Tesla Draws Inspiration From Apple And Stops Including Charging Hardware In Its Cars

Apart from mimicking Apple's vertically integrated model, Tesla has now copied yet another thing from the world's wealthiest company. It has stopped including EV charging hardware with its cars claiming it wasn't used that often by its customers. Apple famously in 2020 stopped providing the charging brick of the iPhone with the launch of the iPhone 12, a move which has now been mimicked by the likes of Samsung and Xiaomi in the name of climate change. 

Tesla for the longest time sold its cars with a mobile charging cable but then recently it changed the policy. It now sells the level mobile charging cable for $75 dollars. It reduced the price from $275 after it received a lot of backlash for the move. 

"Usage statistics were super low, so seemed wasteful. On the (minor) plus side, we will be including more plug adapters with the mobile connector kit," said Elon Musk when quizzed about the issue. 

Tesla's cars have been known for their fast charging technology 
Photo Credit: www.tesla.com

Tesla's move while similar to Apple's is in practice much worse as Apple's users had accumulated chargers over the years. Mobile phone charging standards are quite standardised and the cost is rather minimal compared to what it costs to get a mobile charger for an EV. 

For instance, Tesla sells its level 2 charging kit for $400 which is almost the price of the iPhone SE. Tesla used to include a NEMA 14-50 level 2 connector and a connector for a regular level 1 outlet. Then it dropped the NEMA 14-50 connector and only included a NEMA 5-15 adaptor which has a max output of 1.3 kW that enables trickle charge speeds. But now, Tesla has removed the charging cable itself.