Tesla released API pricing for third-party apps and the developer says it will cost them $60 million a year to run their third-party Tesla app under these new prices.
After years of operating in a gray area without an official API, which is an interface to communicate with the service, Tesla's third-party applications finally received official API documentation late last year.
It's currently focused on fleet management, but developers hope it will be the first step in building a healthy third-party app ecosystem for Tesla.
Today, Tesla released the usage rates for its Fleet API, and it's shocking many app developers:
Tesla has installed a cost estimation calculator based on different signals, commands, and data requirements.
It doesn't mean much to me, but the developer of the Tessie app, a third-party Tesla analytics and automation app, has used it and said on Reddit that it would cost about $60 million in API fees to run his app under this the price. model:
“I would owe Tesla about $60 million a year at current rates.”
That's 400,000 Tesla drivers reportedly using the app.
Obviously, that's not a sustainable price point, but luckily, the developer says they can get around it by ditching the API and using “direct vehicle communication via IP and BLE.”
Tesla also released its own fleet management features recently, which could explain the move, which throws cold water on third-party apps.
Tyler Corsair, the founder of Teslascope, another Tesla third-party app, added that their API costs will add about 7.5 times to the app's monthly revenue. According to some devs, they are not even among the worst placed.
Electrek's Take
This is reminiscent of the situation Reddit had last year when it revised its API pricing, which led to the killing of third-party apps that were more popular than the Reddit mobile app.
Sad to see Tesla go that way.
It will probably kill some useful third-party applications. Fortunately, it sounds like some will be able to work with it, but I wouldn't be surprised to see others drop out amid what could be considered a hostile move from Tesla to third-party apps.
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