Model 3 SR+ RWD owners. How do you survive GTA winter snow driving ?

[coolmanfever]

I would imagin many model 3 owners here are driving SR+ RWD model due to federal incentive. I just took delivery one yesterday. I plan to put on snow tire on the Aero wheel and drive in "chill" mode on snow and take it easy.

How do you guys drive your RWD differently in snow during winter ? Do you do anything differently on charging your battery? Anything you do to improve battery performance?

 

[MrTzla]

I got the Michelin X-Ice tires on aero rims, I tried chill for a bit and it’s definitely better if there’s lots of snow but for now I’ve switched back to standard as it’s more enjoyable and makes passing on the highway easier. Will likely switch back to chill when we get more snow.

Also heard many people recommend low regen but I don’t find that necessary as long as you feather the pedal and not just let go completely, and if you do the car’s traction control system takes care of that anyways and reduces regen if loss of traction is detected.

As for charging, I’ve been charging to 90% vs 80% in the summer. And always plugging in when possible.

So far it’s been great, no complaints at all. We’ll see what it’s like once we get the real snow!

 

[coolmanfever]

nokian r3 is what I have for winter tire. I leave it plug in all the time. Is there reason for charging limit up to 80 percent during summer?

 

[ATC@LWSK]

I got my SR+ one week ago, the day I picked it up it was like -9. Drove from Oakville to Aurora to a friend's house for dinner, left home with 86%, hit very heavy traffic on the 400 northbound, reached my friend's house 2 hrs later (85kms away) with 50% SOC, stayed there for about 5 hours, car lost 5%, drove back home and reached with 9% SOC (85kms).So very cold but dry and not windy, used 70% for 170km, which I find.... quite a lot..... to be honest. That was with the OEM tires, I've since switched to Continental WinterContact Plus, but the weather has warmed up so haven't tested the consumption.

We'll see what it's like when it gets even colder, with high winds and snow..... but I think the range will top at 230-240km max. Compared to my S, the car's cabin noise at 120kmph is noticeably higher. Any suggestions to address that?

 

[Goodtohave]

Not really , they are just noisy on the highway, seems to be effected by wind, some days are worse then others.

I went for Hakka 9 factory stud, noisy but it is amazing in the snow

 

[Kappelan]

I haven’t swap my tires on our M3 SR+ yet (haven’t found the place to trust) and the car is pretty good on the snow compare to our Volt with the winter ones (Michelin X Ice 3).

In terms of the range I charge at 90% in the cold and I’m getting about 250 km in -10 or -15. I use the departure settings for the overnight charge.

 

[Can37]

In the few Ottawa snow days we have had so far, our SR+ has been very good, lots of grip with Hakka R3s and just enough freedom from the stability control to use RWD to your advantage.

 

[Shiraz8484]

Traction
I have had no traction issues so far. I have Pirelli Winter Ice zero FR’s. When I first swapped into these, the car would show traction light under full acceleration but Tesla told me that the car will adapt in a couple of weeks and it did. No issues since.

Range.
Sith 90% charge, I am getting around 180-200kms max. This involves mainly highway driving at 110km/hr and using cabin heating sparingly. In the summers I was averaging 270kms with 90% charge.

Nothing else has been different for me. Oh, one more thing. It is such a blessing to not have to go to the gas station to fill gas in this weather

 

[ATC@LWSK]

Traction
I have had no traction issues so far. I have Pirelli Winter Ice zero FR’s. When I first swapped into these, the car would show traction light under full acceleration but Tesla told me that the car will adapt in a couple of weeks and it did. No issues since.

Range.
Sith 90% charge, I am getting around 180-200kms max. This involves mainly highway driving at 110km/hr and using cabin heating sparingly. In the summers I was averaging 270kms with 90% charge.

Nothing else has been different for me. Oh, one more thing. It is such a blessing to not have to go to the gas station to fill gas in this weather

Wow, 270km at 90% in the summer - that's low Shiraz, any specific reason for that? Do you drive it like you stole it? What's your consumption in wh/km like? That's the lowest reported number I've seen.

