Tesla says you can drive off with your charging cable still in, but it may cost you $25,000
In case you need to skedaddle.
Image by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images
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- Tesla’s Emergency Drive Away lets drivers leave a Supercharger while the charging cable remains attached.
- Tesla says the feature is for emergencies only and will damage both the car and Supercharger.
- The feature works on Superchargers in the US, and Tesla vehicles, except for pre-2021 Model S and Model X.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Tesla has introduced a new safety feature that will allow drivers to take off while still plugged into a Supercharger.
Emergency Drive Away is intended for use in critical situations. Previously, charging would end when a user removed the cable, which was locked in the port.
“Emergency Drive Away lets you shift into Drive while still plugged into a Supercharger,” noted the Tesla Charging account on X.
Before the new feature, “releasing” the car from the charging station meant making sure the cable was disconnected from the charger. That could be done via the car’s touchscreen, an app, or by pressing a button on the door handle.
The company acknowledged that, in the event of an emergency, such a process poses certain risks.
Because of this, Tesla issued a software update 2026.38.3, which allows drivers to move their vehicles even while the car is still charging.
Once the driver hits the brakes and shifts to drive, the display will show an Emergency Drive Away prompt that the user must activate.
The update has been implemented at every Supercharger in the US, except for S and X models that came before 2021.
A feature for emergencies only
The video promoting the new feature shows how, once activated, the Emergency Drive Away lets the driver leave the charging station, with the entire cable yanked from the car.
Tesla noted that the feature is “intended for emergency use only” and that, if used, it will damage the vehicle and the Supercharger, as both the connector and the charge port will be broken.
“Deliberate misuses will invoke additional penalties,” added Tesla.
It’s not clear how much these additional penalties or the cost of repairing one’s car would be.
The company only said that the chargeport would require a mandatory service visit after the emergency departure, with the electrical and civil costs totaling around $25,000.
What is considered an emergency?
Social media users speculated that the emergency feature is intended for life-threatening situations, such as being threatened at gunpoint, where drivers must flee immediately.
“America’s weird gun dystopia requires weird solutions,” wrote one Redditor.
“They will do anything but implement any form of gun control,” added another user.
Some netizens debated how often the feature would actually need to be used, fearing it might be “overused” in cases such as “There was a scary dog I didn't want to get out,” or “I saw lightning and thought it was dangerous to stay plugged in."
Tesla Emergency Drive Away Lets Owners Leave a Supercharger Still Plugged In
by u/efap1701 in technology
Perhaps the main deterrent to stop drivers from overusing the feature is the cost of aftercare, since Tesla will be notified when it occurs.
Given this, one user was interested in why the company couldn’t find a cheaper solution to the issue.
“Too cheap to implement a quick disconnect, say one used by SpaceX?” they wrote.
