Tesla Cancels Referral Program Except for $500 Bonus on Solar Roof

Published

4 years ago

September 18, 2021

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Today it appears that the rumors about Tesla revising its referral program were true: As of September 18, 2021, Tesla is no longer offering any referral incentives on the purchase of Tesla cars or traditional solar panel systems. The only Tesla product that still benefits from a referral discount is the Tesla solar roof. As of today, buyers of a Tesla solar roof who use a Tesla referral code can still get $500 back after installation. The referring customer will also receive a $500 referral bonus after the system is installed. But the previous bonus of free supercharging miles for car purchases or leases is no longer in effect.

Tesla Referral-eligible products as of September 2021

As of today, the only Tesla product eligible for a Referral bonus is the Tesla solar roof.

As with many Tesla “announcements,” there wasn’t one. Tesla simply changed the terms of the referral program on their web site without notice. The change comes just one week after Tesla increased the referral bonus for the purchase of any Tesla solar system from $100 to $500. It remains unclear why Tesla has increased the referral bounty of solar roof systems when the company has also recently stated that they are having trouble keeping up with demand for the PowerWall – Tesla’s home battery. As of April of this year, all Tesla solar systems (solar roof and traditional solar panel systems) require the purchase of one or more PowerWalls as part of the system.

The benefits of combining a large battery with a solar power system are significant: customers can save money and reduce strain on the grid by shifting their electricity usage from peak hours to off-peak hours. During peak usage hours, customers can draw electricity from the PowerWall instead of from the grid. They can then recharge the PowerWall from solar or from the grid during off-peak hours when power is cheaper. A PowerWall or two can also help provide continuous power to a customer during a blackout. Rather than installing a diesel or natural-gas powered backup generator, PowerWall owners can draw power from their own batteries and recharge those batteries from their solar panels until grid power is restored. But a PowerWall is still fairly expensive – currently $6,500 for the battery and $4,000 for additional hardware and installation. Current generation PowerWalls store around 13 kWh of electricity, which may not be enough capacity, depending on the length of the power outage. In some cases, Tesla recommends that multiple PowerWalls be installed to provide more backup power.

Tesla’s solar roof offers the benefits of solar power without traditional looking solar panels. Buyers of a Tesla solar roof can currently get $500 cash back by using a referral code from a current Tesla customer. Image courtesy of Tesla.

As for the referral program changes, Tesla has previously hinted that a new version of the referral program for car purchases could be coming at some point in the future, one that required more direct involvement and interaction between referrer and buyer. A new referral program may even require that the prospective buyer schedule a test drive in order to qualify for a referral bonus. Apparently the free supercharging perk of the previous referral program cost Tesla millions of dollars in the first quarter of this year, and the company may believe that the mechanism of the current referral program is too simple: click a link, get a bonus. By making the referral mechanism a little more complicated or labor intensive, Tesla may hope to be able to continue to offer an incentive to existing customers and to new buyers when a personal referral and connection is actually made. Tesla has not yet revealed any official details on a revised referral program for automobiles or traditional solar power systems.

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Environment

The EU wants to end all Russian gas imports. Moscow’s friends in the bloc say it’s a ‘serious mistake’

Published

2 hours ago

May 8, 2025

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The EU wants to end all Russian gas imports. Moscow's friends in the bloc say it's a 'serious mistake'

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during their joint press conference at the Kremlin on July 5, 2024.

Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Russia’s allies in Eastern Europe say Brussels plans to end all Russian gas and energy imports in the coming years are tantamount to “economic suicide” and a threat to the region’s energy security and economy.

The European Commission announced plans on Tuesday to phase out Russian gas, nuclear energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports by the end of 2027, saying the move “paves the way to ensure the EU’s full energy independence from Russia.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted the EU to ban most seaborne imports of Russian oil, coal and refined petroleum products, but reducing gas flows has proved more difficult. In 2024, almost 19% of the EU’s gas and LNG imports still came from Russia, according to data from the European Commission, although that’s down from 2021 when 45% of the region’s gas came from the major oil and gas exporter.

