Tesla offers free Supercharging until Coronavirus "epidemic ceases"

The Coronavirus has so far had devastating consequences, infecting over 4,515 globally, while claiming 106 lives.

Most automakers have restricted or banned travel to China, if not extracted their employees from the country altogether.  Tesla, who just opened its first factory in China, near Shanghai, didn’t respond to “multiple requests for comment” regarding this topic.

Instead, the company is offering all customers in the Chinese market free Supercharging, in order to help them travel the distance they need to escape affected areas.

Chinese customers have been notified of the gesture via this notification:

BREAKING: @teslacn is notifying #Tesla owners across China about first-ever temporary free supercharging during #coronavirus outbreak. @teslacn says it’d like to help owners get thru difficult time in a small way it can. I can’t think of any other OEMs more considerate than Tesla pic.twitter.com/o1mzD8yaCJ

— RayTesla (@ray4tesla) January 28, 2020

“To make it easier for you to travel during the coronavirus outbreak, effective today we will temporarily open all Tesla vehicles to be free to charge at the Supercharging station until the epidemic is resolved,”

“We hope that during this extraordinary period, you will be able to replenish electricity efficiently and use your car smoothly when needed. After the epidemic ceases, we will notify you again before resetting your vehicle to its original configuration. We hope to provide you with a modest effort so you can spend this time smoothly. Tesla reserves the right to make the final decision in this event.” -Tesla

The Coronavirus outbreak may have an impact on Tesla’s plans to ramp up production at their Shanghai Gigafactory, which was expected to increase from 1000 to 3000 vehicles over the course of January.

Source: Teslarati