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Tesla Fee Targets Supercharger Station Lines

Tesla Motors hopes that a little financial incentive will help keep its high-speed charging stations available to more people.

Tesla Motors hopes that a little financial incentive will help keep its high-speed charging stations available to more people.

The electric vehicle manufacturer last week announced it will implement an "idle fee" on drivers who leave their Tesla plugged into a Supercharger station after it is fully charged.

Teslas ordinarily require hours to re-charge their batteries, but Supercharging stations take about 30 minutes. Supercharger networks allow for more efficient long-distance travel in a Tesla, but current stations often experience long lines.

Guilty drivers will incur a $0.40 per minute fee, which would be waived if the car is moved within five minutes.

The company said that the fee will help encourage people to move their cars just like they would at a busy gas station. Tesla does not hope to make money from the fee and noted that owners are already notified when their cars are nearly charged — and completely charged — via mobile app.

Tesla previously announced plans to begin charging owners for Supercharger use beyond 400 kilowatt hours per year in an effort to make it more economical and "reinvest in the network."

Eventually, Tesla officials believe that technology will render rude Supercharger etiquette obsolete.

"We envision a future where cars move themselves once fully charged," the company wrote in a blog post.

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