New Delhi: In a bid to support people around Ukraine amid the crisis, electric vehicle company Tesla has started offering free Supercharging in several countries around Ukraine as people decide to flee following the Russian invasion. The Elon Musk-owned EV maker, in an email to local owners, mentioned that it is making several Supercharger stations near the Ukrainian borders with those countries free to use for both Tesla and non-Tesla EVs, the media has reported.
The Musk-owned EV maker is known to offer free Supercharging in regions hit by natural calamities when they travel away from danger and now, for the first time, Tesla is doing it for not a natural disaster, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a report published by Electrek. Many people have decided to flee to other neighbouring countries such as Poland and Slovakia for safety and Tesla is helping them by offering free Supercharging.
"Beginning Monday, we are temporarily enabling free Supercharging for both Tesla and Non-Tesla vehicles at sites in areas impacted by the recent situation in Ukraine. Starting with Trzebownisko (Poland), Košice (Slovakia), Miskolc (Hungary), Debrecen (Hungary)," the email reads.
"We hope that this helps give you the peace of mind to get to a safe location. As always tap any site on your car's touchscreen to see current pricing. Safe travels," it added.
Meanwhile, Musk, also the CEO SpaceX said that his company Starlink has activated its internet services in the conflict-struck Ukraine amid reports of internet outages in the country. As per the civil society groups, there is a huge possibility of direct attacks on the internet infrastructure of Ukraine by Russia, causing internet outages. Ukrainian vice-president Mykhailo Fedorov asked the billionaire to provide internet services using Starlink stations in Ukraine "to address sane Russians to stand" on Twitter.
Starlink is among the growing numbers of firms launching small satellites as part of a low-Earth orbit network to deliver low-latency broadband internet services around the world, focusing on distant locations where terrestrial internet infrastructure lags.