Tesla Talks Supercharger Improvements: Types of Cars Plugged In, Faster Data Refreshing and More

November 27, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently published an article on X detailing some of the improvements they’ve made to the Supercharging ecosystem to make it better for everyone. And boy, have they made a lot of improvements just this year - and with the recent announcement of the V4 Supercharger Cabinets capable of 500kW, it's going to get even better next year.

Since Tesla began opening its Supercharger sites to approved third parties, one key point of contention has been the charge port location. Every Tesla has its charge port on the rear left side of the vehicle, behind the driver. Superchargers before V4 rely on this location, and thus, non-Tesla vehicles with a port in a different location sometimes have to take up two stalls to charge.

Supercharger Improvements

Tesla has been making many improvements recently, even looking beyond the more powerful V4 cabinets coming in early 2025. Let’s take a look at all the work they’ve done and what’s coming up as well.

Cars Plugged In & Faster Data

One of the key updates has been to improve the overall accuracy of stall availability - the backend system refreshes fairly quickly, providing an accurate stall count - which helps to improve navigation and trip planner improvements too. Tesla announced that it’s now able to detect what type of EV is plugged in so that it can better assess charging estimates and determine if a vehicle may be taking up two stalls and automatically takes this into account when routing vehicles.

Max de Zegher, Director of Supercharging North America, mentioned on X that the stall availability now refreshes every 15 seconds, and with mapped Supercharger site layouts, Tesla can see which stalls are available.

The updated stall availability algorithm is a big improvement, with nearby refresh rates now every ~15 seconds. We know car types plugging in and mapped out Supercharger site layouts, to know which stall is not available at short cable sites. Your Tesla's touchscreen now shows… https://t.co/5PF7wruNhQ
— Max de Zegher (@MdeZegher) November 22, 2024

V4 Chargers to Outnumber V2 & V3 Combined

As part of the V4 Supercharger stall upgrade, Tesla has been deploying stalls with longer cables and stalls with built-in adapters for CCS vehicles. These new longer cables mean that Tesla’s Supercharger sites can serve more vehicle charge port layouts without having to block a stall. That increases site availability, and Tesla expects to have more V4 charging stalls in the next 18 months than it has V2 and V3 stalls today. Some of these will be due to new locations, but Tesla is also updating current Supercharger locations.

Modifying Current Superchargers

Tesla has also been working to modify its site planning and layouts—both sites that are already built and sites still in planning. Over 1,500 sites have been altered to better serve drivers by widening the parking spaces, ensuring that drivers never have to use more than two ports to charge.

Pull-Through Trailer Chargers

Another big one is the deployment of pull-through Supercharger Trailer spots. These spots mean you don’t need to unhitch your trailer from your vehicle before supercharging, which is excellent for vehicles like the Cybertruck when you’re towing a trailer and need to charge up before continuing on your trip. Tesla update 2024.44 also adds the ability to see which Superchargers have trailer-friendly charging stalls.

The Pull-Through Priority Signs

Not a Tesla App

Standardized Port Location

The last - but one of the most important - things that Tesla is doing is encouraging manufacturers to move their charge ports to either the rear left or front right of vehicles, thereby helping to improve compatibility with Supercharger sites. Manufacturers have already taken steps to standardize in Europe, but these changes really haven’t rolled out globally yet. Rivian recently announced that the charge port for their upcoming R2 and R3 vehicles will be in the rear driver’s side, matching Tesla’s port location.

We hope to see more improvements in this space, especially as NACS becomes the de facto standard in North America.

Tesla is Adding a Charge Port Heating Option

November 27, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Sometimes, in extremely cold weather, especially if it’s actively snowing and you’re Supercharging, the charging cable can freeze and get stuck to the vehicle. That can be a bit of a hassle at a minimum—or cost you dearly if the cable is stuck at a Supercharger and you’re accruing idle fees.

