Model 3

Make
Tesla
Segment
Sedan

With the Thanksgiving holiday starting this week, American roads are going to be busier than ever with people traveling to visit their families. If you own an electric car, this potentially means longer waiting times at charging stations during the busy holiday period. To help ease the frustration and avoid the rush, Tesla is offering free supercharging for Model 3, Model S, Model X, and Model Y owners during the hectic holiday period.

During off-peak hours before 10 am and after 7 pm, Tesla owners can charge their vehicle for free on specific California routes. The offer is only available from November 24 - November 28 at around 40 chargers on popular California routes including Nevada.

Since there are more Teslas in California than anywhere else in the world, Supercharger stations in California can get especially busy during Thanksgiving.

Last year, Tesla installed a mobile charging station at a Supercharger location halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco to try and reduce traffic at charging stations, but frustrated owners still complained about experiencing long wait times at California charging stations. Tesla has also offered discounted Supercharging rates in the past, but hopefully offering free charging in California will encourage Tesla owners to travel during off-peak hours and reduce wait times and traffic.

Since the first station was installed back in 2012, Tesla now has more than 25,000 Superchargers at over 2,700 charging stations around the world but wait times and congestion could increase in the future when Tesla allows other car manufacturers to use its Supercharger network.

Earlier this month, Tesla started a pilot program at ten locations in the Netherlands that allows non-Tesla vehicles like the Volkswagen ID.4 and Porsche Taycan to use the Supercharger network instead of Electrify America stations. Non-Tesla drivers will be charged extra to use the network and will need to have the Tesla app installed.