COS Blue
Member
Speaking as someone who bought his car in October, this thread is quite reassuring! All my road trips have been in cold weather, so I'm glad to know I will have a "different car" this spring and summer.
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100% SoC is not needed, and will in fact decrease range on the older cars as all the pumps will run at 100%
100% agree and it took me almost 2 years of ownership to realize that charging to 100% may not be beneficial for long trips due to no regen and constant pumps/fans running. You may actually get more or the same mileage as if you just charged to 90%.No one has mentioned the obvious...charge before leaving and precondition the battery. 100% SoC is not needed, and will in fact decrease range on the older cars as all the pumps will run at 100%
With a cold pack below 50 deg F you will loose regen and risk the bat heater coming on and potentially drawing 12Kw.
Why does charging to 100% cause pumps and fans to run constantly?charging to 100% may not be beneficial for long trips due to no regen and constant pumps/fans running.
Self-protection courtesy of firmware updates a year or two ago. Battery coolant heater will kick in constantly and the fans as well as you near 100%.Why does charging to 100% cause pumps and fans to run constantly?
This is true only for some 70/85kwh batteries.Why does charging to 100% cause pumps and fans to run constantly?
Keeps them from blowing up, apparently. Im being dramatic, but its to keep them from igniting and catching the car on fire.Why does charging to 100% cause pumps and fans to run constantly?
This is true only for some 70/85kwh batteries.
I'm curious what are the chances that an older Tesla that a person purchased used could handle long distance frigid weather. If it had a 130 mile range could one travel round trip 95 miles on one charge.
I meant 70/85, but I’m sure you can throw in the original 60s too as they’re the same generation of cells.I think you mean 60kwh (but not the software unlockable ones)? I think some 70kwh packs also might be affected.
If your fascia is the old one, battery gate applies.
Speaking as someone who lives in Northern Norway (well north of the polar circle), freezing rain is a contradiction, it's either rain or it's freezing, but it's not both at the same time. I've frequently taken my Model S on roadtrips in temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius and this works fine, but you have to take into account that your range will be no more than 75% of what you achieve during summer. If you're not aware of this you'll end up in the sort of unfortunate situation you've just described.
As an amusing sidenote, there's a low pressure zone just behind the vertical drop on the tailgate. During long winter roadtrips snow is sucked in by this low pressure zone and can start to build on the back of the vehicle. On occasion my Model S has been somewhere between 30 and 40 centimeters longer on arrival at my destination than it was on departure. Quite the annoyance since it both obscures the rear lights and makes accessing the trunk a real hassle.
Not to go too far off topic but I'd place freezing drizzle (FZDZ) a notch above freezing rain (FZRA) on the danger scale. Why? Because FZDZ is insidious. You're driving along with just a little mist hitting the windshield then, blam!, you cross a bridge and spin out. At least with FZRA you're well aware of stuff happening and can be a little more on-guard.Well, I guess you don't live at the latitude needed to have this occur - and it does.
The most dangerous winter weather is freezing rain. It happens, most frequently, when a weak warm front ( +2C/35F ) pushes in over cold air and ground (-3C/28F ). It rains, sometimes heavily, and freezes on impact. Unsalted roads become instant skating rinks, trees get so heavy that whole forests can fall, and power poles snap like twigs ( see Quebec ice storm 1998 - a bunch of the province had no power for weeks ).
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My point was not to say it’s exactly a wash or doesn’t give any you net positive miles. My point was that it’s not worth it because there is *noticeably* faster consumption because of the charge to 100% and subsequent auto battery coolant heater/fan use.No way does charging to 100% make for less range than charging to 90%. I don't know how that math works. Your cooling pumps would need to consume 7kwh of power (9+ on a 100kwh car) over their normal usage in the course of a drive to penalize range. All 10% segments of the battery may not produce the same amount of range, which I believe is people's point. The top 10% producing the least range due to reduced regen, increased heat use if not preconditioned on shore power, and reduced efficiency from increased resistance in the pack with lower temperatures.
Adding this link. It's from 2004 and not EV specific, but some of the penalties to range/mileage are universal (air density, higher rolling resistance, higher viscosity fluids).
Why is the fuel economy of an automobile worse in the winter than in the summer?
Even if you don't run the heater, a cold battery has higher internal resistance and more energy is wasted in heat as you draw from it. This also shows up as a loss in range.
My point was not to say it’s exactly a wash or doesn’t give any you net positive miles. My point was that it’s not worth it because there is *noticeably* faster consumption because of the charge to 100% and subsequent auto battery coolant heater/fan use.
Not arguing. OP now knows not to depart with 50% SoC for a road trip...