The human mind is a very creative one -- and there are times when such creativity can think of a particular loophole in the existing system, so much so that abuse can happen. While the ratio of Tesla electric cars compared to regular gas-run vehicles on the road is pretty small, this does not mean that there isn't any room for abuse when it comes to the use of the 4,600 Superchargers that have been put in place worldwide by Tesla. These Supercharger stations are there for one reason: so that owners of Tesla cars can juice up their rides conveniently all over the US. However, it does look like there has been some abuse going on with charged up Tesla vehicles remaining there, depriving other Tesla car owners of getting some juice.
The abuse certainly a more down-to-earth problem which Tesla Motor’s Elon Musk has to handle compared to firing rockets into space. How will he think of a particular solution that will be able to prevent the use of this excellent facility by Tesla owners who do not have any semblance of civic mindedness? One thing is for sure, Musk is not the kind of man to sit back and watch things happen. On the contrary, he is one who ensures that things happen.
So far, there has been a fair number of Tesla Model S as well as Model X owners who have vented their frustrations on social media, Twitter especially, sharing their rage at other fellow inconsiderate Tesla owners who leave their wheels at Superchargers even though they are already fully charged up. This would create a bottleneck for owners who would like to provide their Tesla rides with some much-needed Juice. What response has Musk mustered since he came across the tweets of his rightfully disgruntled customers? Short and sweet, as he responded to a complaint about ‘evholes’ with "Will take action."
It remains to be seen just what steps will Musk take to sort this mess out. While there were plenty of suggestions that floated around on Twitter, including charging users a fee whenever the charge passes by a certain level, or perhaps to have an automated self-driving system kick in to move the car elsewhere when it is fully juiced up. What do you think? After all, anything that is free, even though for the collective good of everyone, definitely opens up the door for abuse.
Tesla has already curbed the limits of this free service by announcing in November that there would no longer be any more lifetime free Supercharging offered for Tesla vehicles that are ordered once we roll into the new year. Rather, those Teslas ordered in 2017 will be able to enjoy approximately 1,000 miles worth of free Supercharging credits (400 kWh) on an annual basis. Once you pass the number of preset miles, then you will be charged for the charging session. No idea on how much it will cost, but just like a parking meter concept, you would no longer be one of those ‘evholes’ when that happens. After all, hitting the pockets normally works wonders in most cases.
