Exclusive: Tesla Model 3 and Model Y Are Getting Upgraded Wireless Phone Chargers
While Tesla vehicles include convenient wireless phone chargers below the front display (and the rear for the Model S), they’re relatively slow by today’s standards, and worse, they create excessive heat.
Late last year, we wrote about a wishlist of features we’d love for Tesla to add to its wireless phone chargers, and soon Tesla will be crossing some of these items off.
According to a trusted source, Tesla will add its actively cooled wireless phone charger, originally introduced in the Model Y L, to the rest of its vehicle lineup.
This new design uses fans underneath the charging pad to direct air towards the phones resting above it. This active cooling helps to prevent phones from overheating, which can throttle or stop charging, especially when there’s direct sunlight or summer heat to contend with.
In addition, this upgrade will finally bring modern speeds to wireless charging in Teslas. Currently, Tesla vehicles charge phones wirelessly at 15W, but with this upgrade, they’ll be able to achieve up to 50W of power for phones that support non-Qi2 fast wireless charging.
Engineered in China
Tesla first introduced the cooled charging pad in the six-seat Model Y L when it launched in China. The unit features separate cooling fans and vents for both the driver and passenger charging pads up front. Now, Tesla intends to use that same Model Y L component in the rest of the Model 3 and Model Y lineup.
The shared part will help simplify production, while also bringing a requested feature to more owners. The updated part revision is not yet available on Tesla’s Electronic Parts Catalog.
However, the hardware has already demonstrated some degree of compatibility. Tesla Android developer Michał Gapiński installed the whole assembly in a refreshed Model Y, and, with some extensive programming, managed to get it to work. That means that Tesla designed the new component to be largely compatible with its other vehicles.
Cybertruck May Be More Challenging
Unlike the Model 3 and the Model Y, the Cybertruck uses a substantially different center console layout. This could make it difficult to install the same Model Y L charging and cooling assembly without redesigning the surrounding console or developing a Cybertruck-specific version.
Tesla could still apply the same underlying approach with fans and dedicated airflow, but it will likely require a more bespoke design, rather than a plug-and-play component swap.
Checking off the Wishlist
Back in 2025, we put together a wishlist on how Tesla should solve their phone chargers. They added an off switch, and now they’re finally bringing 50W charging alongside active cooling to the table.
Some of the overheating and poor charging speeds were also caused by poor alignment with the phone and the wireless charging. The final, hopeful change is that Tesla will also include the open Qi2 wireless charging standard (which is Apple MagSafe compatible); however, we’re hearing the charger will be the same one in the Model Y L, which does not include Qi2 charging.
Qi2 wouldn’t just keep your phone firmly attached, but it would also enable devices to charge faster.