If you use the “Rear Defrost” button in the Climate Controls, your Tesla's charge port will also automatically defrost. However, it’s not obvious to most users that the rear defrost button also turns on the charge port heater. While we’re talking about what’s not obvious, the Front Defrost button also turns on your heated mirrors.

There are other ways to turn on your change port heater, but none of them are dedicated to the function. Preconditioning your vehicle or hitting the “Defrost Car” button in the app, will also turn on the charge port heater.

Sadly, the last two options also heat your cabin, which isn’t exactly needed every time. That can be annoying - because it’ll heat your cabin very fast, given the strength and effectiveness of Tesla’s heat pumps.

Your vehicle will also defrost the port if you’re en route to a Supercharger, so it’ll have the port warmed up and ready to receive the connector - ensuring the flap isn’t stuck. However, it’s not helpful if the cable gets stuck while your’re charging.

Charge Port Defrost

Tesla has finally added a solution to this problem. You can now manually turn on the charge port heater by going to Controls > Service > Charge Port Heater. However, the feature is not available on all vehicles. It’s only appearing in the release notes for a very small segment of vehicles. We’ve confirmed that it is showing up on a 2024 Model X and some 2023 Model Ys on Tesla software update 2024.44.3.1.

Which Vehicles Have Charge Port Heaters?

Every Tesla has been equipped with a charge port heater since late 2020, and some older vehicles may or may not have the necessary equipment. The cut-off date for charge port heaters appears to be approximately September 2020, but some vehicles produced earlier may have it.

However, the release notes only show the charge port heater option for a small selection of vehicles. If your vehicle was manufactured after 2020, you can check if you have the new option by going to Controls > Service or looking under the “Minor Updates” section of your release notes. The release notes will state the following item if the new option is available:

“Heat your charge port in case your charge cable is frozen stuck. Go to Controls > Service > Charge Port Heater.”

This is a great addition for people who live in colder climates - and super useful. If you happen to have parked with your charge port facing blowing snow, you’ll know the struggle of the port and cable freezing together - and some people even buy third-party shields to cover the connector port while charging to keep this from happening. The next step for Tesla will be to automatically heat the charge port when you’re nearing your scheduled departure state of charge to allow for easy unplugging.

Tesla Posts Job Listing for TeleOp Engineer for Robotaxi & Optimus

November 26, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Tesla has listed an interesting new job position at its Engineering Headquarters in Palo Alto, California. This position is for a C++ Software Engineer, working on Teleoperation. What exactly is being Teleoperated? Why Optimus (listed as Tesla Bot), and Robotaxi/Cybercab of course.

The job listing was just posted on November 24th, 2024 and is the first of a pair of jobs related to the deployment of both Robotaxi and Optimus.

C++ Software Engineer, Teleoperation, Tesla Bot & Robotaxi

This position will involve building an application in Unreal Engine to allow remote operators to interface with both vehicles in the Robotaxi fleet and Optimus humanoid robots. Part of the job will include backend architectural and frontend UX decisions, focusing on usability, security, reliability, and high performance.

Tesla is looking for someone with practical experience in Unreal, C++, and Python, as well as experience working on both Linux and Windows in networking, filesystems, and storage. If this job sounds like a fit for you, you can take a look at the position here.

Backend Software Engineer, Tesla Bot & Robotaxi

The second position related to Robotaxi and Optimus is for a Backend Software Engineer. This person will likely work alongside the other position, designing and implementing the components required for autonomy features and processes. In addition, they will build automated tests, monitoring, and metric systems to ensure seamless operation.

For this position, Tesla is looking for someone with experience in C++, Go, and Python, as well as Linux and virtualization tools like Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, or Puppet. Oh, and a dash of skill in databases such as PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, ElasticSearch, or Redis. If that’s your plate, here’s the link.

It’s interesting to see Tesla begin recruiting for these positions - in fact, Tesla is recruiting 35 new positions just for Optimus under Engineering or Manufacturing Engineer titles, which means a heavy emphasis on building out new teams to solve new problems.