Tesla raises Model S/X prices, but bundles ‘Full Self-Driving’ and brings back free Supercharging

Tesla has raised Model S and Model X prices by $10,000, but it decided to include its ‘Full Self-Driving’ package, free Supercharging for life, ‘Premium Connectivity’, and a new ‘Premium Service’ for 4 years.

For the last few years, Model S and Model X have been in a free fall, and the latest mild update to the two flagship vehicles doesn’t appear to be helping much.

The automaker is now updating pricing and included features to try to shake things up.

Tesla is now making a new ‘Luxe Package’ standard on all Model S and Model X vehicles:

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Full Self-Driving (FSD), previously priced at $8,000, is now included in all Model S and Model X vehicles. The automaker claims that FSD will eventually result in unsupervised autonomous driving, but for the meantime, it is a level 2 driver assistance system.

Tesla is also introducing a new “Four-year Premium Service”:

Includes tire and windshield protection plan plus maintenance. Covers scheduled services including wheel alignment, tire rotations, front camera cleaning and replacement of HEPA filter, cabin filter and wiper blades.

The automaker is also bringing back included Supercharging for life.

Tesla used to offer free Supercharging for life as a perk on Model S and Model X vehicles.

In 2018, Tesla discontinued the perk after claiming it was unsustainable – although it temporarily reinstated it as a sales incentive at times. For example, it was offered as recently as December as an end-of-year incentive.

In the new terms, Tesla mentioned that it can’t be used for commercial purposes, such as if you use the vehicle as an Uber, and it is not transferable to a new owner if you sell the vehicle:

Charge for free at 70,000+ Superchargers worldwide. You are still responsible for Supercharger fees, like idle and congestion fees, when applicable. May only be redeemed at Tesla-owned Superchargers. Cannot be used for commercial purposes (e.g., taxi, rideshare or delivery services). If Tesla determines in good faith at its sole discretion that the vehicle is being used for commercial purposes, Tesla may remove the free Supercharging from the vehicle. The vehicle will then default to Pay Per Use Supercharging. Not transferable to subsequent vehicle owners or to another vehicle.

Initially, free Supercharging was tied to the vehicle rather than the owner, but this was later changed.

Finally, Tesla is also including ‘Premium Connectivity’, which enables Tesla owners to use some features that require more bandwidth, such as live traffic visualization, satellite-view maps, and video streaming, amongst other things.

It usually is $10 per month or $100 per year.

All of that comes with a significant price increase. The Model S now starts at $94,990 and $109,990 for the Plaid version.

Model X now starts at $99,990 and goes up to $114,990 if you want the quicker Plaid version.

Electrek’s Take

As the name implies, this looks like Tesla is trying to position Model S and Model X more as luxury vehicles.

A $10,000 price increase is significant, but the added features offer considerable potential value, depending on whether you plan to utilize them.

FSD sells for $8,000, but it only has an impact if you want FSD. If you don’t, Model S and Model X likely became a bad deal for you.

Free Supercharging is hard to value because it depends on how often you need to fast charge on the road.

Personally, I do it a couple of times a month, a little more when I go on road trips. It can take a while to accumulate $1,000 in Supercharger costs like that, but if you are someone who relies more on Supercharger, you can make it worth it fairly quickly.

However, you should take into account that this doesn’t add any resell value to your vehicle as you can transfer the inlcuded Supercharging.