With Thanksgiving coming, people across America are about to travel long distances to be with family, if they haven’t already started on their journey. Those who will be driving their Tesla could be faced with a new surprise surcharge.
Tesla announced that it is introducing a new “Supercharger Congestion Fee” at certain locations. The new model will replace the “idle fee,” which added a toll for drivers who left their vehicles at a charging spot while it no longer needed to fill its battery.
The new congestion fee is similar, but kicks in sooner. If the Supercharger is busy, and your vehicle is 90 percent or more full, the company will add an extra $1.00 per minute that you stay plugged in to your bill.
Read: Tesla Bars Owner From Superchargers After Insurance Mistakenly Lists Car As Totaled
Tesla specifies that the fee will only be added when the location is busy, which you can check using your vehicle’s infotainment screen. Moreover, users will be warned that about upcoming congestion fees on their phone app, and will be given five minutes of grace to get to their EV and move it.
However, Tesla says that congestion fees can occur even if there are available charge ports, and that there is no upper limit on how big the idle or congestion fee can grow. That means that surcharges could add up to a big bill if you don’t move your vehicle quickly.
Besides the traffic jam that may be caused by the holidays, Supercharger locations are set to become more congested in the coming years. The majority of major automakers have announced that their electric vehicles will use the NACS plug championed by Tesla in the coming years.
That will likely lead to more traffic at the stations, as more and more vehicles become compatible with the network. Fortunately, other charging providers are also adopting the plug, which may help unburden it a bit.
So far, the Supercharger Congestion Fee appears to only apply to U.S. customers.
