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[TrumanBurbank]

Millions of people are currently affected by the evacuation of Florida as Hurricane Irma starts reaching the state and creates some difficult traffic situation when escaping north. There are reports of traffic jams and gas stations running out gas.

There are a lot Tesla owners in Florida and they are also escaping north using the Supercharger network.

Now Tesla has even facilitated travels for some of them as the automaker remotely unlocked the full battery pack capacity of Model S/X 60/60D vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs.

That’s due to Tesla using an unforeseen feature of their over-the-air software update system.

Tesla used to offer the option to buy a Model S or Model X with a 75 kWh battery pack software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The option would result in a less expensive vehicle with a shorter range, but the option to pay to remotely enable the longer range at a later stage.

Some of those owners reported this morning having more range than usual in their vehicles.

A Tesla Model S 60 owner in Florida reached out to us with almost 40 more miles than in his usual full charge and a new ’75’ badge in his car software.

While he didn’t ask for it nor knew why it changed, Tesla had temporarily unlocked the remaining 15 kWh of the car’s software-limited battery pack option to facilitate the owner’s evacuation.

We reached to Tesla and a representative confirmed that the company has put in place the emergency measure to temporarily extend the range of the vehicles of Tesla owners in the path of Hurricane Irma.

The company says that a Tesla owner in a mandatory evacuation zone required another ~30 more miles of range to optimize his evacuation route in the traffic and they reached out to Tesla who agreed to a temporary access to the full 75 kWh of energy in the battery pack, an upgrade that has cost between $4,500 and $9,000 depending on the model and time of upgrade.

Considering the 15 kWh (30 to 40 additional miles) could also be useful to other owners affected by Irma, Tesla decided to also temporarily unlock other vehicles with the same software-lock battery packs in the region.

Tesla’s Supercharger network is fairly extensive in Florida and most owners should be able to get by even with a Model S 60 (the shortest range option), but sometimes that 30 more miles of range can make a big difference.

Most Supercharger stations in Florida are still online:

https://electrek.co/2017/09/09/tesl...es-for-free-in-florida-escape-hurricane-irma/

Maybe Elon Musk isn't Satan like NeoGaf seems to think

 

[Guevara]

On disc kWh

 

[cwmartin]

Sounds like a car with on disc DLC. Sounds kind of shitty actually. Pay more to unlock the full power of your own car? Yikes.

 

[btrboyev]

Sounds like a car with on disc DLC. Sounds kind of shitty actually. Pay more to unlock the full power of your own car? Yikes.

There are reasons for limiting stuff like that actually.

 

[BigAT]

There are reasons for limiting stuff like that actually.

Like? Aside from intentionally making the car shittier in an effort to charge more money.

 

[Syriel]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1431014

 

[killer rin]

Sounds like a car with on disc DLC. Sounds kind of shitty actually. Pay more to unlock the full power of your own car? Yikes.

Tesla used to offer the option to buy a Model S or Model X with a 75 kWh battery pack software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The option would result in a less expensive vehicle with a shorter range, but the option to pay to remotely enable the longer range at a later stage.

Doesn't seem scummy to me. The person got a cheaper vehicle upfront. If under normal circumstances they didn't actually need the full range, it makes complete sense to take the discount and save on the extra range. Then if you decided you needed a better range at a later date you would still be able to unlock said range by essentially paying the top off value that you would have initially paid upfront.

 

[btrboyev]

Like? Aside from intentionally making the car shittier in an effort to charge more money.

Well not having the capacity to completely drain the battery for one. Overheating may be another.

 

[Zenner]

Electronics manufacturers used to sell dial-up modems like that; the actual modem hardware was built for 56k, but it was sold at various speeds (14.4, 28.8 & 56k) in different packaging with an installation disc or floppy that matched the price-point you were willing to pay for. Once that became known, everyone at college just bought the cheap-o 14.4 modem and borrowed a 56k install disc from a buddy.

Just an aside.

 

[cwmartin]

Doesn't seem scummy to me. The person got a cheaper vehicle upfront. If under normal circumstances they didn't actually need the full range, it makes complete sense to take the discount and save on the extra range. Then if you decided you needed a better range at a later date you would still be able to unlock said range by essentially paying the top off value that you would have initially paid upfront.

The price point is essentially moot when there is no competition with any of the features Tesla offers. Changing price points for various features and services they are determine the price for is crazy.

This would be the equivalent of buying a gasoline car that has a 12 gallon gas tank, but is restricted to 8 gallon unless you upgrade later. (with the 12 gallon tank already in the car, just restricted to 8 gallons)