can you supercharge in the rain? [ Yes ]

[deuskid]

I'll be taking my first road trip, which means I'll be doing my first super-charging.

Rain is in the forecast.

Can I?

 

[cgell]

I'll be taking my first road trip, which means I'll be doing my first super-charging.

Rain is in the forecast.

Can I?

Yes, of course.

 

[deuskid]

Yes, of course.

Thanks

 

[RayK]

A bit of a suggestion:

Supercharge at least once before embarking on your trip to make sure that:

1. The hardware in your car can accept DC (i.e. Supercharging) voltage
2. Your Tesla account has been properly set up with a credit card that will be used to bill your sessions

If you're already on the road without prior Supercharger usage, finding out about Item #1 would be a major bummer, while Item #2 should / can be easily taken care of.

 

[Soul Surfer]

Yuuuup! (said Dave Hester style, of Storage Wars)

 

[UncertainTimes]

Rain will help cool the battery

 

[BitJam]

One of the worst things about rain is it noticeably reduces your range.

 

[deuskid]

One of the worst things about rain is it noticeably reduces your range.

Absolutely.... My first road trip and I had the double wammy of rain and temps in the 40s

 

[jjrandorin]

One of the worst things about rain is it noticeably reduces your range.

I bought my model 3 in Dec of 2018, and in SoCal "rain" is what passes for winter weather for most of us here. I was really surprised by how much rain impacted the wh/mi usage numbers.

To talk in numbers that most owners will be looking at, My commute to work and back is 80 miles (round trip). Driven on the exact same roads to work and back, and the same general speed (because I drive back roads to work and back), those 80 real miles roll off the battery somewhere between 90 "tesla miles used" in the summer, to like 130-135 "tesla miles" used when its 45 degrees and raining.

 

[Theone8181]

What is it about the rain that reduces range? Is it the extra effort of moving through water, and the extra usage of the wipers?

 

[jjrandorin]

What is it about the rain that reduces range? Is it the extra effort of moving through water, and the extra usage of the wipers?

Im not a scientist by any means, but I am fairly sure its because the rolling resistance is greater when pushing through water on the road, than just pushing through air. I also am virtually positive that extra usage of wipers is no measurable difference.

Tesla model 3s are rolling around with the equivalent of like "3-4 gallons of gas" worth of energy, so things like this would be noticeable.

Note that this is physics so its the same increase in rolling resistance in a gas powered vehicle, but because a gas powered vehicle is carrying around (and wastes) so much more energy, no one really notices or cares about it unless they are "Hyper milers" or track their MPG closely, which most dont (until they get an EV anyway).

 

[emiliorescigno]

Im not a scientist by any means, but I am fairly sure its because the rolling resistance is greater when pushing through water on the road, than just pushing through air. I also am virtually positive that extra usage of wipers is no measurable difference.

This is the correct answer. It takes quite a lot of energy to "push" the rain off the road with the tires.

 

[Theone8181]

Im not a scientist by any means, but I am fairly sure its because the rolling resistance is greater when pushing through water on the road, than just pushing through air. I also am virtually positive that extra usage of wipers is no measurable difference.

Tesla model 3s are rolling around with the equivalent of like "3-4 gallons of gas" worth of energy, so things like this would be noticeable.

Note that this is physics so its the same increase in rolling resistance in a gas powered vehicle, but because a gas powered vehicle is carrying around (and wastes) so much more energy, no one really notices or cares about it unless they are "Hyper milers" or track their MPG closely, which most dont (until they get an EV anyway).

Oh yea, when you work it out it's not even that think it's less than 2 imperial gallons of fuel in our cars. Petrol and diesel is very energy dense.

 

[cgell]

What is it about the rain that reduces range? Is it the extra effort of moving through water, and the extra usage of the wipers?

Imagine how it feels when you suddenly hit a big puddle - there is a great deal of resistance. Enough to significantly slow the vehicle. On a wet road you’re basically dealing with a constant but less severe case of that type of rolling resistance.

 

[Sohappy3]

Yes just install your Tesla umbrella over the charge port.

 

[Theone8181]

Imagine how it feels when you suddenly hit a big puddle - there is a great deal of resistance. Enough to significantly slow the vehicle. On a wet road you’re basically dealing with a constant but less severe case of that type of rolling resistance.

Fair point, the first time I hit a deep puddle that was only on one side of the car was an interesting experience (not in this car, was many years ago).