Tesla vehicles will no longer be sold with an included mobile connector charger.
As spotted by Twitter user @dwhes, and as originally reported by CarExpert, new Tesla vehicle orders won’t come with the mobile charger anymore, while existing orders will include it.
@CarExpertAus @PaulMaric I can confirm that Tesla has removed the included UMC in Aus. New orders from today will NOT have the UMC included. And all EXISTING orders WILL receive it. Genuinely surprised Tesla has pulled this move so soon after the US removal.
— davidhes (@dwhes) July 8, 2022
This comes just over a month after Tesla removed the charger from new U.S. Tesla orders.
This is, to put it bluntly, quite an annoying thing to hear. While the mobile connector isn’t a powerful charger by any means (you could always pick up a more powerful home charger through the Tesla website), it was always a good thing to get included with your order.
When we reviewed the Tesla Model Y, we used the mobile connector provided with the car because we don’t have a home charger to use for our EV reviews (heck, I can’t afford an EV to begin with). This is the same with the Polestar 2 and Kia EV6 reviews we did earlier this year. For our purposes, the mobile connector worked fine, especially as an inclusion.
That being said, here’s what Elon Musk had to say about the mobile connector removal from U.S. models back in April.
Usage statistics were super low, so seemed wasteful. On the (minor) plus side, we will be including more plug adapters with the mobile connector kit.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2022
This probably holds up, especially considering that, if you’re going to buy a Tesla, you’re likely able to afford a home charger.
The mobile connector is $550, the Gen 3 Wall Connector (the home charger) is $750. Not expensive when compared to the cost of a Tesla, no, but a decent dent in the wallet.
It takes more than a day to charge a Tesla battery from zero to 100 per cent with the mobile connector (like it would with any EV with an equivalent mobile connector), but as an “emergency” charger, or to have in lieu of the home charger, it was a fine product to have added into the value of the Tesla lineup.
The Tesla Model 3 and the Tesla Model Y were also subject to price rises just last month, rising several thousand dollars in costs. To see the prices rise so much and then remove a feature is… Well, not good!
I hope that Tesla’s competitors don’t replicate this. The humble mobile connector is a pretty helpful tool to have, and to have it included in the cost of the vehicle is a pretty nice extra, especially considering that EVs cost so much in Australia.
Long live the mobile charger.