Tesla is offering support to customers during Hurricane Florence
The EV company is unlocking full battery capacity on its base model 60-series cars and allowing customers in the path of the hurricane to use the Supercharger network for free.
Kyle Hyatt
Sept. 12, 2018 12:06 p.m. PT
Kyle Hyatt Former news and features editor
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).
Owners of the Model S and Model X 60kWh version who are in the path of the hurricane will get their vehicle's battery unlocked to its full 75 kWh capacity for free until mid-October.
Emme Hall/Roadshow
Tesla has built itself a reputation for doing right by its owners in disaster situations, and with Hurricane Florence ready to ruin the weekend for the Carolinas, the big T is stepping in to offer free Supercharger access and temporary battery capacity unlocks on base-model cars.
Hurricane Florence is expected to impact as many as 25 million people, so the benefit of added range on an electric car is extremely helpful. Customers with Model S and Model X 60 will get bumped to their batteries' physical max capacity of 75 kWh from now until mid-October before being set back to the original configuration.
This isn't the first time that Tesla has done this for its customers. It used the same strategy when Hurricane Irma hit Florida in 2017. Tesla also continues to work on disaster relief efforts to help get Puerto Rico back on a power grid after its series of devastating hurricanes last year.
As controversial as Tesla and its CEO have become in the last year, it's still really good to see a company going the extra mile to help its customers in difficult situations like the ones that the residents of North and South Carolina are facing currently.
Tesla representatives did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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