Tesla Has a Flashing Rainbow Light Hidden in its Charge Ports

Yet another Easter egg turns up in the Model S and Model X.
www.thedrive.com

We’ve know for a while that Elon Musk and the rest of the Tesla team enjoy hiding Easter eggs in the car maker’s Model S and Model X vehicles, but we didn’t realize they meant the term quite so literally. Only a few weeks after the car maker revealed a secret Mario Kart-inspired “rainbow road” setting for the dashboard, a host of Tesla owners have discovered a colorful little secret tucked away in the software that controls the lighting around their electric cars’ charging ports: a flashing, Easter-colored light show.

According to the YouTube videos posted in the last few days showing the feature in action, activating the hidden feature is simple enough: Once the car is locked and charging, press the release button on the charger plug 10 times in rapid succession and the light that surrounds the charging plug—which normally glows a calming shade of blue or a Hal Jordan-esque shade of green—rapidly cycles through the ROY-G-BIV spectrum for about 10 seconds before returning to its default state.

The Easter egg can reportedly be found on both the Model S and the Model X, but apparently it’s only present on newer versions of the cars. It’s not clear just how new a car has to be to have the feature, though. So if you have easy access to a Tesla, quietly give it a try the next time you plug the car in. If nothing happens, no one will know your shame.

Will is the former managing editor of RIDES Magazine and the former online editor for 0-60 Magazine. He has worked for Time Out New York and Rolling Stone, and was the creator of College Cars Online, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.