Great news, Tesla adds charging station status indicators in its in-car maps. This is certainly a good new for electric vehicle owners.
It is a well-known fact that many public charging infrastructures are rapidly increasing all over the United States. However, it is lacking in one department: ease of use.
Every electric vehicle owner knows how hard it is to charge their cars with inconsistent charger interfaces. There are also other issues such as restricted access or required keycards and apps.
Tesla is putting a stop to this. The company is the exception to all of the problems above. This is mostly due to the fact that it runs its own Supercharger network.
This Supercharger network by Tesla offers the same look and user experience from charger to charger. But not even the great Tesla ecosystem is perfect.
It is missing one important piece of information: the charger occupancy status. That all changed when Tesla fully enabled their charger-occupation data earlier this month.
Tesla spokesperson Alexis Georgeson described the data as "a recent incremental release". It actually shows up as a new data field used by the mapping and navigation features of the Model S and Model X.
The data also includes a summary of how many charging stalls are available out of the total number at that location. This data is expressed with a segmented red bar strategically placed above the location marker.
This new feature is definitely a big change - and crucial - for electric vehicle owners. It will also play a huge part for Tesla since the company is already gearing up for the release of its mass-market electric car, the Model 3.
The Model 3 will reach a different, more mainstream demographic which might not have charging at home easily accessible. The Supercharger network was designed to enable road trips.
However, reports say it is highly possible for Tesla to give the metro areas a bit more focus. Especially now that the company is hoping to make thousands of deliveries by the end of 2018.
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