Photo: Tesla | Edited
Based on messages from customers taking delivery of a Tesla EV recently, the EV maker started delivering cars with less than 50% state of charge. This is reportedly a new industry policy to which Tesla adhered recently. To compensate for the lower state of charge, Tesla offers free Supercharger miles in the app.
Lithium-ion batteries power almost everything that needs electricity away from the grid and are the norm in the EV industry. For all their advantages, Li-ion cells also have a significant problem, as they are prone to overheating, which leads to fires that are difficult to extinguish. It's called thermal runaway because once the cell temperature passes a certain point, it accelerates until everything becomes explosive.
This poses problems during shipping, considering that a typical cargo ship can hold thousands of EVs. The shipping industry learned this the hard way last year when the Felicity Ace cargo ship sank after electric vehicles onboard caught fire. When the fire started, there were roughly 4,000 cars onboard Felicity Ace, although only a few hundred were EVs. In the aftermath of the disaster, the industry took measures to prevent future fires.
One restricts the Li-ion battery state of charge (SoC) to less than 50%, which has been proven to limit the chances of a thermal runaway. Tesla adhered to this practice, and owners reported picking up their new cars with a less-than-ideal SoC. Some said their Tesla had less than 30% battery, forcing them to divert to a Supercharger to top up the battery. Ideally, Tesla delivery centers should charge the battery before pick-up, but this doesn't happen.
Tesla may have chosen an easier solution to keep customers happy. Instead of spending time charging the cars before the pick-up time, they started offering new owners complimentary Supercharger miles. This has been revealed by an owner who shared the message received from Tesla in the /teslamotors subreddit. Tesla admits that the charge status may be lower than usual when the customers are scheduled to take delivery of their car. Still, since this is the industry policy, there's not much it can do.
The thread starter appears to be a European customer because the message uses the metric system. Considering that many Teslas arriving in Europe are shipped by sea from China, this is probably a measure enforced by the Chinese authorities. New Tesla owners are promised 150 km (93 miles) of free Supercharging, which can be redeemed a few days after delivery in the Loot Box of their Tesla app.
Considering the messages on Reddit, customers appear to have mixed feelings about the new policy. Although having some Supercharger sessions reimbursed is nice, many would prefer not to stop at a Supercharger on their first trip home. Some ask Tesla to offer new customers the option of having free Supercharging or waiting for the battery to charge before delivery. We're curious to know what you would choose in this case.
This poses problems during shipping, considering that a typical cargo ship can hold thousands of EVs. The shipping industry learned this the hard way last year when the Felicity Ace cargo ship sank after electric vehicles onboard caught fire. When the fire started, there were roughly 4,000 cars onboard Felicity Ace, although only a few hundred were EVs. In the aftermath of the disaster, the industry took measures to prevent future fires.
One restricts the Li-ion battery state of charge (SoC) to less than 50%, which has been proven to limit the chances of a thermal runaway. Tesla adhered to this practice, and owners reported picking up their new cars with a less-than-ideal SoC. Some said their Tesla had less than 30% battery, forcing them to divert to a Supercharger to top up the battery. Ideally, Tesla delivery centers should charge the battery before pick-up, but this doesn't happen.
Tesla may have chosen an easier solution to keep customers happy. Instead of spending time charging the cars before the pick-up time, they started offering new owners complimentary Supercharger miles. This has been revealed by an owner who shared the message received from Tesla in the /teslamotors subreddit. Tesla admits that the charge status may be lower than usual when the customers are scheduled to take delivery of their car. Still, since this is the industry policy, there's not much it can do.
The thread starter appears to be a European customer because the message uses the metric system. Considering that many Teslas arriving in Europe are shipped by sea from China, this is probably a measure enforced by the Chinese authorities. New Tesla owners are promised 150 km (93 miles) of free Supercharging, which can be redeemed a few days after delivery in the Loot Box of their Tesla app.
Considering the messages on Reddit, customers appear to have mixed feelings about the new policy. Although having some Supercharger sessions reimbursed is nice, many would prefer not to stop at a Supercharger on their first trip home. Some ask Tesla to offer new customers the option of having free Supercharging or waiting for the battery to charge before delivery. We're curious to know what you would choose in this case.
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