Cold Weather Driving

[scottm]

Any news about the 7.0 change to the climate control? Winter has arrived in Norway, and many people are complaining about horrible heater function after 7.0 upgrade.

Any canadians have these problems and know of a solution?

I'm noticing a difference with v7 HVAC... it's said to be what? 'more efficient' read: "scrimp on power" therefore "less effective".

It seems to be taking longer to clear windows at -10C and rear windows never clear.

My solution so far, is to put insulation (foil bubble sheet cut to size) up on the inside of the pano glass.
This is helping. I have it in rear section of glass, and will be doing front sunroof section next.

Hardware fix for a software problem.

 

[scottm]

Hey, anyone light a contained candle and put it in the cup holder for additional interior heat?

Just an idea..

 

[Nevek]

Great info, well presented! Thanks much, I had been getting bits and pieces from various other threads, but you've put it all together extremely well.

 

[CobaltBlau]

Great post :smile:. I was skeptical when I bought the winter tire package from Tesla and saw that they had Pirelli's, like you I would have rather had the Michelin - X-Ice Xi3 tires on the rims or the Nokian's all weather. Hopefully this winter winter and the next 3 winters are OK with the Pirelli's, otherwise I'll have to change them .

 

[wayner]

Is there any way to set an end time to charging so that you can help to minimize winter regen issues? The idea is to have your battery charging ending just before you leave for work or when your TOU electricity rates go up.

See this post in the VT thread for more info: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...esla/page213?p=1253051&viewfull=1#post1253051

 

[Doug_G]

@CobaltBlau - this winter will hopefully be relatively wimpy due to El Nino. But I ran my Pirelli set through two hard winters, before I finally came to my senses and switched to XIce3 for the third winter. Huge difference, which was really underscored when I got a loaner with Pirellis and we had a snowstorm!

@wayner - You can set up a start time for charging, but not an end time. There were hints maybe they would do this in the early day, but in practice it's a bit hard to figure out due to variable HVAC load (the pack needs heating if it's very cold out).

Best bet is to set the timer to start the charge in the wee hours, but early enough that it will definitely finish. If you can park your car indoors so it's not exposed to the wind it won't cool down all that quickly. Then you can use the Remote App to preheat the car, which will also warm the battery. (Oh and make sure Range Mode is OFF for this!)

 

[Viogene]

Thank you Doug and other contributors for essential tips.

I just bought my new Model S 85D and I will be experiencing de Dual drive in winter and I will come back to you. I will really push my Tesla to the max this winter, because I live way north in Quebec and -40 C is not rare and sometimes for 3-5 days in a row. Hope that the -50 experience will not become a reality! I will build a garage in next spring, but my car will be on her own this winter...

I am happy I bought the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2!-)

Alex
Tesla 85D Brand new owner!-)

 

[DPain44]

Thanks Doug_G. This was very helpful to a new Tesla owner who just received his car in December with little time to figure these things out. I am disappointed to read all of the negative comments about the winter tires.

 

[ElectricTundra]

Thanks Doug for this great info.

Based on the recommendation from the Minnetonka MN Tesla store I'm planning to try going this winter in my P85D with the standard all season's. We'll see how it goes. If it's a light winter and the gov't folk do a good job keeping the roads clear then hopefully OK.

 

[3s-a-charm]

For those of you who (like myself) received your cars in winter you will be initially disappointed with the range and operation of the car in cold weather (except for some features like quicker cabin heat than ice vehicles). But come summer time, the car really shines and I found myself with way more range than what I felt was normal. In summer the stated range is actually very close to what you get where in winter I factor about 25% loss due to cold.

 

[jbdvm1988]

How do you figure out the range decrease in cold weather? The battery icon simply counts down the miles regardless of actual energy usage as best I can tell. I have used the wh/mile info from the energy app but it's a moving average based on 5,15 or 30 miles. Help this rookie during the first winter of MS in Michigan

 

[MarcG]

About preheating, you said:

"If you're not plugged in then it's a different story. You could end up using quite a bit of battery power preheating. This is not just running your battery down; it's also using up a little bit of your battery's lifetime."

