in EVERY MONTH, or at least enough during the WHOLE 12 MONTH YEAR to make this 'make cents' '?
No, I'll bet that almost NO normal EV owner will be charging THIS OFTEN, and ONLY at Tesla Superchargers, where this 'discount' is provided.
We also have to consider what this means, psychologically: Tesla wants to ENCOURAGE you to use your membership - after all, you've already PAID them to use it.
This means that we are pushed, by your own financial reasonings, to use Superchargers, even sometimes if another option was CHEAPER, or even sometimes even if we don't really 'need' to, but, after all, we HAVE a membership, so 'why not?'...
This is MARKETING, at it's best. Period. It is NOT savings for the vast MAJORITY of users, as this would then NOT make sense, business wise, for Tesla.
They are NOT in the business to lose money, only to MAKE money.
Yes, they are making the 'same' relative money, per charge, as for any of the Tesla owners, but that's also a different case: those owners also probably have subscriptions from Tesla for OTHER memberships and technology and software upgrades - Tesla doesn't get the 'sell' those to us.
_____________________________________________________________
I'll pass on any 'membership'. I'll also pass this along this reasoning to my friends and customers, as it makes little overall long-term financial reasoning, in the real world.
I'll continue to just ENJOY plug-n-charge whenever I visit a Supercharger, or even any EA station, for all the same reasons.
I charge at HOME 99% of the time, every year. DC Fast Charging, or any slight 'discount', is such a VERY LITTLE part of that overall financial consideration.
: ) Enjoy! Just go out and charge - don't sweat it !
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