Elon Musk's Tesla is offering free charging for electric vehicles in 4 cities around Ukraine for those fleeing the country
- Tesla is offering free EV charging in parts of Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary that border Ukraine.
- The electric vehicle maker announced the news to local users in an email.
Tesla is offering free charging in parts of Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary that border Ukraine, where thousands of people are fleeing from conflict, reported Electrek.
The company announced the news in an email to local Tesla owners, according to Electrek, which covers electric vehicles and sustainable energy.
As of Monday, Tesla has temporarily enabled "free Supercharging for both Tesla and Non-Tesla vehicles at sites in areas impacted by the recent situation in Ukraine," Electrek reported, citing the email. The free charging service is available in four cities: Trzebownisko, Poland; Košice, Slovakia; and Miskolc and Debrecen in Hungary.
"We hope that this helps give you the peace of mind to get to a safe location," Tesla wrote in the email, per Electrek.
Tesla doesn't have operations in Ukraine. The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
An estimated 677,000 people have fled Ukraine for neighboring countries since Russia's invasion last week, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Monday.
Tesla has a history of proactively offering free Supercharging services for EV owners affected by natural disasters, such as those hit by Hurricane Florence and the California wildfires of 2018 — but this is the first time it's offering free charging for non-Tesla EV owners, according to Electrek.
The development comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk — who is also the CEO of SpaceX — personally responded to a weekend request from Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, for more Starlink stations. Musk said the SpaceX Starlink satellite service had been activated in Ukraine and promised terminals were on the way.
On Monday, Fedorov tweeted a photo that appears to show a truckload of Starlink terminals, saying they were now in the country.