Cold weather testing?

[CT200h]

given the current schedule/plan for production by the end of 17 you have to wonder if Tesla has already done or is in the process of performing cold weather tests on the model 3 . Every mfr does it including Tesla on the S and X.
So any news on this testing? You would have to do it in the next 3-4 months at the latest I would think to be able to implement any design countermeasures.

 

[S'toon]

This is actually a really good question. If it were me, I'd test the car in Canada's arctic. Or maybe as winter is heading towards the end, send it to Antarctica to catch their winter.

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

GM used to (and may still) winter test their cars in Kapuskasing Ontario, which is about 500 miles north of Toronto. Land Rover and Jaguar test in Timmins, which is about 100 mile south-east of Kap. Lots of snow and January temperatures around -30C. I pulled into one of the few hotels in Timmins one January and couldn't get a parking spot. It was full of Jags. It just didn't look right in Timmins, a mining town.....

I think Northern Ontario would be a great winter testing ground (and may expedite some superchargers in Sudbury, North Bay, and Timmins).

 

[igotzzoom]

I would think Tesla is well along the testing and validation phase at this point. They probably did a lot of climate and durability testing in the lab, where temperature, humidity, UV, etc can be simulated and accelerated. Of course, nothing can fully replace real-world testing. My guess is they had mules testing under kludged Model S or other sheetmetal for the last few years.

 

[S'toon]

GM used to (and may still) winter test their cars in Kapuskasing Ontario, which is about 600 miles north of Toronto. Land Rover and Jaguar test in Timmins, which is about 150 mile south-east of Kap. Lots of snow and January temperatures around -30C. I pulled into one of the few hotels in Timmins one January and couldn't get a parking spot. It was full of Jags. It just didn't look right in Timmins, a mining town.....

I think Northern Ontario would be a great winter testing ground (and may expedite some superchargers in Sudbury, North Bay, and Timmins).

 

[Doug_G]

Tesla would have learned a lot by putting Model S through an Ottawa or Montreal winter. They did winter testing at a facility in Michigan, but it completely failed to identify some major real-world issues. This included grossly inadequate defogging (due to deletion of visible dashboard vents that were later readded), and accelerated corrosion of the front bumper carrier due to salt water bridging the gap between the magnesium alloy carrier and the bolts that were holding it (dissimilar metals). My car had the dashboard and the bumper carrier replaced as a result (the bumper carrier actually broke!).

 

[AWDtsla]

I would think Tesla is well along the testing and validation phase at this point. They probably did a lot of climate and durability testing in the lab, where temperature, humidity, UV, etc can be simulated and accelerated. Of course, nothing can fully replace real-world testing. My guess is they had mules testing under kludged Model S or other sheetmetal for the last few years.

I'm sure they do it in the lab, but that's just a sanity check to see if there is outright failure. No substitute for trying to live with the car for a couple weeks in the cold. Even if they did a survey of their users to see where the problems are. They've never asked me for an opinion.

 

[dsvick]

They likely don't have any actual cars to test at this time, see this thread: Where are the (300?) M3 Beta Prototypes?

They've probably been testing individual components as much as they can, but until the production line is completed they won't have any cars to test.

 

[Zaphod]

They likely don't have any actual cars to test at this time, see this thread: Where are the (300?) M3 Beta Prototypes?

They've probably been testing individual components as much as they can, but until the production line is completed they won't have any cars to test.

I'm sure prototypes will be hand built for the testing. No reason for the production line to be able to build cars at this point.

 

[Jayc]

Regarding Testing / Quality in general, I expected Tesla to snatch one or two experts from Japanese companies and maybe they did but disappointed that it was not made public.

After all, the one thing that mainstream Japanese companies do extremely well is quality and I'm sure Tesla would have benefited from an in-house expert during architecture of the giga-factory.

 

[AWDtsla]

Regarding Testing / Quality in general, I expected Tesla to snatch one or two experts from Japanese companies and maybe they did but disappointed that it was not made public.