On what are you basing the statement that the battery's lifetime is affected by preheating while not plugged in?
I don't see how that's different than using the battery to drive or other power-hungry functions.
Do you have any evidence that the battery's lifetime is affected by preheating while not plugged in?

 

[wjns]

Thanks for your write-up.

The Pirelli Sotozeros that Tesla sells aren't very good. Actually they're crap.

I can fully confirm this, first hand, for slippery and icy roads or wet roads. On fresh snow traction is good, strange tires.
Now we use Goodyear and Dunlop winter tires, they are in all conditions very good.

 

[David29]

Thanks for this, great post! Our weather in the Boston (MA) area is not as severe as the Canadians get, but I can validate several of your observations and data points about energy use after just a few weeks of winter with my 70D.

 

[AdrianEdson]

Where I live the weather sometimes drops to -40 Celsius.... Will the model s start in this weather? My daily commute is only about 20 miles... So I'm not too concerned about range.... More just if the car will actually turn on, lol.

i plan on parking the car in a garage each night however at work my car will be outdoors and might not be able to be plugged in for the 8 hours I work.

 

[AdrianEdson]

I feel I should chime in here just to reassure people about extreme cold temperatures. I've also had my S through 3 winters here in Manitoba. The week my car was delivered was so cold that the delivery truck's electronics shut down in Dryden, and by the time it got to my house at night it was so cold the lift took half an hour to get my car off (it was on the top row). But the S instantly, perfectly, smoothly drove off the truck without a glitch.

We hit -40 every winter, and while I keep my car in my insulated garage at home, I did end up at the cabin with only a 110V plug when it hit -55 with the wind chill one New Year's eve. A Tesla rep did say as long as it's plugged in it's not a problem, but I did have trouble with the connector freezing up. I had to take the cable indoors to defrost it for an hour or so and it started working again. Just to be on the safe side I put blankets over the car all around and then shovelled snow to "seal" it in, and the temperature of the car rose to a nice, toasty -19.

But that's the only time I've had issues - so while I strongly caution against having the car parked outside below -50, -40 doesn't worry me one bit

That's great to hear! Being from Saskatchewan I'm glad to hear -40
Isn't the end of the world for a tesla!

 

[S'toon]

Where I live the weather sometimes drops to -40 Celsius.... Will the model s start in this weather? My daily commute is only about 20 miles... So I'm not too concerned about range.... More just if the car will actually turn on, lol.

i plan on parking the car in a garage each night however at work my car will be outdoors and might not be able to be plugged in for the 8 hours I work.

Mayhemm lives in Northern SK. You might want to send him a PM if you have any more questions.

 

[InternetDude]

Where I live the weather sometimes drops to -40 Celsius.... Will the model s start in this weather? My daily commute is only about 20 miles... So I'm not too concerned about range.... More just if the car will actually turn on, lol.

i plan on parking the car in a garage each night however at work my car will be outdoors and might not be able to be plugged in for the 8 hours I work.

You really, really, really should find a way to plug in to 110V at work, it will make a big difference. The car will "start", that's no problem.

 

[ig_epower]

Great post :smile:. I was skeptical when I bought the winter tire package from Tesla and saw that they had Pirelli's, like you I would have rather had the Michelin - X-Ice Xi3 tires on the rims or the Nokian's all weather. Hopefully this winter winter and the next 3 winters are OK with the Pirelli's, otherwise I'll have to change them .

Great read - though I am bummed that I read it AFTER I bought my Pirelli SottoZero 3 XL's 2 weeks ago. I have a Model D so I hope that helps a bit. In Toronto, it gets to -10C on average and snow removal is pretty good. To make matters worse, I have Pirelli's on the two other family cars that I bought last weekend. A big expense on what could be a poor choice of product. I wonder if under-inflating by 3-5% might help with the traction?

 

[Tribaltech]

What an amazing and thoughtfully well written article. This will be a HUGE help for me for traveling long distances in the winter. Thank you so much