Tesla changes off-peak hours at Superchargers in California to encourage owners to charge later

Tesla has announced that it is changing the timeframe of its off-peak hours at Superchargers in California to encourage owners to charge their cars later.

The automaker is still trying to tune incentives to help with traffic and costs on its vast charging networks.

It was only a few years ago that Tesla owners didn’t have to pay anything to stop and charge at a Supercharger station.

In the early days of Tesla and electric vehicles, it made sense in order to create a seamless experience and encourage ease of travel as many were still on the fence about electric vehicles.

But now that they are taking over fast and Tesla’s own fleet is growing into millions of cars, the automaker needs to make the Supercharger network financially sustainable in order to grow it along with its customer fleet.

Tesla started charging for every charging session, but the automaker is still figuring out how its pricing model incentivizes owners and optimizes cost and traffic.

One of the best tools for the latter is a lower rate for off-peak hours.

This week, Tesla announced an important change to its off-peak hours in California, its biggest market:

Starting April 12, 2022, off-peak hours will change at California Supercharger locations. Charge for less at select Superchargers before 11 AM and after 9 PM. Tap the Supercharger map pin in your in-car touchscreen to view specific rates and eligible sites. Navigate to your destination using Trip Planner and your battery will automatically precondition before you arrive.

The company basically moved the window two hours later in the day as it used to start at 7 p.m.

Rates are different depending on the station, but they can often charge around $0.48 per kWh during peak hours versus $0.24 during off-peak hours.

The new hours will encourage people who can charge later to wait and free up some traffic at the Supercharger stations during busier hours. It will also bring Tesla additional revenue, which it can use to increase Supercharger capacity where needed.

California is Tesla’s biggest market, and while it’s also where the Supercharger network is most extensive, owners are still often experiencing wait times at stations due to high traffic.