Tesla’s latest software update brings more Supercharger information

Tesla has released its latest software update today and it comes with a new feature to display more information about individual Supercharger stations now that Tesla introduced a new type of Supercharger.

With Tesla’s new ‘urban’ Superchargers, which are locked at a lower 72 kW charging rate, Tesla has now a more significant range of charging capacities between its first and second generation long-distance Superchargers and now those new urban ones.

It can be useful for Tesla drivers to know the power capacity beforehand and in the new ‘v8.1 2017.36 1b27c6d’ software update, they now have access to it right from the car.

Tesla describes the feature in the release notes:

“Supercharging your Model S isn’t always just about finding the nearest Supercharger. Sometimes it’s about finding the one that will get you back on the road the quickest, even if it’s a little farther away. Model S now displays the maximum power available for each location, so you can choose one that best fits your needs.”

Model S P85D owner ‘TSLAZone’ was among the first the get the update:

https://twitter.com/vinylzone/status/908245680694743040

The update follows the ability to see Supercharger stall availability per station in real-time (or with only a slight delay) right from the car’s center screen. That was launched earlier this year when Tesla also added amenities to the information listed on the Supercharger cards in the display.

Now the new power capacity information is added to the mix.

It will be useful to optimize long distance travels. Tesla’s own trip planning system takes into account charging speed at Superchargers. For example, it will suggest skipping a Supercharger station if it thinks you can make it to another one further down your path in order to have a higher charger rate since the battery pack will have a lower state of charge.

That would be useless if the second Supercharger is one of Tesla’s new urban Superchargers limited to a 72 kW charge rate, but drives will now have that information in the car when planning a trip.