Pearson Airport 10day cold soak

[Phillip L]

You can solve the window channel freezing with some 18" plastic wrap in this manner:
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When I traded in our Hyundai Santa Fe on the Volt I kept the plastic liner that I bought for the back of the Santa Fe since I was not getting anything for it in the trade in. It fits perfectly over the windshield and nestles down into the windshield channel on both the Volt and the Model S, keeping snow off the wipers and windshield. I do this in our driveway because we have only a single car garage. But on the road the plastic wrap idea looks really useful. Do you need a second set of hands to get it on?

 

[jerry33]

When I traded in our Hyundai Santa Fe on the Volt I kept the plastic liner that I bought for the back of the Santa Fe since I was not getting anything for it in the trade in. It fits perfectly over the windshield and nestles down into the windshield channel on both the Volt and the Model S, keeping snow off the wipers and windshield. I do this in our driveway because we have only a single car garage. But on the road the plastic wrap idea looks really useful. Do you need a second set of hands to get it on?

Depends on the type of plastic wrap. Some types (usually the shorter lengths) can be done with one person and some types (the more industrial films) need two people to prevent clinging.

 

[wayner]

I just wonder when and which EV would be the First EV to drive to the North Pole.

I think this would be possible by recharging the batteries using solar panels,
since during the summer the sun is always up!

Possible yes but it would be very slow. In other sub-forums here folks have done the calculations but you need a lot of solar panels to recharge a Tesla - WAY more than would you could put on the vehicle, even if it was totally wrapped in PV cells. The typical solar cell is 65"x39" and can generate 300W of power. Assuming rated range you need 200Wh/km. Let's assume you can fit 4x300W panels and get full 300W output on each panel. In one hour they will generate 1200Wh - that will get you 6km/h.

 

[jbwinton]

Wipers freeze and simply don't do the job, doors won't open or shut easily or sometimes at all, heater inadequate, rear defroster terrible...this is a car not designed for cold weather. Period. At least a 40% reduction in range in cold weather. The outside mirrors are simply inoperable when cold and wet. Very dangerous. This is my second midwestern winter with my X. The X is garaged at home and outside at work. Yesterday we had freezing rain and sleet. The X was awful under such conditions. Good thing i kept our ICE vehicle.

yup. agreed. i wish Elon would do something about this. as i said in a previous post "the X 75 shouldn't even be sold in cold weather climates. they advertised 235 miles but that ain't even close to accurate he in cold Chicago. all the 75 batteries should be replaced with 100's. i don't mind the rear defroster so much, but the front one is inadequate , takes forever, and then doens't do the whole window.

 

[wayner]

The range reduction is pretty well known and isn't that much of an issue for most trips. I have had an 85 for over three years and it hasn't been a big deal - and Supercharger coverage is much better today that it was three years ago and is getting better by the week, at least here in the Toronto area.

But some of the other cold weather stuff is inadequate - like the defrosters, and the placement of the front radar on AP1 vehicles.

 

[shiny]

I ranged charged because I knew I was going to burn off 40km getting to the airport. I didn't expect the cold that we got but was confident of having lots of range left (and did). The car was so cold it took >80km of range to get the 40km home. It was -12C last night.

On another note I drove my Model S to work this morning (which I had had washed the night before we left) and the brake pads were incredibly welded to the rotors. Took a lot of accelerator to break the grip. The parking brake did not release until I was onto the road off my driveway. Lots of ABS and traction control warnings thrown. Once parking break had released I stopped and started and the car and all good. Not sure what else I could have done but drive it to break the rust bonds.

I had a similar problem with my Model S - parked for 5 days at Pearson and the brakes seemed to be 'stuck'. I also lost about 50km that week. Started off really cold (around -20 then warmed up closer to freezing mid week). I was initially worried about how much range I'd lose having it sit for a week in the cold.....

 

[stevelectric]

That variability in regen is a design flaw that I wish Tesla would fix by diverting any regen above what the battery can accept due to low temperature into warming the battery. Seems like a win-win: getting regen into the battery faster and a consistent experience for the driver.

I read somewhere that Tesla is actually doing that. But the battery heater only got around 4kW of power, that's nothing compared to 60kW of potential regen. You'd need a truly enormous heater to dissipate this much energy