Tesla kills sponsorship programs for cars and solar panels

If you were hoping to earn a few thousand Supercharge miles from Tesla credentials, we’re afraid it’s already too late. In a notice on its website spotted by Electrek, Tesla said that “automotive products and solar panels are no longer eligible for sponsorship rewards” as of September 18. The company’s only active program at the moment is for the Solar Roof, which rewards referrers with monetary rewards of up to $ 500 and free Powerwalls.

Tesla’s referral program has changed dramatically over the years. The automaker promised top referrers new Roadsters and up to six months of free Supercharge. It eventually became too expensive to be sustainable, so the company decided to discontinue the program. Tesla introduced a new one with more reasonable rewards soon after, however, promising at least 1,000 miles of free Supercharge.

When it relaunched the program with updated terms, the company said it “had heard from customers that the referral program was one of their favorite reasons to tell their friends about Tesla.” It’s unclear if it would come back this time around for the same reason, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it did. Note, however, that Tesla has yet to deliver on some of its biggest promises to referrers. As Electrek Notes, he has yet to deliver the Roadsters his top referrers have won, and people have complained on the online forums that they are not receiving free Powerwalls and other rewards from years ago.