For those who pay the much higher price for a Tesla Model S or Model X the expectation is that using the network of supercharges set up by the company will be free and will be this way as long as these models are sold. This means owners are currently charging their vehicles at supercharger stations at no cost to themselves at all. This seems to be something that would cost the company a lot of money in the long run and not make sense for the overall future of the brand.

In fact, the newest model on the table, the Model 3 is expected to be built in a much larger quantity and be the first mass produced vehicle from Tesla. Not only will this car be built in much higher numbers, but it will be the car that is more affordable from Tesla to give nearly everyone a chance to own a Tesla vehicle. Because of this increase it seems the plan from Tesla is to offer an option, which will easily increase the price by a significant figure, which will allow customers to purchase free charging during their ownership of the Model 3.

The question then is “what happens to those who choose to not take advantage of this option?” For those owners there is a bit of code in the Tesla website that’s been discovered and will most likely be activated once the Model 3 is on the market. This code shows an ability to pay for charging credits ahead of time and use them at the supercharger stations. This would be a way to pay for a specified amount of use, considering these stations don’t currently have credit card readers at all. Using this feature on the website can give Model 3 owners the ability to make a payment for credits at the supercharging stations ahead of their road trips.

What happens when someone would run out of credits? It seems they could get their smartphone out, visit the Tesla website and pay for more charging credits to be used at the station. Most likely this check box that’s currently imbedded in the HTML code of the website will be turned into a free app these owners will be able to use. With this app the supercharging stations will be able to make money for Tesla through the option payment at initial purchase of the Model 3 and through the charging credits, offered for those who don’t choose to purchase the option during the initial purchase of the vehicle.

Now that the problem of the supercharging stations making money for the company has been resolved, what about the Model X and Model S vehicles that will still be charging for free? One option that’s been discussed is the old tried and true method of having a car wash station available to generate some revenue from these cars. Of course this station would use only environmentally friendly materials and would probably cost much more than a normal car wash, but it could become a money maker as well.