It seems like all parts of the once "too good to be true" Tesla narrative are - well, turning out to be too good to be true.

Today on the docket: Superchargers. Yes, believe it or not, the idea of free, unlimited supercharging for life that would essentially make driving free in Tesla vehicles has succumb to reality, much like Tesla as a whole of late. Now, the latest bad news for Tesla owners is that some Superchargers in busy areas will be limiting charges to 80% of batteries to "reduce wait times". The news was first reported on by electrek.

We’re not sure whether or not Tesla knows that this will simply have these people back at a Supercharger quicker than they normally would have been, but again, as usual, we digress.

Tesla sent out a memo to employees over the last couple of days announcing the change:

Today, we released a new Supercharger feature that will limit owners’ State of Charge (SOC) to 80% at select high-traffic sites.

The change is going to affect 17% of all Supercharger stations in the United States. The limit will apply to 8% of stations at all times and another 9% will have the limitation only during busy times. Owners will be alerted to the change when they are at a corresponding Supercharger.

Tesla went one step further to explain why the limit was being enforced:

“80% SOC Limit will be enforced 24/7 at all impacted sites. Please note, some sites will have 80% SOC limits enforced on a permanent basis while others will only be enforced on national holidays and to accommodate large regional events (e.g. Coachella).”

Of course, as many skeptics predicted would happen a long time ago, Supercharger stations get busy on holidays and heavy travel days, resulting in long wait times. Tesla claims that the new "feature", which isn't really a "feature" at all, should result in a "34% improvement in throughput" at the stations:

“When combined with the recently released On-Route Battery Warmup feature and V2 Supercharger upgrades (to 150 kW), we expect 80% SOC Limit enforcement to result in a 34% improvement in throughput at our busiest Supercharging locations – creating a better, more efficient Superching experience for our owners.”

Tesla has reportedly bypassed the limitation for owners that are on long-distance trips – but if a Supercharger is your end destination, you may not be able to give your car a 100% charge anymore.

And despite being "OK" with the new feature, electrek couldn’t help but muse: