Tesla tests virtual Supercharger queues—no more fighting over EV chargers

The days of queuing at Supercharger stations may soon be over. Tesla is testing a Supercharger “waitlist” in its mobile app that amounts to a virtual queue for electric vehicle drivers.

As Tesla explains, the upcoming feature will provide live app notifications once you arrive at a Supercharger location where the stands are full. You will know how many cars are in front of you in the queue. It uses both the car and your phone locations to determine your qualification.

You don’t need a Tesla-made electric vehicle to use this feature, but there’s also no system in place to deny charging to queue jumpers. You will have to trust the other drivers who will be waiting.

The virtual queue test is currently limited to five Superchargers, four in the San Francisco Bay Area (including San Francisco, San Jose, Los Gatos and Mountain View) as well as one in the Bronx borough of New York. Tesla did not say when it would expand the pilot or make the feature widely available.

Virtual Supercharger queues are lagging

Non-Tesla drivers can drive to busier charging stations

Tesla initially hoped to test Supercharger waiting lists in spring 2025. It’s unclear what prompted the delay, but incentives have increased to get drivers to wait in line.

Some Supercharger stations can be busy, especially in cities with high EV density like San Francisco and New York. This often leads to long queues and, in extreme cases, outright fights between impatient drivers. Although Tesla maintained that the waits only occurred about 1% of the time, it pledged to remedy the situation.

There’s also the move to open Superchargers to non-Tesla cars, both through adapters and a growing number of cars with built-in NACS charging ports. Even though Tesla still dominates the electric vehicle market in the United States and some other countries, the broader support adds to potential congestion. Virtual queues could help Tesla manage this load as overall interest in electric vehicles increases.

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There is also a financial incentive to introduce digital queues, even when waiting times are not an immediate problem at a given location. In theory, they reduce pressure to expand existing stations or build new ones, particularly if the surge in demand is short-lived. This improves Tesla’s bottom line, although expectations indicate that more chargers will eventually be needed.

Source: Tesla Loading (X)