650 Supercharging miles is not 2,000 km: the most-copied UK referral error

By Elliot Marsh · Published 2 September 2026 · Updated 2 September 2026

If you have read three UK referral pages this week, there is a fair chance one of them quoted you a mainland-European number. The two figures look similar enough to swap by accident, and the swap always goes the same direction: the UK benefit gets inflated.

The two figures, side by side

The UK referral benefit on a new Model 3 or Model Y is roughly 650 free Supercharging miles. Mainland Europe, since April 2026, is roughly 2,000 km — a figure that itself doubled from about 1,000 km that month.

650 miles is about 1,046 km. So the mainland reward is not the same number in different units; it is close to twice the distance. A page that prints "2,000 km" on a UK guide is not making a rounding error, it is describing a different market's programme.

Why the mistake spreads so easily

Three reasons, and they compound. Referral content is heavily rewritten from other referral content, so one error propagates. The April 2026 doubling gave every European page a fresh number to copy, right at the moment UK pages were also being updated. And the UK reward is denominated in miles while the mainland one is in kilometres, so a writer converting units can easily convince themselves the two are the same claim.

How to check a UK page in ten seconds

1. Look for the unit. A UK page quoting kilometres is quoting somebody else's market.
2. Look for the number. 650 miles is the UK figure. 1,000 or 2,000 km is not.
3. Look for a flat cash figure. Pages promising a flat £500 for every model are describing an older programme; the UK benefit is charging distance, not a credit.
4. Look for a date. Not a copyright year — a date attached to the claim. Tesla's terms carry a 24 February 2026 revision date and the programme moved at least five times this year.

What 650 miles is actually worth

This is where the honest answer is less exciting than a headline. The value depends on what you would otherwise have paid, and UK Supercharging pricing varies by site and by time of day. What can be said without inventing a figure: 650 miles at typical Model 3 or Model Y consumption is somewhere around 150–190 kWh of energy, which is roughly four to six Supercharger sessions of the size most people actually take.

Multiply that by the per-kWh price shown in your own Tesla app before you plug in, and you have a real number for your own driving. Any page that gives you a single confident pound figure has guessed at your tariff, your consumption and your charging habits.

Why the UK figure did not move when Europe's did

Nobody outside Tesla can answer that with authority, and this page will not pretend to. What is worth noting is that the UK sits outside the EU regulatory perimeter for the other half of the referral story: the North American benefit is an FSD trial, mainland Europe kept charging distance, and the UK kept charging distance at its own, smaller number. Three markets, three answers, one programme.

The mechanics are the same everywhere, and they are what costs money

Whatever the number, the way you get it does not change:

• Open the referral link before you configure, in the browser you will order in.
• Finish the order in that session rather than returning through a search result.
• Read the order summary before you pay. The benefit line is the only proof it attached — and a referral cannot be added after the order is placed, by you, by support, or by the person who shared the code.

One more UK-specific correction while you are here

Tesla is absent from the published eligible list for the UK's Electric Car Grant, so there is no government grant for a UK Tesla buyer to stack the referral benefit on top of. That makes the referral the only manufacturer-side saving available to most UK buyers — which is a reason to attach it properly, and not a reason to believe an inflated figure about it.

The takeaway

Trust 650 miles, in miles, on a Model 3 or Model Y, applied at checkout, expiring on a clock measured from the day it is granted. Everything else you read about the UK benefit — a flat £500, 2,000 km, free FSD — belongs to another market or another year. The next page in this series follows that expiry clock, because it is shorter than most people assume.

• Tesla Support UK — Refer and Earn
• Tesla UK — Supercharging
• Electrek — Tesla Referral Program guide