My car says "Brrrr!"

[scaesare]

I'm sure this in nothing new for folks who live where it's really cold, but the last few days have been the coldest we've had here in Northern VA in the 17 yrs I've lived here... we've been Cyclone Bombed, and it so happened I've had to park my normally garaged Oxcart outside. Yesterday the temp had been 0 degrees F over night. This morning it had been single digits, but wind chills in the double-digit negative temps.

Here are the complaints my car had over the couple of days:

- No regen (I'm normally only limited, not completely disabled)

- TPMS senders unhappy (I suspect they batteries are weak anyway and the cold in putting them over the edge)

- The snowflake!:

- Ride height adjustment? Um... no.

- No response from remote app (no connectivity... due the the next one, I suspect)

- Center console display didn't auto-power up. Had to reboot with steering wheel controls. Took a while for functions to come online (energy usage graph, heater, cell connection, etc...)


Most of these simply resolved once things warmed up, but it's been an educational experience. It's also been the first time my power usage was such that I used almost double rated miles for my 30 mile commute...

 

[TLej]

Welcome to the winter club

 

[scaesare]

Welcome to the winter club

Thanks....?

 

[arcus]

Ah, so THAT'S how winter is like...

 

[Spacebird]

I take it you can't plug in overnight, @scaesare?

My car's in an unheated garage in Vermont, but it's plugged in. I've had an interior temperature as low as 15F (outside 15 to 20 below), and I try to top up my battery (from 80%) before driving in the morning, but regen is still limited.

 

[DriveMe]

It's been close to 0 here in Ohio. The garage is not much warmer.
However, I am keeping my car plugged in overnight and I have not seen most of those symptoms.
The app is always responsive, though sometimes may take time to connect. TPMS sensors seem to be working fine, no reboots required, etc.
The regen is limited, but still available. I do preheat the car for half an hour though.

 

[RogerHScott]

Anyone else wish the Tesla app had a "have the car at temperature T at time HH:MM" capability? The remote preheat feature is such butt-freeze-saver under these conditions, but it is too easy to forget to take advantage of it, especially when you're busy running around getting ready to head out (which is, of course, when you need to remember to engage it now).

 

[scaesare]

I take it you can't plug in overnight, @scaesare?

My car's in an unheated garage in Vermont, but it's plugged in. I've had an interior temperature as low as 15F (outside 15 to 20 below), and I try to top up my battery (from 80%) before driving in the morning, but regen is still limited.

Normally, yes... however my daughter moved back in, so one side of tha garage is full of stuff she's supposed to be selling on craigslist... out of kindness to my wife I let her have "my" side of the garage for her car, So I've been in the driveway for a few days.

I have charging at work, so I've just been preheating with the app in the mornings... today was first time the center console wouldn't even wake up to allow that. (Which is odd... as I'm not sure why it would fail to boot given the IC did, and the rest of the 12V systems were working...)

 

[scaesare]

Anyone else wish the Tesla app had a "have the car at temperature T at time HH:MM" capability? The remote preheat feature is such butt-freeze-saver under these conditions, but it is too easy to forget to take advantage of it, especially when you're busy running around getting ready to head out (which is, of course, when you need to remember to engage it now).

Yes... it's been mentioned it her a number of times over the years... along with time-of-departure charge scheduling. As a matter of fact I tweeted at Elon about it when he asked for customer feedback on how to improve the cars...

I get reasonably close for the latter with Visible Tesla...

 

[Zero CO2]

got the snowflake icon next to the battery icon the other morning also .... what does it mean ?

 

[scaesare]

got the snowflake icon next to the battery icon the other morning also .... what does it mean ?

That the usable energy from the battery has been reduced due to the cold. This is in addition to the power limiting you get on the dash while it's cold.

For me it went off after about 5 minutes of driving.

 

[Zero CO2]

That the usable energy from the battery has been reduced due to the cold. This is in addition to the power limiting you get on the dash while it's cold.

