Despite Tesla’s ever-expanding network of Superchargers in Australia, exact pricing can be tricky to pin down. Here’s what you need to know.
Tesla recently opened its 100th Supercharger site in Australia, with the brand’s fast chargers now covering a large swathe of Australia’s East Coast.
In 2024, the brand also opened up its fast-charging network to vehicles from other manufacturers, with non-Tesla owners able to charge at a slight price premium compared to Tesla owners.
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Back in 2014 when Tesla opened its first Supercharger site in Sydney’s Pyrmont, Supercharger access was free for certain variants of the Tesla Model S (the brand’s sole model at the time) while other variants asked for a flat fee of $2700 for access. It later became free for all Model S variants.
Flash-forward to 2024 and pricing is a little less straightforward – with varied rates depending on location, time of day and whether you have a Tesla Supercharging membership. Some sites also charge per minute, while others charge per kilowatt-hour.
How does Tesla Supercharger pricing work?
“Charging rate is determined by the plug-in time and does not adjust if pricing changes during the charging session,” Tesla’s official website states.
“Certain Supercharger stations offer on-peak and off-peak rates. The rates and peak times are both displayed in the navigation application on the vehicle touchscreen.”
Additionally, the company states “Whenever possible, owners are billed per kWh (kilowatt-hour); in other areas, owners are billed per minute”.
When billed per minute, there are four tiers of pricing, with slower chargers (at or below 60kW) are classified as Tier 1 and attract a lower fee, while chargers above 180kW are classified as Tier 4, and attract the “highest price per minute”.
Most Supercharger sites charge at a rate between 125kW and 250kW.
How much do Tesla Superchargers cost to use in Australia?
Accurate pricing for Tesla Superchargers can only be accessed via the brand’s app, where different prices are listed for each location and time.
According to Drive‘s research, pricing tends to sit at or under 70 cents ($0.70) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for Tesla owners, or around $0.80–$0.90/kWh for non-Tesla owners.
For Tesla owners, the lowest price we could find at the time of writing was $0.46/kWh at a 250kW site in Runaway Bay, Queensland, while the highest price was $0.68/kWh at a 250kW site in Williams, Western Australia.
Meanwhile, non-Tesla members could pay up to $0.92/kWh at the same site in Williams, WA, while the cheapest price for non-Tesla members was $0.62/kWh at the aforementioned Runaway Bay, Queensland site.
The rest of the pricing sat between these two points, with no clear trends to suggest pricing was impacted by site remoteness, charging speed or size.
For drivers who don’t own a Tesla vehicle, charging costs can be lowered to the same level as Tesla owners if they purchase a Supercharger membership for $9.99 a month, which can reduce charging fees by between 20 and 30 per cent.
For example, non-member prices at a 250kW Supercharger site in Warrnambool, Victoria, are a flat rate of $0.92/kWh, while members and Tesla owners only pay $0.64/kWh.
How much does it cost to charge a Tesla at a Supercharger?
As for the total cost for a full charge – the batteries in new Tesla models in Australia range from around 60kWh for rear-wheel-drive variants, up to around 80kWh for all-wheel-drive variants.
That means based on the Supercharger pricing Drive sighted on Tesla’s app, a full charge for a Tesla owner could cost between approximately $28 and $41 for a 60kWh battery, or between $37 and $54 for a larger 80kWh battery.
Meanwhile, the price range for a non-Tesla owner is between $37–$55 for a vehicle with a 60kWh battery and between $50–$74 for an 80kWh battery.
Of course, keep in mind you will rarely if ever charge your car’s battery from zero to 100 per cent.
One last cost to consider in addition to charging costs and membership fees are Tesla’s idle fees. Each Supercharger site uses idle fees to discourage drivers from overstaying at a site once their vehicle has finished charging.
In Australia, idle fees are $0.50 per minute you overstay, but this increases to $1 per minute when a station is at 100 per cent occupancy.
Are Tesla Superchargers more expensive than other EV chargers?
It depends on the location and whether or not you are a Tesla Supercharging member, but Tesla Superchargers can be pricier than fast chargers from rivals like Evie and Chargefox.
Particularly if you’re using Superchargers as a non-Tesla owner, it’s certainly true that Supercharger pricing is likely to be slightly more than the same charging speed on a rival network like Evie or Chargefox – depending on the location.
For example, non-Tesla owners pay between $0.62–$0.92/kWh for 250kW Superchargers, while Evie charges a flat rate of $0.73/kWh for the same charging speed.
Meanwhile, Chargefox chargers are typically priced around $0.55–$0.68/kWh for 200kW chargers. Meanwhile, NRMA members pay as little as $0.64/kWh for fast-charging above 175kW.
The post How much does it cost to charge a Tesla at a Supercharger in Australia? appeared first on Drive.
