UPDATE 2: Looks like Tesla has reinstated the missing Supercharger credits. More details here.
UPDATE: It appears this may be a result of a change to the terms and limits of Tesla’s referral program. Further details have been added below. Drive Tesla Canada has reached out to Tesla for comment, and will update this story.
Today saw another mass deployment of Tesla’s latest software update, 2020.12.5, which features the new DashCam Viewer and cone visualizations for drivers with HW2.5 computers.
But the update appears to have had one more hidden feature that most people definitely didn’t want – the loss of all your free Supercharging credits.
When you own a Tesla, you get a unique referral link to share with prospective Tesla purchasers. If they use your referral link when purchasing their Tesla, both you and the purchaser get a reward from Tesla (unless you live in BC, then only the person buying the vehicle gets the reward because of the law that says only a registered car sales person can earn rewards from selling a car).
The typical reward for a referral is 1,500km of free Supercharging (or 1,000 miles), but sometimes there are bonus periods where you can earn up to 7,500km of free Supercharging.
These credits, according to the fine print, expire after 6 months. If you get multiple referrals, they stack and the date extends past the first 6 months. Tesla doesn’t seem to stay on top of these expiry dates, and they often last well past their expiry dates.
This issue is not limited to Canada, as Drive Tesla Canada has received reports from across North America of loot boxes being completely empty after performing the software update today.
I had about 7000 km and 2 months to expiry. Do not see it in Loot box
— Bagheera (@IBatrinac) April 11, 2020
Many of these users are also well within the expiry dates of their free Supercharger credits, so this appears to be a widespread bug that Tesla will hopefully resolve soon.
I’m in Quebec. Referral from March 2020 and kms gone. 😰
— LuÃs Andrade (@luisquebec) April 11, 2020
Ive had my car just under 11 months. When i bought mine i had 7500km of free supercharging (which technically lasts 6 months) and then i had one referral take delivery so that should add another 6 months i guess. So im definitely in my eligibility period of actiVe referral km.
— Kaushik Krishna VR (@kkvr2823) April 11, 2020
Is your loot box now empty? How many credits did you lose? Let us know in the comments below.
UPDATE: One of our readers, @teslainvernon, discovered that recently Tesla has changed the terms and limits of their Referral Program.
The important change is the elimination of being allowed to stack your referral credits. In the original Referral Program limits, Tesla stated each additional referral extended the expiry date of your referral credits an additional 6 months. So for example, if you had 2 referrals, your credits would last for 12 months. This is otherwise known as stacking.
The new Referral Program Limits, found below, no longer reference the stacking of referral credits. They also only refer to referrals made on or after October 1, 2019. There is a “Previous Referral Program” section, which details some of the original referral programs like the Wall Connector and Wheel awards. There is no mention in this section of the referral program above that allowed you to stack your credits.
Even if this is the case, this should not impact referral credits that were earned under the Limits of the previous program. Hopefully Tesla corrects this and refunds those owners who had their referral credits taken away from them.
