Tesla is giving away free charging so Superchargers don't get slammed during the Thanksgiving travel rush

• Tesla is giving away free charging to owners in California this week.
• The goal is to stop popular charging stations from getting slammed amid Thanksgiving travel.

This holiday travel season is shaping up to be the busiest since the pandemic began.

That'll mean enormous amounts of traffic and, potentially, long and frustrating wait times at electric-car charging stations as owners flock to plug in before hitting the road.

Tesla wants to curb the rush on its Superchargers by offering free charging during off-peak hours at certain locations. It announced the promotion in a tweet on Monday.

From Wednesday, November 24 through Sunday, November 28, Tesla owners can charge up for free before 10 a.m and after 7 p.m. Roughly 40 chargers along California travel routes, including one location in Nevada, are included in the offer.

Over the last nine years, Tesla has built out a vast and growing network of Superchargers that now encompasses more than 1,000 stations in the US. Still, locations can get overwhelmed in areas with lots of Teslas, mainly California, and Tesla owners have been known to complain about long wait times.

In 2019, some owners took to social media to vent about long lines to charge over the Thanksgiving weekend. That year, Tesla deployed a mobile charging station at a Supercharger location halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco to ease the holiday rush.

Tesla consistently installs new Superchargers around the country. But demand for plugs is set to shoot up once the company allows other vehicles to charge at its stations, something Tesla is piloting in Norway.