Tesla is expanding its test of limited-time discounts on Supercharging in order to reduce wait time during peak travel times.
Last year, Tesla started testing temporary Supercharger discounts in California.
In that case, it looked like Tesla was trying to incentivize people at night to offset expensive peak demand charges.
During off-peak hours, Tesla was charging $0.09/kWh – a significant discount of less than a third of the regular price per kWh at most Supercharger stations in California.
Now Tesla is expanding its temporary Supercharger discounts to Norway and Sweden as part of a wider test.
Tesla is going to offer 50% discounts on Supercharger rates on three Saturdays in the coming weeks:
- Saturday, February 20
- Saturday, February 27
- Saturday, March 6
In this case, it’s about incentivizing people to charge when the Supercharger network is not being used at peak times in order to reduce wait times at the charging stations.
A Tesla representative told TV2 (translated from Norwegian):
The test is part of a larger project that examines how price can be used to encourage our customers to better use the Supercharger capacity. Norway and Sweden are the first markets in Europe where such tests are carried out, says Even Sandvold Roland, who is senior communications manager for Tesla in Norway.
It sounds like these tests, if successful, could lead to broader adoption of time-based pricing for the Supercharger network.
Norway has one of the highest concentrations of Tesla vehicles in the world, and while the automaker has been trying to keep up with its infrastructure, it has had issues with service capacity and charging station access in the past.
Tesla recently deployed its 20,000th Supercharger in the world, and with a new Supercharger factory going online in China, the automaker is expected to accelerate its deployment of charging stations.
Last month, Tesla released a new map showing a lot more upcoming Supercharger stations in many markets.
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