Tesla ‘Ends Range Anxiety’ With Model S Software Update

Early this week, Tesla founder Elon Musk promised a coming software update would “end range anxiety” for owners of the company’s Model S electric sedan.

Speculation that this update would somehow increase the driving range of the car’s electric drivetrain and its 85kWh lithium-ion battery pack, however, has now proven unfounded.

The update, which counts as version 6.2 of the Model S’s onboard system, introduces a new application called ‘Range Assurance’.

Rather than magically increasing the sedan’s 390-502km driving range by a few hundred extra kilometres, the app constantly monitors the status of nearby charging points and measures their proximity against the likelihood that the car might soon run out of power.

If the nearest charger is out of use, the system will re-evaluate the vehicle’s remaining drive range and map out a path to the next available charging station.