Since 2019, Tesla has expanded its supercharging sites from 12 to 31 and that was the message Chew got from the marketing campaign.
But for Chew, there’s only 11 that she can use, unless she forks out $483.79 to upgrade her vehicle.
That’s because Tesla has upgraded most of its supercharging stalls from Type 2 ports, to a system called CCS or Combined Charging System.
Chew’s car has a Type 2 port and is not compatible with the newer CCS system.
She spoke with Tesla in New Zealand, who told her she could still access some Type 2 superchargers.
In a statement to RNZ, Tesla said it had 11 sites with 50 chargers that were compatible with Type 2 charging.
Living in Auckland – a city with five supercharger sites, Chew is only 2.6km away from a supercharging station, but none of the chargers there are compatible with her car.
To charge her car, it’s a 22km drive.
Alternatively, a Tesla agent told Chew she could pay $483.79 to retrofit her car to make it compatible with the new chargers; a cost Chew said was unfair.
“I need to pay more money to enjoy the benefit, that’s not right. This is why I think what they give it to me for the Tesla free unlimited supercharging. In the real world, I can’t use it.”
In correspondence seen by RNZ, an agent explained to Chew that her vehicle still retained lifetime free supercharging, and enabling CCS access would only broaden her supercharging access to the full network.
Chew said the inconvenience was not just the cost.
Without the retrofit, she said she could not use most commercial superchargers even if she’s happy to pay for the charging, and that’s a concern for longer drives.
To fully charge her car, it takes less than an hour at a supercharger, but over 35 hours at a household charger like the one Chew owns at home.
She feels, as one of the earlier adopters to Tesla, she’s at a loss.
University of Auckland commercial law professor Alex Sims said the situation is potentially covered under the Fair Trading Act.
The act specifies: “No person shall, in trade, in connection with the supply or possible supply of goods or services or with the promotion by any means of the supply or use of goods or services, make a false or misleading representation that goods or services have any sponsorship, approval, endorsement, performance characteristics, accessories, uses, or benefits.”
Sims said the “free unlimited supercharging” could be seen as a promotion of a benefit.
“It looks like Tesla was using that free unlimited charging as a selling point, trying to get people to buy the cars. To my understanding, it only offers it at certain periods. So, it’s seen as a definite benefit.
“And at the time and even now, the electric charging was being built out so that people knew it was relatively limited, but there’d be more and more coming online. And now, the ones that are coming online cannot be used by the purchaser of this car.”
But could Tesla argue that by still being able to access 11 charging sites, Chew hadn’t lost much from the 12 charging sites she could access back when she bought the car in 2019?
Sims said that was debatable.
“Well, they could try. This is the thing is, that no one knows until it goes to court. So, this is just speculating. But you’ve got to also think at the time, Tesla and other entities were saying that they would build more [charging stations]. So, people would have had the expectation that more was coming online.”
Consumer advocacy group Consumer NZ also thought Chew may have a case.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the consumer could take Tesla to the Disputes Tribunal.
“Given Tesla advertised ‘free unlimited supercharging’ but subsequently changed the charging technology, we think it would be reasonable for the customer to request Tesla covers the cost of retrofitting the new charger. If Tesla refuses to cover the cost, the consumer could take Tesla to the Disputes Tribunal. Alternatively, they could pay for the cost themselves and attempt to recover the cost at the Disputes Tribunal.”
RNZ asked Tesla questions on access to chargers, and any rationale for asking customers to pay for the retrofit.
In its statement, Tesla did not respond to why it asked customers to pay for the retrofit, and said customers were still able to access free supercharging at Type 2 compatible sites.
The company provided a list.
All V2 sites (11 Sites, 50 charger stalls):
Christchurch, NZHamilton, NZJohnsonville, NZMangaweka, NZOmarama, NZPalmerston North, NZQueenstown, NZSylvia Park, NZTaupō, NZTimaru, NZWhangārei, NZ
Telsa owers are also taking action against the firm over what they say are unfulfilled promises for its full self-drive (FSD) technology.