In case it hasn't been quite obvious until now, Tesla Motors->ke1842 does things rather differently than other carmakers, newer or older. Which is why you can learn about about some of its future plans just by having a look at its CEO's Twitter posts, something that cannot be said about any other car manufacturer. The latest example comes in the form of a Tweet by Elon Musk, who mentions that his company is working on a rather special type of charger. "Btw, we are actually working on a charger that automatically moves out from the wall & connects like a solid metal snake. For realz." That is direct quote from Musk's verified Twitter account, by the way.
After recently announcing that it has started to test a battery-swapping system and then that the Roadster->ke1843 gets a rather thorough "3.0" update, all in the span of two weeks, Tesla keeps the shocking news (no pun intended) coming into 2015 as well. From the pretty direct explanation that Musk gave, the new charger should look very much like the cameras used by SWAT teams to look around corners in certain missions. Instead of being controlled by a person, it would find the car's charging socket on its own, automatically -- kind of like those robotic vacuum cleaners that go back to their charging station by themselves.
Since this is all the information that was contained in that Tweet, it is pretty hard to speculate more on the specifications of this autonomous charger and/or when it will be available. We will just have to let Elon Musk surprise us again in the future and release the charging thingamajig later in 2015.
Click past the jump to read more about Tesla's future charger.0}
In theory, an automatic charger would represent one less chore for a Tesla Model S or Roadster owner, making his or her daily routine that much similar with that of a normal car owner who simply parks his vehicle and goes to his own business instead of having to plug it in. From another perspective though, doesn't this sound like a solution to a first-world problem? Is the act of simply picking up a charger and plugging it into a socket that much tiresome or time consuming?
As a personal opinion, Tesla should focus its rather limited resources in other directions, like the launch of the Model X and Model 3 to complete the limited lineup, but if it does indeed want to create a better coming home routine for its customers, a wireless charger sounds like a more efficient idea than a "solid metal snake." It would also be more upgradeable in the future instead of being restricted to just a single type of vehicle.