Any business or entrepreneur wanting to learn how to improve their customer service, or just their general interaction with the public on social media, may want to take notes from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. That’s because his actions are once again a hot topic after he resolved an issue related to Tesla’s Supercharger network, just under a week after a customer on Twitter messaged Musk about the problem.
A Tesla owner in California tweeted directly at Elon Musk on the social media platform to complain that fellow Tesla owners where hogging spots at a charging station in San Carlos (a city in San Mateo County). Tesla cars across the globe can use a network of what are called Superchargers, which recharge the batteries in the cars and can only be used by Tesla models.
The Tesla owner who complained to Musk, Loic Le Meur, explained to the website Medium that he was “driving to a meeting in Silicon Valley and had to charge my Tesla.”
He added: “I decided to stop at the San Carlos supercharger on my way to Palo Alto and there were 5 other Tesla cars waiting in line to get a charging space. Most drivers seemed to have gone somewhere else as their cars were charging.”
Realising that the Tesla owners who had left their cars charging had likely gone to nearby shops or restaurants, even when the cars were fully charged, Meur tweeted at Musk and got a swift response from him.
@loic You're right, this is becoming an issue. Supercharger spots are meant for charging, not parking. Will take action.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2016
Six days later, Tesla announced a new policy for its Supercharger network described as “a fleet-wide idle fee that aims to increase Supercharger availability.”
The announcement reminded Tesla owners that the company’s app will alert them when their car’s charge is nearly complete. It added: “For every additional minute a car remains connected to the Supercharger, it will incur a $0.40 idle fee.” The fee is erased if the car is moved within five minutes.
According to numerous online reports, a line for “idle fees” was found in the updated code of Tesla’s webpage some months ago, making it possible that this recent announcement was coming soon anyway.
Whatever the case is exactly, various media outlets have praised Musk for his swift and decisive action following the original tweets. Some have commented with bewilderment as to how Musk, who manages various business including both Tesla and SpaceX, can manage his time well enough to use Twitter in such an efficient manner.