 

[ben1628]

The range is not even a concern to me anymore, though I'm driving LR RWD. I know for a fact is in GTA, if you are low in range, a quick 5 minutes stop in Supercharger is all I need. Yes, not having to freeze to death trying to pump gas is Heaven Send. I just love it.

 

[ATC@LWSK]

Earlier today on my way to work. Outside temp 4°C, AP on 110km/h, seat heater on 1.

 

[Shiraz8484]

Wow, 270km at 90% in the summer - that's low Shiraz, any specific reason for that? Do you drive it like you stole it? What's your consumption in wh/km like? That's the lowest reported number I've seen.

Not really. In the summer I was averaging 160-180wh/km which I think is very common. 160wh/km comes to 280kms.

 

[Shiraz8484]

Earlier today on my way to work. Outside temp 4°C, AP on 110km/h, seat heater on 1.View attachment 493068

Can you say what tires, wheels setup you are running? Any other tips for such good numbers?

 

[mahagala]

Not really. In the summer I was averaging 160-180wh/km which I think is very common. 160wh/km comes to 280kms.

Model 3 SR+ has 54kWh battery capacity, so 54 / 0.16 = 337 km

So ideally,
SR+ if you drive at average of 135 wh/km, you will meet advertised 400km.
AWD has 75kWh battery, so need to average at 150 wh/km to get 500km range.

 

[Shiraz8484]

Model 3 SR+ has 54kWh battery capacity, so 54 / 0.16 = 337 km

So ideally,
SR+ if you drive at average of 135 wh/km, you will meet advertised 400km.
AWD has 75kWh battery, so need to average at 150 wh/km to get 500km range.

Not all of those 54KW are usable plus I said at 90%. When I bought the car, the advertised range was 385kms at 138wh/km which comes to 51.5KWs. Also, remember that I said 90% capacity which will come to 46KW. Averaging 160wh/km thus gets you ~280kms. This also does not account for phantom drain. I thik averaging 160wh/km in winters will take some serious sacrifice on cabin heating and driving speeds. It would also require not more than one or two long trips and probably parking the car indoors on both ends

 

[Tessaract]

I have seen consumption as high as 400 Wh/km in my M3LR for the first 5 min driving on a cold battery (cabin heat on, at least one seat heater on... I don't sacrifice my (wife's) comfort). My average around-town consumption this December has been about 250Wh/km. You'll also find that driving through a couple inch-deep snow increases consumption noticeably.

 

[Shiraz8484]

Some wh/km observations:

At 5C temp, with 19s on winters, I get around 190-200wh/km driving on highways at 110 km and no heat. With heat, it jumps to 220wh/km. This is measured over 25-30km trip. Longer trips will likely bring no heat number down to 180wh/km.

Gentle city driving (50-65km/hr), I can get 130wh/km without heater.

I have flow formed 19s which weigh only 21lbs per wheel. Tires are Pirelli winter ice zero FRs.

 

[Shiraz8484]

Earlier today on my way to work. Outside temp 4°C, AP on 110km/h, seat heater on 1.View attachment 493068

given it took you 18 mins to do 23km, your avg speed comes to 76km/hr assuming you weren’t stopped for a while which is why I think trip wh/km is so low.

 

[ATC@LWSK]

given it took you 18 mins to do 23km, your avg speed comes to 76km/hr assuming you weren’t stopped for a while which is why I think trip wh/km is so low.

No I wasn't stop for a while. This trip was about 5km (10 min) on Dundas St (traffic lights and stuff), and the rest on 403 doing 110-120km.

 

[jc22zhao]

Never found the need to use chill mode. The traction control in the model 3 is extremely responsive and will reduce throttle on the slightest slip. I can literally floor it when turning in snow and have very minimal fish tailing. I use the OEM winter tires (Pirelli Sottozero 2)