Tesla Will Now Let You Drive Away From A Supercharger In An Emergency

Tesla says misuse of the feature could result in "additional penalties," since each use can cause up to $25,000 in damages.

Photo by: Twitter

By: Rob Stumpf

Oct 2, at 11:54am ET

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Tesla will begin rolling out a new Emergency Drive Away feature to its vehicles.
This will let cars drive away from a Tesla Supercharger while still connected to the stall.
It warns that the safety feature is only to be used in emergencies and can cause up to $25,000 in damages to the charger.

Tesla is releasing a new safety feature for its cars. It's not automatic collision evasion—that was last month—instead, it's something that will allow owners to escape dangerous scenarios when their cars are stationary.

The feature is called "Emergency Drive Away," and it allows owners to quickly drive away when charging at a Tesla Supercharging station while the charger is still connected to their car. In an X post, Max de Zegher, Tesla's senior director of charging for North America, called it "a feature we hope you never need."

"We select Supercharger locations with safety in mind and relocate sites deemed unsafe. Our goal is that you always feel safe getting out to unplug," he said. "We went back and forth on this for years, but believe offering it is the right call. Don't abuse it, so we don't have to restrict it."

It comes just two months after a high-profile shooting at an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho that spilled over into a nearby Supercharging station. The gunman opened fire on vehicles at the Supercharging station, including one that was unable to drive away while it was connected to the charger.

To activate the new feature, owners put the car in Drive, accept a pop-up on the screen acknowledging that using the feature will damage both their vehicle and the Supercharging station, and then mash the gas.

Tesla says that using Emergency Drive Away will require a "mandatory" service visit for the vehicle charge port. Slowing down a video Tesla shared shows the motorized charging door going limp, though it's not clear what other damage may have occurred to the port. Driving away with the charger attached also causes the Supercharger's plug to break away from the cable. We can also see the Supercharger's coolant spill from the charging cable.

Tesla says that the cost for electrical and civil envineering work to repair the Supercharging stall can be as high as $25,000, so it's taking all activations of the feature seriously. It will even send recorded clips of each use directly to Tesla, according to the notification shown in Tesla's demo video.

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Tesla calls it a "peace of mind feature" and notes that it is only to be used in an emergency. If all of the other warnings aren't enough to dissuade you, Tesla also cautions that deliberate misuse will "invoke additional penalties."

The automaker will begin rolling out Emergency Drive Away to cars via an over-the-air update. It warns that it only works on Tesla Superchargers—not third-party charging stations or Level 2 Tesla Wall Connectors—and only in the U.S.