Owners of salvaged Teslas in the U.S. can now use Supercharger stations after the automaker quietly re-enabled access for them.
In an attempt to discourage people from buying salvaged Tesla models, repairing them, and returning them back to the roads, Tesla disabled all Supercharging access and third-party fast-charging for them. It also made it hard for salvaged vehicles to get replacement parts and said that it might not provide them with certain software updates.
As of early 2020, Tesla said Supercharging and fast-charging of salvage-titled vehicles had been “permanently disabled.” This came despite the fact that Tesla provides a salvage-titled vehicle a high-voltage safety inspection to see if the high-voltage components are safe.
It's confirmed! for me, I have a previous salvage model 3 that was disabled last October in the ban waves. Here is proof!
Thank you, kind sir!
Keep up the great work you do dude! pic.twitter.com/AknidXdUcp— Casey Willie (@Cgwillie81) August 12, 2021
Fast forward 18 months and Tesla hacker greentheonly revealed on Twitter that Tesla has re-enabled Supercharging for salvaged Model 3s. Soon after, a number of Model 3 owners jumped to social media to confirm that this was indeed the case.
Of course, as Tesla no longer has a PR department, the automaker hasn’t provided the media any explanation as to why it has re-enabled Supercharging for vehicles with salvage titles but this is certainly very good news for owners of such cars.
At the time of banning Supercharging and fast charging from salvage-titled vehicles, Tesla asserted it was doing so for safety purposes.
“Tesla reserves the right to deactivate Supercharging capability on any vehicle we believe would be unsafe,” it said. “If a vehicle is found to have been modified to enable Supercharging and/or fast-charging through third parties, Tesla may take legal action and seek compensation.”
