Angry Supercharger Landlord Shuts Down Station After Tesla Stopped Paying Him Rent

Tesla’s vast Supercharger network is often described as the best and most extensive charging setup in the world. There are reportedly more than 1,200 stations in the United States alone, and each has at least several chargers for owners to make use of. This handy specimen of EV infrastructure won’t only be the reserve of Model S Plaid owners either as Tesla plans to open the system up to other brands in the USA very soon.

But, before that happens, Musk’s carmaker may want to brush up on basic admin. According to one Supercharger landlord, Tesla hasn’t coughed up the rent for the past few months. A video posted to a Facebook page called Electric Cars shows an angered property owner hastily covering the charging stations with brown bags.

In the video, the owner alleges that Tesla has not paid rent for a prolonged period of time. “They haven’t paid me rent since November of last year. They’re supposed to be paying me for each charging station. They paid me nothing. They will not answer my emails or my phone calls…nobody is charging on them until they start paying me what they owe me.”

Signs which read “Out of service – call Tesla” can be seen on the charging stations. The person behind the camera notes that this purported rent issue may cause issues for Tesla drivers commuting to and from certain Utah locations.

“It sounds like Beaver, Utah could use some rent being paid. Coming from Salt Lake City and going to St. George, this is one of the only Supercharging stations, and it’s already limited to six or seven.”

Tesla is yet to comment on this particular matter and we must note that we aren’t aware of other Supercharger landlords facing similar issues. If, however, there is truth in the allegations being leveled at Tesla, this could be problematic for the California-based company.

As good as the network may be, the Supercharger infrastructure isn’t entirely perfect. One Model 3 owner was hit with a $600,000 charging bill, which later turned out to be an error on Tesla’s part. It’s not all negative, though. In a gesture to help fleeing Ukrainians, the company’s CEO made the service free in order for EV drivers to reach a safe destination.

Hopefully, these allegations turn out to be nothing more than a sloppy administrative error. For years, Tesla has remained at the top but issues such as this could allow the opposition to leap ahead, something Siemens is aiming to do with its planned charging network.