The EU’s latest proposals have already prompted a furious response from eastern European nations which have traditionally been more reliant on cheaper energy supplies from Russia, and which repeatedly warn of higher energy prices for consumers as a result of banning such supplies.

Slovakia and Hungary, whose governments have maintained warm ties with Moscow despite the war in Ukraine, described the EU’s latest plans as a “serious mistake” that would harm the region.

“We recognize the strategic goal of reducing energy dependence on third countries, and Slovakia is ready to work on this together with the European Union but … this is simply economic suicide to agree that neither gas, nor nuclear, nor oil [can be imported from Russia], that everything must end just because some new Iron Curtain is being built between the Western world and perhaps Russia and other countries,” Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said Wednesday, in comments reported by Slovak news agency TASR and translated by Google.

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico prior to their talks in Moscow on Dec. 22, 2024.

Gavriil Grigorov | Afp | Getty Images

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Wednesday that the EU’s proposals were “politically motivated” and a “serious mistake.”

“It threatens energy security, drives up prices and violates sovereignty. They want us to bear the cost of their reckless support for Ukraine and its rushed EU accession. We firmly reject this,” the minister commented on X.

Both Hungary and Slovakia have pushed back against previous EU initiatives to cut energy ties with Moscow, instead opting to maintain supplies amid fears of mounting energy costs at home.

Both have also been vocally critical of giving more military and financial assistance to Ukraine and have previously threatened refused to back the EU’s regular extensions of sanctions against Russia. Both looked to extract concessions from the bloc before approving their renewal, most recently in March.

In announcing its latest plans to distance itself from Russia, the EU said Tuesday that its “roadmap” to phasing out all Russian energy imports would first introduce a ban on all imports of Russian gas (both pipeline and LNG) under new contracts and existing spot contracts, which would take effect by the end of 2025, before all remaining imports are phased out by the end of 2027.

The Commission’s legislative proposals, to be presented in June, will require approval from the European Parliament and a qualified majority of member states, meaning the plans cannot be vetoed by just a few countries.

“We can adopt it without unanimity,” European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen said in a press conference Tuesday, adding, “I hope that everybody will vote for it, obviously, but if they don’t, that is also ok, that is also part of the European Union that sometimes the majority makes decisions when necessary.”

He added that the bloc was currently in an “unacceptable situation” in which it was dependent on a Russian state and leader, President Vladimir Putin, who had “chosen to weaponize energy.” He added that importing Russian gas had indirectly helped to fill the Kremlin’s “war chests” to continue its war against Ukraine.

The Commission said in its statement Tuesday that it envisaged a “gradual and well-coordinated” approach across bloc, with member states being asked to prepare national plans by the end of this year “setting out how they will contribute to phasing out imports of Russian gas, nuclear energy and oil.” It’s uncertain whether Slovakia and Hungary will accede to the request.

CNBC has asked the Kremlin for a response to the EU’s proposals and is awaiting a reply.

Environment

Tesla confirms it has given up on its Cybertruck range extender to achieve promised range

Published

7 hours ago

May 8, 2025

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Tesla confirms it has given up on its Cybertruck range extender to achieve promised range

Tesla has confirmed it has given up on plans to make a Cybertruck range extender to achieve the range it originally promised on the electric pickup truck.

It started refunding deposits for the $16,000 extra battery pack.

When Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck in late 2023, two main disappointments were the price and the range.

The tri-motor version, the most popular in reservation tallies before production, was supposed to have over 500 miles of range and start at $70,000.

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Tesla now sells the tri-motor Cybertruck for $100,000 and only has a range of 320 miles.

The dual-motor Cybertruck was supposed to cost $50,000 and have over 300 miles of range. In reality, it starts at $80,000 and has 325 miles of range.

However, Tesla had devised a solution to bring the range closer to what it originally announced: a separate battery pack that sits in the truck’s bed. Tesla called it a “range extender.” It costs $16,000 and takes up a third of the Cybertruck’s bed.

Even though the Cybertruck has been in production for a year and a half, the range extender has yet to launch.

