Tesla is having customers 'queue online' to charge their electric vehicles.

TPO - The American electric car manufacturer has begun rolling out an online queuing feature at five Supercharger stations, allowing drivers to register for a spot via the Tesla app instead of having to queue in person at crowded charging points.

This feature was rolled out more than a year after Tesla first announced its development plans, amid videos circulating on social media showing Tesla owners fighting over charging spots.

The system's mechanism is quite simple. When the charging station is full, users can join the queue on the Tesla app. The app will display the number of cars in the queue, update the waiting time in real time, and send a notification about 2 minutes in advance when it's their turn.

Tesla says the system not only counts the number of vehicles waiting but also analyzes each vehicle's actual charging data to estimate waiting times more accurately. The company also uses both the vehicle's location and the user's phone to verify eligibility for the queue.

However, Tesla currently lacks a technical mechanism to prevent drivers from cutting in line and plugging in their chargers out of order. The app only displays a confirmation warning if the user wants to start a charging session while still on the waiting list. This means the system still relies heavily on the user's awareness and behavior.

Previously, to reduce congestion at charging stations, Tesla implemented a $1/minute surcharge for electric vehicles that continued charging beyond 90% battery capacity at busy stations. This new online queuing system focuses on solving a different problem: how users wait their turn to charge.

The new feature also supports electric vehicles other than Tesla through the company's app. Currently, about 70% of the more than 80,000 Supercharger ports globally are open for electric vehicles from other manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford, Nissan, and Lucid Motors.

Tesla had previously announced it would test the charging queue feature starting in Q2 2025, but it won't officially launch until Q2 2026. Initially, Tesla will pilot the feature in five major US cities.

These include four locations within Tesla's core operating area around San Francisco, plus one station in the Bronx – which often experiences overcrowding due to the large number of ride-hailing vehicles using the charging stations.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tesla-cho-khach-xep-hang-online-de-sac-xe-dien-post1842899.tpo