Tesla Superchargers are overwhelmed by new Uber drivers in NYC
Some Tesla Superchargers are getting overwhelmed by new Uber drivers in New York City after a new program enabled a lot of Tesla ridesharing vehicles in the city.
Last year, New York City became the first major city to mandate that rideshare fleets be electric by 2030.
To help move things along, the city made 10,000 new EV licenses available to Uber and Lift drivers. Tesla vehicles have been the most popular choice for drivers using these new licenses.
Uber and Tesla have also been working together to get rideshare drivers into Tesla vehicles through discounts.
However, these new initiatives have resulted in a lot of pressure on Tesla Superchargers in NYC.
Yesterday, the situation reached a peak, with several local owners reporting massive lines at Supercharger stations.
Here’s one in Brooklyn:
Another in New York:
A quick check of the Superchargers in the region today shows that it is not as bad, but there are still wait times at a few locations in New York and neighboring New Jersey:
To mitigate the situation, Tesla announced yesterday that it implemented its new “congestion fee” at the local Supercharger station in New York.
The new congestion fee was first introduced by Tesla in November, and it consists of a new charge of $1 per minute when charging past 90%. Since the last 10% is the slowest to charge, this encourages drivers to have shorter charging sessions at the Supercharger stations.
Revel, which operates its own electric ride-hailing fleet in New York, mostly consisting of Tesla vehicles, anticipated that issue and built its own EV charging “superhubs” in the region:
While it uses the charging stations for its own growing fleet, the chargers are also open to the public.
Revel spokesperson Robert Familar told Electrek that the company saw a nearly 4x increase in public use of its chargers over the last two months. The company credits this to the new program putting more rideshare drivers into electric vehicles:
Revel’s public fast-charging Superhubs have seen about four times more public utilization in the last two months, which we see as a direct outcome of the Green Rides initiative. We’re anticipating an even greater uptick as more drivers look to skip long lines and come charge with us.
While non-Tesla chargers are a good alternative, Tesla is also planning new Supercharger stations in the region to alleviate the issue. A new station in Brooklyn and one on Staten Island are planned for this year.
Electrek’s Take
This is the kind of problem I like to see because it means that EV adoption is growing, but with that comes growing pains.
It is certainly a problem for Tesla drivers, but the congestion fees seem to already have had a positive impact since today’s situation looks much better than yesterday – albeit still having some wait times at certain stations.
It will be interesting to see if Tesla can deploy new stations fast enough to keep up with the growing fleet.
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Lucid Motors (LCID) is recruiting more high-profile stars to spotlight its new luxury electric SUV, the Gravity.
The luxury EV maker is teaming up with some of the NBA’s biggest stars, Jalen Brunsen and Josh Hart, in its latest collaboration.
Lucid enlisted Jalen and Josh, teammates on the New York Knicks, for a new market campaign designed to celebrate “those who refuse to settle for the status quo.”
Keep a lookout this Wednesday, October 22, during the New York Knicks home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers to see Jalen and Josh hype the Lucid Gravity electric SUV.
Lucid, Hart, and Brunson plan to showcase “how precise performance, cultural influence, and athletic excellence come together — on the court, on the road, and in the moments that move individuals.” The partnership is the latest as Lucid builds a roster of high-profile celebrities and athletes to promote the brand.
“To be one of the best, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes,” Brunson said, adding “It’s a commitment to improving every day, and never accepting that you can’t reach that next level. I see that same passion for excellence in Lucid.”
Lucid said the collaboration “underscores the brand’s mission to compromise nothing” as it builds a roster of high-profile celebs and athletes to promote the new Gravity electric SUV.
In August, Lucid teamed up with Timothée Chalamet, its first global brand ambassador, for an ad campaign called “Driven.”
Lucid also attended NFL star Travis Kelce’s, Kelce Car Jam last month. For every test drive, Lucid donated $87 to Kelce’s Eighty-Seven and Running Foundation. Kelce founded Eighty-Seven & Running in 2015 to mentor disadvantaged youth, help develop their skills, and motivate them to get out and do their best.
As it ramps up output, the EV maker has been actively promoting the Gravity. Last week, Lucid trolled Tesla on social media in a video asking Elon Musk’s Grok, “What’s the best luxury EV?”
Grok’s answer: The 2025 Lucid Air. Do you agree? ChatGPT and CoPilot said the same.
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Elon Musk has openly threatened to leave Tesla, or at least his role as CEO, if he doesn’t get his ridiculous compensation.
He is now saying the quiet part out loud.
Tesla shareholders are about to vote on a new, controversial compensation package for Elon Musk.
While many are focused on the ridiculous size of the stock options, which could be worth up to $1 trillion, many analysts have highlighted other problems with the package.
A Reuters report last week noted that, with business as usual and a market capitalization growth below the S&P average, Musk could still receive one or even two tranches of his compensation package, worth between $20 billion and $40 billion.
In short, under the rules of the package, Musk could receive the biggest payday in history for returning below average returns.
That’s on top of the CEO already having received more compensation from Tesla than the company has earned in profits since its existence.
One commentator on X pointed out the concern about the first tranche of the compensation plan. Instead of addressing the genuine concern, Musk responded by boasting about Tesla’s market capitalization and suggesting that he won’t be Tesla’s CEO if he doesn’t get the pay:
Tesla is worth more than all other automotive companies combined. Which of those CEOs would you like to run Tesla? It won’t be me.
The CEO then shared posts encouraging Tesla shareholders to vote for the shareholders meeting, which is happening on November 6th.
Electrek’s Take
There are many issues with this comment. First off, it completely ignores a real problem with the comp package. Even if you believe that Musk would deserve $1 trillion in compensation for bringing Tesla’s valuation to $20 trillion, the package shouldn’t allow for Musk to make tens of billions from below average return.
It looks like the package is being used as a trojan horse to dazzle shareholders with the promise of unlikely crazy returns when the more likely outcome is to give Musk what would still be a record compensation for Tesla delivering a below average return on investment.
The fact that Musk doesn’t want to address this clear issue is a red flag.
Furthermore, Musk is using a dirty card: you play by my rules or I’m gone.
This is what I previously called the ‘Tesla Dilemma’: Elon Musk is destroying Tesla’s profitable car business, but at the current valuation, his lies about self-driving and robots is what is keeping the stock alive.
Therefore, Tesla shareholders are disincentivized to vote against Musk if he threatens to leave because he would leave with his stock pumping lies – leading in the stock crashing.
He has a complete hold on Tesla and he is going to force shareholders to give him another ridiculous stock compensation package.
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