- Tesla will stop selling its cars with charging cables included, CEO Elon Musk said.
- Musk said Tesla will drop the price of the accessory by $75 to $200.
- Tesla owners often charge at Supercharger stations, so the cable isn't strictly necessary.
It's a common refrain among Tesla fans that Tesla is a tech company, not a car company. Tesla CEO Elon Musk just helped prove them right by taking a page out of Apple's playbook.
Tesla has stopped including charging cables with its electric cars, Musk said in a series of tweets Saturday. In 2020, Apple stopped shipping iPhones with wall adapters included, drawing the ire of customers worldwide.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2022At the time, Apple said the move would help cut the iPhone's environmental impact by allowing the company to use less packaging. Musk made a similar justification, saying that including the mobile connector "seemed wasteful," given that "usage statistics were super low."
While Apple customers may have a charging brick or 10 laying around, Tesla owners don't have that luxury. In fairness, you don't absolutely need Tesla's mobile connector and some owners probably never touch it.
Like most car companies, Tesla includes a cable that plugs into a standard outlet and fully charges a car incredibly slowly, adding just a few miles of range per hour. Many owners choose to charge at high-powered Tesla Supercharging stations or install a higher-capacity charger at home, which Tesla sells for $495. Still, a portable charging cable can come in handy in a pinch, especially if an owner finds themselves far from home or a public charging station.
Almost every electric vehicle on sale comes with an at-home charging cable in the trunk or frunk.
"Based on feedback received," Musk said that Tesla will drop the price of the mobile connector by $75 — to $200 — and "make it easy to order with the car." The product is currently sold out on Tesla's website, though it's unclear how long that has been the case.
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