Tesla is now facing a class-action lawsuit when it was recently sued by an owner alleging the automaker broke its promise to provide free charging of its electric vehicles for life, according to a Bloomberg report.
Kevin Shenkman filed his complaint in Alameda County, California state court which has jurisdiction over Tesla’s Fremont plant. He alleges that Tesla charges a fee to customers who leave their car at the charging station too long.
Tesla began charging drivers to use its Supercharger network in 2017 but those who purchased vehicles from 2012 to 2016 were exempt.
The complaint alleges that Tesla promised free Supercharging for life in order to convince early customers to buy its vehicles. In order to deal with congestion at the charging stations, Tesla imposed a fee on customers who did not return to their vehicles immediately after they were charged.
Shenkman’s class-action lawsuit will allow other early Tesla owners to become plaintiffs. He is seeking a return of these charges as well as punitive damages. The lawsuit also seeks an order to stop Tesla from imposing the fees.
“To compound the matter, when a customer, such as plaintiff, who has been promised free Supercharging for life, refuses to pay such ‘Supercharger fees,’ Tesla cuts off Supercharging access entirely, thus disabling a feature for which customers paid thousands of dollars extra to obtain,” Shenkman told Bloomberg.