For me it went off after about 5 minutes of driving.

similar experience ... snowflake disappeared after couple minutes ... probably should preheat the car in extreme cold .....my 25 mile commute was ~500wh/mi.....pretty poor

 

[sakimano]

Your tpms are likely fine...your tires are reading low on air because of the cold meaning the pressure is actually down. You could add to get back to target.

 

[PhatCat]

similar experience ... snowflake disappeared after couple minutes ... probably should preheat the car in extreme cold .....my 25 mile commute was ~500wh/mi.....pretty poor

Single digit temps when i got to my car at train station parking garage last evening. I also had 500+ consumption on trip home and this was with cabin temp set to 61. It was alarming, as i has never seen anything remotely close to this last winter. Glad to see it is nothing particular to my car.

It occurs to me that unless Tesla does a much better job of informing its customers of the expected behavior when the temps go below 30F, they will have a mass of confused and angry M3 drivers in the North next winter. I've read the vast majority of posts on this forum for years and had my MS last winter yet i was still concerned by the deep cold behavior.

One suggestion. How about startup messages on main screen, customized to level of temp car senses, that explain limitations car is about to impose along with increased consumption and decreased range guidelines. Specifically explain the consumption and regen limitations and how they are displayed. Explain the snow flake. Warn about massive consumption increase for initial portion of trip. And explain that these limitations will gradually be removed as the car warms up with driving. These pop ups could have a "don't display again" button so as not to become nags.

Another suggestion to Elon. Have your entire management team relocate to Vermont next winter. Then you'll get it.

 

[LMichel]

It's been in the negative numbers here in Rochester, NY. Currently showing -3. My 2017 MS always shows all four tires as low (37lbs) when the car starts out with temps at about 10 degrees or less. Eventually each TPS sender begins a slow pressure climb (road friction heating the air in the tire?) and maxes out at about 40lbs. After about 20 miles of this pattern, each tire icon seems to independently transition to a normal font color instead of orange.
My thought was that things are so cold, I shouldn't bother to get "all worked up" about this and instead, just wait for above freezing temps and see if things return to normal??

 

[scaesare]

Your tpms are likely fine...your tires are reading low on air because of the cold meaning the pressure is actually down. You could add to get back to target.

No, not low pressures.. the senders aren't communicating with the car. The car is nearing 5 years old.. the batteries are probably on their last legs.

Incidentally, when that link isn't working, it appears the car tries for exactly 19 minutes of driving when it gives up and displays an error.

I'm debating whether I should replace them, or upgrade to the 2nd gen system that displays all 4 tire pressures...

 

[scaesare]

It's been in the negative numbers here in Rochester, NY. Currently showing -3. My 2017 MS always shows all four tires as low (37lbs) when the car starts out with temps at about 10 degrees or less. Eventually each TPS sender begins a slow pressure climb (road friction heating the air in the tire?) and maxes out at about 40lbs. After about 20 miles of this pattern, each tire icon seems to independently transition to a normal font color instead of orange.
My thought was that things are so cold, I shouldn't bother to get "all worked up" about this and instead, just wait for above freezing temps and see if things return to normal??

I would.

If you add air at the extreme cold temps, you'll end up overinflated for a majority of your drive.

 

[steve841]

Well, here in SOUTH Florida ... I saw my first limited regen from the cold.

Had to think about that one for a few when I first drove ....

 

[Nick B]

No need to bother about low pressure indicators when it's so cold. Cold air takes less space so it is absolutely normal to see a lower psi. If you're really worried, simply do a visual inspection to see if all 4 tires are fine but otherwise once the car warms up the indicators should dissappear. I had a loaner 100D, the car was brand new and the indicators were giving me lower pressure as it was around -10F (-23 celcius exactly).

 

[Unpilot]

My TPMS are complaining all four tires are low. they show 40 psi. What is trigger point? They are supposed to be at 45 psi.