Photo: Getty Images
A Tesla enthusiast noticed on Saturday that when you buy a Tesla, Tesla now charges $400 for its 120-volt “portable port” charging cable, which is the very slow way to charge your Tesla, but with a regular household outlet. Until now, the mobile connector was included in the car free of charge. Certain parts of the internet were insane.
I really can’t tell anymore what a Tesla fan is or who their detractors are as each group has splintered into millions of different sub-groups as Tesla has been around for almost 20 years now which is more than enough time for fans to express their admiration have complicated and for critics to change their minds about some things. In other words, I’m pretty sure there aren’t many pure haters or Stans left as everyone’s relationship with Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk continues to grow more complicated, and the emergence of Saturday’s cable thing sure seems to complicate things for some fans even further.
Elon even deigned to respond, announcing that Tesla would halve the price of cellular service in response to “feedback” that was likely just a few angry tweets he’d seen around the internet.
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On the one hand, that’s not a big deal because, as Elon notes, not many people use the mobile plug, which is a trickle charger because it lasts forever, and if you own a Tesla it’s almost certain you’ll be jumping for the fast-charging wall plug, too which has always cost hundreds of dollars extra. On the downside, this also smacks of Tesla nickel-and-diming of its own customers, which is what all companies aspire to — that’s, in fact, the very essence of owning and running a business — just not as bare-bones as then it tends to feel like an insult.
Here’s the (somewhat) representative answer from a random owner. I say “something” because citing Mike Lindell is a bit of a blow.
The punchline to all of this is that as of this writing, both mobile connectors offered by Tesla are listed as out of stock on Tesla’s website. Also, the $200 price quoted by Elon apparently only applies if you get the mobile connector by car. Either that or the Tesla website needs an update:
Screenshot: Tesla
Anyway, this has been your daily report from Tesla land, where passions are very hot. I hope that one day they will cool down.