Tesla unlocks battery option for some Florida drivers
As Florida residents fled Hurricane Irma over the weekend, some Tesla owners got a little surprise from the automaker to help them get out of the danger zone.
On Saturday, Tesla began pushing a software update that increased the battery capacity of some Model S sedans and Model X SUVs. All the cars that received the update belonged to those living in what emergency officials had identified as the evacuation area.
The real-time update extended the range of the cars by unlocking previously inaccessible battery power, meaning the vehicles could now go farther on a single charge. The change will not be permanent; Tesla said the temporary upgrade will be reversed on Sept. 16, presumably once the immediate danger has passed.
The decision reflects a key distinguishing feature of Tesla’s business, one that could divide consumers as they think about the future of car ownership.
The Model S and Model X vehicles updated on Saturday were all built with a 75 kilowatt-hour battery. At full capacity, that’s enough for a Model S to travel roughly 250 miles.
When those cars were first sold, Tesla gave customers the option of a lower-capacity battery at a more affordable price, and some decided to take the savings rather than purchase the full, 75-kWh battery.
But downsizing didn’t mean replacing the big battery with a physically smaller one; it just meant using a bit of computer code to restrict how much of the battery the car could access. If they wanted, they could later have Tesla lift the software lock by paying an additional fee, which can run into the thousands of dollars.
What happened this weekend is that Tesla temporarily lifted that software lock at no cost, after receiving requests for help from customers whose cars were stuck in
Hurricane Irma-related traffic.
The decision highlights one of the most innovative aspects of owning a Tesla. The company’s ability to add range instantly to a vehicle, using software, is something no conventional car can achieve. You can’t simply make a gas tank bigger at the click of a button.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has used wireless software updates to expand a car’s capabilities. The total value of all the optional software upgrades Tesla now offers adds up to tens of thousands of dollars, according to some estimates. Nor is the concept of software-unlocks a novel one; from video game expansion packs to premium Spotify subscriptions, software is now commonly
used to expand the range of features available to us in other products.
What makes this use of the software key so interesting is that, for many consumers, this is the first time they’ve seen the practice extended to their cars. It forces us to think a bit differently about what it means to truly own a vehicle.
Tesla’s decision to offer lower-priced cars with certain performance compromises could be viewed as expanding consumer choice and giving users flexibility. At the same time, because the underlying hardware remains the same no matter what level of software you’ve purchased, you could say that Tesla has locked the full potential of its vehicle behind an arbitrary paywall.