Tesla bans new commercial drivers from Supercharger stations

Tesla has just squashed ride-sharing and commercial use of their electric vehicles charging up their Tesla cars at Supercharger stations, with their new Supercharger Fair Use policy prohibiting new commercial drivers from charging up their vehicles at Supercharger stations.

Tesla has been expanding its network of Supercharger stations, where back in April the company said it wanted more than 10,000 Supercharger stations before the end of the year. For the last few months there has been growing concern over the heavy traffic at Supercharger stations, which are now congestion points for drivers... so you can see how that's not good.

At the end of 2016, Tesla announced new fees for charging your electric vehicle, where the company said it would start charging drivers additional costs if they leave their cars at Supercharger stations after their car has finished charging. It was an attempt to eliviate the congestion problems, but now that more Uber and other ride-sharing giants alongside commercial users.

The company said that Supercharger stations are built for drivers who don't have the option of charging their vehicle at home or at work, and when the Supercharger stations are now used like that, Tesla says "it negatively impacts the availability of Supercharging services for others".

The new policy has been enabled for Tesla owners after December 15, so if you have a vehicle before this date, you'll be able to continue using Supercharger stations for work/commercial use. Any new purchases will see themselves banned, but I wonder how they will enforce this in the long-term. Imagine over-the-air "you have been banned from charging here" and your car kicks into autonomous mode and parks in a normal park.

Tesla's new stance will have the company tracking usage and driver behavior, so if they find someone who is breaking the policy, Tesla could ask to stop them, and then limit the vehicle from the station in specific cases. A Tesla spokesperson said that the company does "encourage the use of Teslas for commercial purposes" where they will be working with these companies and commercial drivers on finding other places to charge their vehicles.

The ban is for new drivers post-December 15, 2017 so existing users I guess can still go ham on Superchargers.