After all, the one thing that mainstream Japanese companies do extremely well is quality and I'm sure Tesla would have benefited from an in-house expert during architecture of the giga-factory.

QA at the gigafactory really has almost nothing to do with cold weather user experience of the whole car.

 

[Jayc]

QA at the gigafactory really has almost nothing to do with cold weather user experience of the whole car.

Actually, I agree. Maybe a moderator can help create another thread because product quality is very important for a car that is expected to sell in millions..

 

[dsvick]

I'm sure prototypes will be hand built for the testing. No reason for the production line to be able to build cars at this point.

I'm not so sure. They already have hand built ones so there is no reason to make more of them that way when what they really need to do is get some actual production cars off of the actual line to test. I don't think it does them any good at this point to test what is essentially a custom vehicle that was hand-built for a specific purpose. Until they can get production cars, individual parts and components can be tested on their own or integrated into an S or and X.

On the other hand, I don't know anything about building cars so I could be completely wrong.

 

[CT200h]

2019 supra begins production in 2018 currently in cold weather tests now As reported by autoblog

 

[WileyTheMan]

I am fairly certain that Tesla will not overlook cold weather testing. The great thing about California is you have all kinds of microclimates: Hot deserts, mountainous terrain, sub-freezing cold and snow (especially now), and arid plains. They won't have to go far to do environmental testing with their alpha and/or beta builds. I would guess the only thing CA doesn't have is high humidity, which you only really get near the gulf or the east coast.

 

[S'toon]

I am fairly certain that Tesla will not overlook cold weather testing. The great thing about California is you have all kinds of microclimates: Hot deserts, mountainous terrain, sub-freezing cold and snow (especially now), and arid plains. They won't have to go far to do environmental testing with their alpha and/or beta builds. I would guess the only thing CA doesn't have is high humidity, which you only really get near the gulf or the east coast.

All due respect, but I laugh at a Californian's idea what cold is.

 

[AWDtsla]

I am fairly certain that Tesla will not overlook cold weather testing.

They already have with Model S, and we're in the 5th year of them.

 

[garsh]

After all, the one thing that mainstream Japanese companies do extremely well is quality

That used to be the case, but the domestic automakers have closed that gap. Toyota is still very good, but it's not that large of a difference. And all of the major GM brands score higher than Honda nowadays. But that reputation for quality (or in GM's case, low-quality) takes many, many years to change in the public's minds.
Here's Proof That General Motors Really Has Changed for the Better
How Did General Motors' Buick -- Yes, Buick -- Beat Toyota in Quality?

 

[e46jb]

That used to be the case, but the domestic automakers have closed that gap. Toyota is still very good, but it's not that large of a difference. And all of the major GM brands score higher than Honda nowadays. But that reputation for quality (or in GM's case, low-quality) takes many, many years to change in the public's minds.
Here's Proof That General Motors Really Has Changed for the Better
How Did General Motors' Buick -- Yes, Buick -- Beat Toyota in Quality?

Interesting to see that in Consumer Report...but the questions I have regarding their report are off topic for this thread. Primarily, what is the number of people surveyed for each brand? was it the same across the board, ie. 100 ppl for every brand?
or was there only 3 respondents for Buick and 200 for Toyota, etc. As sample size increases, the potential for a higher rating decreases

 

[garsh]

Interesting to see that in Consumer Report...but the questions I have regarding their report are off topic for this thread. Primarily, what is the number of people surveyed for each brand? was it the same across the board, ie. 100 ppl for every brand?
or was there only 3 respondents for Buick and 200 for Toyota, etc. As sample size increases, the potential for a higher rating decreases

Consumer Reports Car Reliability FAQ
How many samples do you have of each model?
A typical model has about 200 to 400 samples for each model year. When we have smaller sample sizes than this on vehicles, we use brand history and the reliability of similar models that may share major components in calculating our predictions.