tl;dr: you don’t want it directly in the front-center (like the Nissan Leaf) because a minor fender bender will ruin it. Front-driver’s side is a good choice that a lot of other manufactures are going to. Elon didn’t want that, because it didn’t line up with his Bel Air garage. So they stuck it in back, but due to the way Tesla Superchargers are laid out, it now means Tesla drivers have to back into the parking space.
Along those lines, consider the decision for why the Model S charge port is where it is, according to Tesla’s former chief engineer:
https://electrek.co/2025/01/31/teslas-charge-port-location-is-due-to-elon-musks-garage-layout-says-lucid-ceo/
tl;dr: you don’t want it directly in the front-center (like the Nissan Leaf) because a minor fender bender will ruin it. Front-driver’s side is a good choice that a lot of other manufactures are going to. Elon didn’t want that, because it didn’t line up with his Bel Air garage. So they stuck it in back, but due to the way Tesla Superchargers are laid out, it now means Tesla drivers have to back into the parking space.