- Emergency Drive Away lets Teslas move while still connected to a Supercharger.
- Using it will damage the car and charger, potentially costing up to $25,000.
- The feature arrives with update 2026.38.3 and is currently limited to the U.S.
We’ve all seen situations where folks at a gas pump forget that they’re fueling and drive away. In the process, they take the pump with them. Tesla has long prevented its cars from committing the same mistake even if the driver forgets that they’re plugged in. Now, that’s changing in the name of safety. That’s right. In an emergency, Tesla cars can now drive away while charging, but don’t expect the resulting damage to be inexpensive.
Dubbed Emergency Drive Away, the new feature allows owners to shift into Drive and leave a Supercharger while the cable is still attached. Tesla isn’t installing some clever new breakaway connector, either. The car simply lets you go, and whatever happens to the charging hardware afterward is very much a secondary concern. That’s notable because gas pumps often have specific breakaway elements.
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Tesla demonstrated the feature this week and confirmed that it is arriving with software version 2026.38.3. When a driver attempts to shift into Drive while plugged in, the touchscreen displays an Emergency Drive Away warning. The driver must hold the brake pedal and tap “Activate,” at which point the usual charging interlock is overridden, and the car can move.
Unsurprisingly, Tesla is very clear that you shouldn’t try this simply because you’re running late for work. “Use of this feature will damage your vehicle and the Supercharger,” Tesla Charging warned, adding that deliberate misuse will result in additional penalties. The company hasn’t explained exactly what those penalties entail. And boy howdy can the damage add up quite quickly.
When someone asked Tesla how much destruction owners should expect, the company said electrical and civil costs associated with repairing a Supercharger can reach $25,000, depending on the station. The vehicle’s charge port will also require a mandatory service visit afterward. Importantly, Tesla hasn’t said that someone escaping a legitimate emergency will necessarily be handed that massive repair bill.
Tesla’s demonstration gives you a pretty good idea why repairs aren’t cheap. As the car pulls away, the charging cable is ripped free, and coolant pours onto the ground. Tesla confirmed that the liquid is glycol and said cleanup will be handled as part of the mandatory Supercharger service visit. In other words, this isn’t really a breakaway system. It’s Tesla giving the car permission to break things.
There is, of course, a very serious reason for doing so. The feature arrives two months after a mass shooting in Twin Falls, Idaho, where a gunman killed three people and injured seven others. Police said the attacker fired at three people inside two Teslas at a nearby Supercharger, killing 66-year-old Dale Schultz.
Tesla hasn’t explicitly said that the shooting prompted Emergency Drive Away. In fact, Tesla charging executive Max de Zegher said the company had gone “back and forth on this for years” before deciding to offer it. He described it as “a feature we hope you never need.” The timing, however, is impossible to ignore. Additional options are never a bad thing.