Initially, Tesla said that it would come “early 2025”, but we reported in October 2024 that it was pushed to “mid-2025” late last year.

At the time, Tesla also reduced the range that the removable battery pack adds to the Cybertruck to “445+ miles” rather than “470+ miles” for the dual motor – a ~25-mile reduction in range.

Last month, Electrek reported that Tesla has quietly removed the range extender from the Cybertruck online configurator, where buyers could reserve it with a “$2,000 non-refundable deposit.”

At the time, we speculated that Tesla was most likely giving up on the product.

Sure enough, the automaker has now confirmed that it doesn’t plan to produce the range extender.

A Tesla Cybertruck owner contacted Electrek to share communication that Tesla started sending to Cybertruck owners who reserved the range extender, letting them know that the product is dead.

Tesla wrote in the email:

“We are no longer planning to sell the Range Extender for Cybertruck.”

The automaker says that it will start processing refunds for the deposits.

Here’s Tesla’s communication about the Cybertruck range extender in full:

Update to Your Cybertruck Range Extender Order

Hi [redacted],

Thank you for being a Cybertruck owner.

We are no longer planning to sell the Range Extender for Cybertruck. As a result, we will be refunding your deposit in full. The amount will be returned to the original payment method used for the transaction.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Tesla Team

Electrek’s Take

There could be many reasons why Tesla has given up on the product.

The range extender was confirmed to take 30% of the Cybertruck’s bed, and Tesla needed to install and remove it at a service center. Owners couldn’t remove them themselves. I think it was pretty much dead on arrival at $16,000.

But I think it could also be as simple as it’s not worth producing due to demand – both due to insufficient people reserving it and not enough Cybertruck buyers to create a market for the range extender.

Therefore, the range extender is dead for the same reason that the Cybertruck RWD now has the same battery pack as the AWD instead of a smaller pack for less money: the Cybertruck is a commercial flop, and it’s not a high-volume program enough to justify making several battery pack sizes, including a removable one.

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Environment

USTPO shuts down Tesla’s attempt to trademark ‘Robotaxi’ term

Published

7 hours ago

May 8, 2025

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USTPO shuts down Tesla's attempt to trademark 'Robotaxi' term

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO) has denied Tesla’s attempt to trademark the term “Robotaxi”. which it has been using to refer to its long-promised self-driving vehicles.

CEO Elon Musk has been using the term “robotaxi” for years.

At first, it was to refer to what its existing consumer vehicles (Model S, X, 3, Y and Cybertruck) would become once it finally delivers on its “full self-driving” promises– something that was supposed to happen by the end of every year for the last 6 years.

However, Tesla held its ‘We, Robot’ event in October 2024, where it unveiled two new vehicles, a dedicated robotaxi vehicle and a self-driving ‘Robovan’ – pictured above.

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Musk referred to the dedicated robotaxi vehicle as both a ‘Robotaxi’ and ‘Cybercab’.

Shortly after the event, we reported that Tesla filed trademarks for both terms, as well as ‘Robobus’ and ‘Robovan’.

Now, Techcrunch reports that USTPO has denied Tesla’s trademark application for being too generic:

Tesla’s attempt to trademark the term “Robotaxi” in reference to its vehicles has been refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for being too generic, according to a new filing. Another application by Tesla to trademark the term “Robotaxi” for its upcoming ride-hailing service is still under examination by the office.

USTPO notes that other companies and media have used the term ‘robotaxi” to refer to other self-driving vehicles.

The decision is “non-final”. Tesla can still appeal the decision.

Tesla also saw its trademark application for ‘Cybercab’ halted as USTPO reviews other applications using the term ‘cyber’.

Electrek’s Take

I don’t think Tesla should get a trademark for ‘Robotaxi’. It’s indeed too generic. ‘Cybercab’ should be fine though. If Tesla was able to get Cybertruck, it should be able to get ‘Cybercab’.

I hope the Cybercab works out better for them than the Cybertruck has so far.

But it’s tough to make a steering wheel-less vehicle works if you haven’t solved self-driving.

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