How to save money at Tesla Superchargers

At a Supercharger, Tesla bills per kilowatt-hour. What fewer drivers know is that this kilowatt-hour does not cost the same everywhere, or at every hour, and the gap has widened this year. Since late April 2026, many French stations have raised their daytime rates, with variations that depend on the time, the location and how busy the station is, as L’Automobile Magazine reported on May 11, 2026.

On Tesla invoices from September 2026 in France, at the Tesla owner rate and including taxes, a kilowatt-hour cost from €0.16 to €0.42. For a 50 kWh charge, that is €8 on one side, €21 on the other, for exactly the same energy. Tesla applies time-of-day pricing in many other countries too, and the same logic holds.

And owners are the lucky ones. According to the same magazine, drivers of other brands without a membership were paying €0.55 to €0.70 per kilowatt-hour during the day in May, up to €0.74 in Le Chesnay. Driving a Tesla gets you the member rate from day one; the rest is about making the most of it.

The gap is no accident. It comes down to things you can choose: the time, the station, and sometimes the network.

1. Charge in the evening, at night or early in the morning

This is by far the most powerful lever. In our September data, charges started between 9 pm and 8 am were often billed between €0.16 and €0.23 per kWh. Between 10 am and 7 pm, nearly all of them were billed between €0.34 and €0.41. L’Automobile Magazine also put the owners’ night rate at around €0.20, between 10 pm and 8 am.

The gap shows up at the very same station:

• in Dardilly, near Lyon: €0.16 at 4 am, €0.40 at 7 pm;
• in Blagnac: €0.21 at midnight and at 6 am, €0.38 in the afternoon;
• in Montpellier: €0.17 at 7 am, €0.34 at 6 pm.

Each station has its own schedule. Near Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport, the magazine found €0.68 from 10 am to 11 pm for drivers without a membership, €0.28 until 4 am, then €0.37 until 10 am: three rates in a single day. Elsewhere, the lower rate starts at 9 pm, or only at 11 pm. On a road trip, stopping early in the morning rather than late in the morning can be enough to halve the bill.

2. Check the price before you pick a station

During the day, not all stations are equal either. In September 2026, a kilowatt-hour cost €0.34 in Auxerre or Chartres, €0.38 in Rouen and €0.40 in Le Chesnay.

The car’s screen and the Tesla app show the rate of every Supercharger: one tap on its icon is enough. When two stations sit on your route a few miles apart, a six-cent gap is three euros on a 50 kWh charge. Over a year of road trips, it adds up.

3. During the day, look at the other networks

Your Tesla also charges on other fast-charging networks, and in the middle of the day the Supercharger is no longer always the cheapest. With their memberships, some of them listed lower rates than a daytime Supercharger in May, according to L’Automobile Magazine:

• Electra: €0.29 per kWh on its own stations, with the €9.99 monthly plan;
• Ionity: €0.33 per kWh with the €119.99 yearly plan, against €0.54 without a membership.

These plans only pay off if you charge often on those networks, during the day: run the numbers on your own charges before signing up, and check current rates, which move. At night, the Supercharger is still by far the best price.

4. Don’t stay plugged in once charging is done

At a busy station, Tesla can charge per-minute idle fees when the car stays plugged in after charging has finished. They land on the invoice and buy you nothing.

The Tesla app tells you when charging is almost done: that is the moment to go back and move the car, even if your coffee isn’t finished.

5. Take what you need, not more

Above 80%, charging power drops: the last few percent cost the same per kilowatt-hour, but much more time. On a road trip, two short stops between 10 and 80% often beat one long stop to 100%.

And if you are heading home, don’t arrive with a full battery paid at the daytime rate: take just enough to get home, and charge there off-peak, where a kilowatt-hour is usually far cheaper. The guide Charging your Tesla off-peak explains how to set the car up once and for all.

Know what you really pay

You can apply these five habits at your very next stop. You still need to know whether they pay off: how much your last road trip cost, which station costs you the most, whether your night charges were really billed at the lower rate, and whether a membership on another network would be worth it.

That is exactly what iCar for Tesla does:

• every Supercharger session shows up in My charges with the amount actually billed by Tesla, the price per kilowatt-hour, the station and the energy received;
• the Chargers tab groups your charges by station, with their average price: you see at a glance where you pay the most;
• charges on other networks show up too, with the energy measured by the car and the cost at the rate you entered;
• every trip shows its cost, at the rate of your last charge;
• Tesla invoices can land in your inbox on their own, and the monthly report sends you the month’s spending, ready for an expense claim.

No spreadsheet, no invoice to download one by one: iCar reads your Tesla invoices and keeps the count for you. The guide What does charging a Tesla really cost? details the method, and the Battery & Charging page shows the screen.

Install iCar for Tesla, link your car, and open My charges: your next charges will show up there with their real price.