Tesla extended the battery life of its cars to help Florida residents flee Hurriance Irma
Those fleeing Hurricane Irma in Florida were issued free over-the-air upgrades. Image: REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:
United States
Unlocking the full capabilities of a Tesla battery can cost thousands of dollars in extra fees—unless you’re trying to outrun Hurricane Irma.
After a customer trying to flee the storm contacted the automaker to ask for more power, the company began issuing free over-the-air upgrades to drivers in the state, Eletrek reports.
Some of Tesla’s Model X and S vehicles that were introduced in 2016 come with 75 kilowatt-hour batteries that are software-limited to only offer 60 or 70 kilowatt hours, capable of 200 to 230 miles per charge.
A Florida driver who received the free update to 75 kilowatt-hours on Sep. 10 posted a screenshot of the Tesla app that shows a range of 242 miles, according to The Verge.
According to an email Tesla sent to its customers, the company has sent the update to drivers across Florida, and will allow them to use the increased capacity until September 16.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Nature and BiodiversitySee all
Michelle Meineke
July 12, 2024
Victoria Masterson, Stephen Hall and Madeleine North
July 11, 2024
Yangjie (JoJo) Zheng and John Dutton
June 26, 2024
Tania Strauss and Sundararajan Mahalingam
June 26, 2024
Xi Xie and Qin Haiyan
June 24, 2024
Spencer Feingold
June 23, 2024