Tesla owner takes company to court over Supercharger fees

Tesla is being taken to a Californian court by an owner who claims he had to pay to charge his car – despite being told it would be 'free for life' to do so.

According to Bloomberg, Kevin Shenkman was an early adopter of Tesla's vehicles and purchased his car while the company was offering free Supercharging for life – an incentive designed at getting motorists out of fossil-fuel vehicles by reducing the running costs of an EV.

However, Tesla has now imposed a 'Supercharger idling fee' on owners who do not return to their vehicle within five minutes of charging being completed in a bid to reduce congestion at its stations.

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While the actual charging of the vehicle is free, the idling fee is applied for every minute past the five minute grace period after it is completed where the vehicle remains plugged in to the Supercharger, essentially billing owners for using the parking space rather than the charger itself.

Tesla only applies the idling fee charge if the charging station is above 50 per cent capacity, with owners incurring a cost of 50c per minute after the five minute period, the cost increasing to US$1 a minute if the station is at full occupancy.

Mr Shenkman is suing the American automaker in an attempt to recover costs and claiming damages, as well as to stop Tesla from imposing the idling fee on other owners.

“When a customer has been promised free Supercharging for life, and then refuses to pay such ‘Supercharger fees,’ Tesla cuts off Supercharging access entirely, thus disabling a feature for which customers paid thousands of dollars extra to obtain," said Mr Shenkman.

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The Tesla mobile app notifies owners when their vehicle is in the final 20 per cent of its charging cycle, as well as sending a notification when the vehicle is finished charging, starting the five minute period where the idling fee is waived.

Tesla began charging customers to use its Supercharger network in 2017 but those who had purchased vehicles between 2012 and 2016 were exempt from charging fees.

WhichCar has contacted Tesla for comment but the company has not responded.