Tesla is well known for their love of including easter eggs in images and videos (and their cars), and they just included a major easter egg during the section of the Investor Day presentation on charging.
Shortly after Rebecca Tinnuci, Senior Director Charging Infrastructure for Tesla, took to the stage to talk about Superchargers and other aspects of Tesla’s charging infrastructure development, one of the slides was about the company also likes to “do cool s***.” The majority of that slide included a render of the upcoming drive-in Hollywood Supercharger station and diner. However on the right there was another image of a Model S Plaid parked in a garage with an interesting looking Wall Connector.
The Wall Connector in the image is significantly larger than the current version available on the Tesla Shop. While that alone is interesting, it is what is under the car that is much more significant – a wireless induction charging mat.
Tinnuci made no mention of the Model S and its unique Wall Connector, however Drive Tesla can confirm the system is a wireless induction charger. Last year we received information from one of our sources on a “Project Garfield,” a project focused on the development of wireless vehicle charging.
We don’t have any details on when this wireless charger will be released, but with Tesla showing it in their presentation today it could be close to launching.
A wireless charging system would be much more convenient for owners as you would no longer need to remember to plug in your car. There are drawbacks however. Just like wireless charging for your mobile phone it is less powerful than plugging in your device, it will be the same for Tesla’s wireless charger. The majority of of the time this will not be an issue as most owners charge their vehicles overnight. It will also be a critical charging system for when Tesla launches its robotaxi fleet, allowing your car to automatically charge when it returns home.
