Tesla Supercharger Member - check your invoice

[ridgetopview]

Hi Folks,

Summary: check your Tesla supercharger invoice to confirm lower charge rate.

Last week we had a family event far away in the Midwest. I drove my Tesla and my wife drove her R1T. We have a Tesla membership for the R1T.

We charged 4 times at the same location and at same time.

My Tesla paid $.39/kWh while the R1T invoice showed $.51/kWh.

I checked with Tesla customer service and they confirmed the R1T was over charged - it should have been the same rate as the Tesla.

If you have a Tesla SC Membership, keep an eye on your per kWh cost.

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[VSG]

I guess you're not aware that to get the Tesla member pricing you have to initiate the charge from the Tesla app?

Rivian is NOT "overcharging" you. You're just not using your membership to get your discount.

 

[ridgetopview]

I guess you're not aware that to get the Tesla member pricing you have to initiate the charge from the Tesla app?

Yes, we are aware and that’s how it was initiated. Tesla confirmed something happened on their side.

 

[eskudo12791]

I guess you're not aware that to get the Tesla member pricing you have to initiate the charge from the Tesla app?

Rivian is NOT "overcharging" you. You're just not using your membership to get your discount.

I recently initiated via the tesla app and was still charged to my rivian account.

 

[ridgetopview]

I guess you're not aware that to get the Tesla member pricing you have to initiate the charge from the Tesla app?

Rivian is NOT "overcharging" you. You're just not using your membership to get your discount.

Sorry for spoiling your idea that we’re not aware but we most definitely initiated the charge from the Tesla app and we have the membership, and Rivian doesn’t control the charge cost. I know the Tesla app well.

My note is simple; If someone is using the Tesla SC and has a membership, assuming they’re using it correctly, to check your invoices —it could potentially have an incorrect charge amount. Therefore keep an eye on your invoices.

 

[VSG]

Then you must also be aware about the sequence of actions you have to take for this to happen? If you plug in first then initiate in in the Tesla app, for example, that's too late - the action of plugging in automatically initiated the charging session from the Rivian.

The reason I'm coming back to this is because 99% of the problems reported here about not getting the Tesla discount come from people initiating the charging session "wrong". And since you didn't mention exactly how you're trying to charge, either in your initial or follow-up post, IMO the most likely problem is that you didn't take the steps in the order needed for Tesla to give you the discount.

The other relevant information would be, has this ever worked for your Rivian at any other Tesla station?

Bottom line, if Rivian initiates the charge, you will be charged the non-member price. If Tesla initiates the charge, you will get the member price, if you have membership set up. And while there have been one or two cases of people being charged by both Rivian and Tesla, those only happened in the early days of access as far as I'm aware. Regardless, if the session has been started by Tesla, then subsequently terminated and re-started by Rivian, then you should have a record of that in your Tesla app showing that you charged for like 10 seconds or something. If the only record you have of the session is in Rivian app, then you really didn't initiate the charge from Tesla app.

Not saying there couldn't be a problem, but if you were aware of all the ways you could fail to get the membership rate, then why didn't you mention those details so people trying to be helpful like me wouldn't have to play 20 questions? The fact that a Tesla rep blamed Rivian, or that a Rivian rep blamed Tesla, means nothing. Even if there was a real problem, then the first thing to suspect would be your vehicle, because thousands of people have had no problem with this process of getting membership rates if they take the right steps.

 

[eskudo12791]

@VSG Its not a perfect science. I started with the cable on the pedestal, opened the tesla app, selected the charger I was at, selected the pedestal I was at and plugged in when prompted, it sat at this screen and then prompted that it could not communicate with the vehicle, I looked into the cab and saw that it was charging, ultimately charged to my Rivian account.

 

[ridgetopview]

Then you must also be aware about the sequence of actions you have to take for this to happen? If you plug in first then initiate in in the Tesla app, for example, that's too late - the action of plugging in automatically initiated the charging session from the Rivian.

The reason I'm coming back to this is because 99% of the problems reported here about not getting the Tesla discount come from people initiating the charging session "wrong". And since you didn't mention exactly how you're trying to charge, either in your initial or follow-up post, IMO the most likely problem is that you didn't take the steps in the order needed for Tesla to give you the discount.

The other relevant information would be, has this ever worked for your Rivian at any other Tesla station?

Bottom line, if Rivian initiates the charge, you will be charged the non-member price. If Tesla initiates the charge, you will get the member price, if you have membership set up. And while there have been one or two cases of people being charged by both Rivian and Tesla, those only happened in the early days of access as far as I'm aware. Regardless, if the session has been started by Tesla, then subsequently terminated and re-started by Rivian, then you should have a record of that in your Tesla app showing that you charged for like 10 seconds or something. If the only record you have of the session is in Rivian app, then you really didn't initiate the charge from Tesla app.

Not saying there couldn't be a problem, but if you were aware of all the ways you could fail to get the membership rate, then why didn't you mention those details so people trying to be helpful like me wouldn't have to play 20 questions? The fact that a Tesla rep blamed Rivian, or that a Rivian rep blamed Tesla, means nothing. Even if there was a real problem, then the first thing to suspect would be your vehicle, because thousands of people have had no problem with this process of getting membership rates if they take the right steps.

I was not in the mood of writing a dissertation and still not. Everything you wrote is the sequence we did and it has worked correctly before.

My point and only point is to double check the SC invoice from Tesla. I looked back on our other R1T charges and noticed some were correct and others not. I hadn’t looked at the history until yesterday.

If you’re doing things right and have always been charged the right amount then bravo for you. Otherwise, still bravo.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Thanks for the heads up on this. I'm going to check over my charging history. Another thing to note that may not be the case for you, but is the case for a lot of folks who get the membership is that you only get that price for five Charging sessions per day. Any subsequent charging sessions within that same day are billed at the non-member rate.

 

[SANZC02]

…. the case for a lot of folks who get the membership is that you only get that price for five Charging sessions per day. Any subsequent charging sessions within that same day are billed at the non-member rate.

Thanks for that reminder, can make a big difference on a long trip.

 

[bigsky]

i initiate all Tesla SC on my R1S using my Tesla account. I do not care to pay a monthly membership to Tesla for my R1S, it is just not worth it to me.
That said, all charging sessions for my R1S are logged into my Tesla app and show up in the Tesla app charging history, including the cost.

 

[Riviaenz]

Yes, we are aware and that’s how it was initiated. Tesla confirmed something happened on their side.

Not only that, they seem to have recently dramatically increased the rates for charging (for non Tesla at least). In the spring we stopped at a Supercharger on a towing trip and stopped to try a Magiclock site. The rate was $0.23/kW for non Tesla. The same stop last weekend was $0.44/kW. Same time of day and no one around both times. At $0.23/kW it’s enticing to stop and use but at $0.44+ (others a few miles away are even higher) it’s far better to visit EA (faster and I’ve noticed our R1T’s battery stays cooler than with Tesla).

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