√Tesla Australia cuts standard home charging cable from new cars

New Tesla orders in Australia no longer include a home charging cable – used for charging from a three-pin home power socket – forcing buyers to pay extra for one.

Tesla has deleted the standard-fit Mobile Connector – a cable used for charging the car from a three-pin home power point – from newly-ordered cars, reverting it to a $550 option.

Spotted by Twitter user @dwhes, and subsequently confirmed by Drive, the charging cable – known as the Mobile Connector – was previously standard with every new Tesla purchase, but is now a $550 extra from Tesla’s online shop.

The change is only believed to affect new orders placed from Thursday or Friday – with existing orders placed before then to continue to receive the cable, which is packaged in a storage bag.

Despite removing the cable from the base purchase price, no changes have been made to prices for either of Tesla’s vehicles, the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV – which were hit with price increases of up to $3900 three weeks ago.

Now priced from $550 (cut from about $850), the Mobile Connector allows Tesla vehicles to be plugged into a three-pin home power outlet – instead of an installed wall box (a Wall Connector), or a public fast charger – and is claimed to add about 10-15km of range per hour.

Australia is following the lead of the US, where the Mobile Connector was removed from new vehicles in April – with CEO Elon Musk citing low customer use, according to the company’s internal statistics.

“Usage statistics were super low, so [it] seemed wasteful,” Musk said on Twitter at the time.

“Based on feedback received, we will drop mobile connector price to $200 and make it easy to order with car. Note, mobile connector is not needed if you have a Tesla wall connector or to use Superchargers. [We] Recommend installing Tesla wall connector well before car arrives.”

The charging cable joins various other features removed from Tesla vehicles in recent months – including, around April this year, the 19-inch Sport wheels on the Model 3 Long Range, making them a $2200 option with no change to the vehicle’s base price.

Semiconductor shortages also saw the removal of a secondary steering control unit from Chinese-built Model 3 and Model Y vehicles late last year.

The post Tesla Australia cuts standard home charging cable from new cars appeared first on Drive.