Electric Vehicles

Tesla stops providing charging cables as standard

Written by Rohit Tonapi

Tesla confirms that it will stop including charging cables with its cars. Known as the Apple of electric cars, we can’t help but notice the brand following in the same footsteps. Tesla did not say if the decision has to do anything with the parts supply issue. Another possible reason is a way to compensate for the increasing raw material costs. 

The majority of EVs sold in the USA include a charging cable. Although, Tesla isn’t the first one to not provide charging cables. The Korean manufacturer, Kia, also does not offer a charging cable as standard with the EV6. This move of not providing charging equipment is not new to mobile companies. Many companies such as Apple, Samsung and Google ship smartphones with only a cable and not a charging brick.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, on the decision

When reports started coming in about the news, Elon Musk quickly tweeted and confirmed it. In addition to this, he says the usage statistics were low, and it felt like a waste to include it. The company believes that the owners did not use the supplied charger much because most of them either had a wall box charger in their garage or would rely on its Supercharger network. Unlike the charger it used to come with, these chargers have their own integral charging cable. 

Elon Musk also encourages new owners to install home charging stations before they take delivery of their Tesla vehicles. He added that the charging cables will still be available for purchase. The charging cables will be available at the Tesla shop for USD 200, which is USD 200 less than before. Since it would come along with the car earlier, it is still an additional USD 200 that one needs to spend if one wishes to opt for them. However, Elon Musk claims the new cable bundle will come with different connectors giving owners added flexibility.

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