When a Tesla vehicle is charging, the plug is locked to the charging port and driving is disabled. To put the car in drive, a charging cable has to be manually released from the vehicle’s charging port. Since the shooting in Twin Falls, Idaho, Tesla owners have been requesting a quick release mechanism that would allow them to escape in the event of an emergency. This week, Tesla responded with a software update that responds to those concerns.
The new “emergency drive away” feature allows vehicle owners to override the charging lock and drive away while the handle is still attached. Shifting into drive will activate an emergency drive away alert that asks the driver to confirm they need to get away. The handle will break away and fall to the ground and unfortunately both the vehicle and the charging handle will sustain some damage in the process, which underscores why this feature should only be used in an emergency.
“Deliberate misuse will invoke additional penalties,” Tesla said on X, without specifying what kind of penalties. The feature is only available in the US, where an estimated 500 million firearms are owned by private citizens, “for now.”
Tesla didn’t mention the mass shooting in its announcement, but it’s not hard to draw a connection. A Tesla owner who was charging his vehicle was among seven people wounded by the 24-year-old gunman, who later took his own life.
Some aftermarket companies have tried selling their own breakaway adapters for electric vehicles, including Tesla. In 2024, a startup called EVject built a breakaway adapter designed to let you drive away from a Tesla Supercharger (or other station) without getting out of your car in case of a dangerous situation. However, Tesla sued the company after the automaker’s testing found that the adapter could overheat. Tesla eventually dropped the case later in the year, and EVject maintains that its product is safe.