Tesla France offers 1 year of Supercharger access on its older Model Y

Tesla is rolling out a new sales strategy to encourage the purchase of the older version of its Model Y: 1 year of free supercharging.

Here’s what appears on the Tesla France website at the beginning of March 2025 when you click on the attention-grabbing color tab:

The free access to the Supercharger network has historically been a strong argument from Tesla to motivate purchases. Factually, this is somewhat puzzling because, statistically, the price of electricity is relatively low in France and long trips are quite infrequent on average. A study showed that, on average, a French driver makes trips longer than 50 km only 7 times a year.

A decisive argument?

Tesla imposes many limits on the use of this free service: 1 year, assigned to a customer rather than the car, and especially, the famous and now legendary “ineligibility if Tesla delivers late“. The classic scenario: Tesla promises a gift… but will revoke it in case of logistical failure on their part.

However, this offer of free charging is not highly relevant for the average driver. Even if one only recharges their car at Superchargers, and with an annual mileage of 20,000 kilometers, the discount does not reach lofty heights.

Let’s assume a consumption of 16 kWh per 100 km and a price of 0.30 euros per kWh. For 20,000 kilometers, the consumption would thus be 3,200 kWh, amounting to 960 euros.

That’s still something saved, let’s be pragmatic, but the convenience of charging is not as great as at home. You have to stay close to your car, sometimes in the cold, rain, or under a blazing sun, sitting in your Tesla.

We’ll see if the carrot waved by Tesla is as enticing as it seems.

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