Planning a trip to Bear Valley Ski Resort

[Oyinko]

Hello!

Next week, I'm planning to drive from San Francisco to Bear Valley Ski Resort. I currently own a Model 3 Performance and will have a set of 18" all seasons tires that have good traction in the snow. (Goodyear Assurance® WeatherReady®).

I'm supposed to stay at a friend house and was originally planning to plug there but because of the amount of snow they got, their driveway isn't accessible. Hence I will need to charge somewhere in Bear Valley.

A quick search allowed me to find a Destination Charger at the Bear Valley Lodge. However, it seems that only one works and many people have complained about people parking their cars there for days. Hence I might not be able to plug there.

Do you know any other good options to charge in Bear Valley?

My calculations are showing that even if I charge at 100% at the Manteca Supercharger, I should arrive with about 45% at Bear Valley. I plan on staying 3-4 days. Do you know how much energy the car will need to drain to protect the cells in cold climate?

I will need about 20% of battery to make it back to the Manteca Supercharger on the way down. Hence if I get lower than 30% of battery during my stay, it might be challenging.

Any advice will be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[NeverFollow]

I'm supposed to stay at a friend house and was originally planning to plug there but because of the amount of snow they got,
their driveway isn't accessible. Hence I will need to charge somewhere in Bear Valley.

Get a snow blower...

 

[Oyinko]

Too much work The road to access the house is actually closed in winter...

 

[NeverFollow]

Too much work The road to access the house is actually closed in winter...

This is so beautiful... it looks like a Christmas card.

In fact I have been in a similar situation near Squaw Valley.
The plow truck cleaned the main road but not the access road to the cabin.

Where do you plan to park your car?

My calculations are showing that even if I charge at 100% at the Manteca Supercharger,
I should arrive with about 45% at Bear Valley. I plan on staying 3-4 days.

Do you know how much energy the car will need to drain to protect the cells in cold climate?

I wonder if you should rent a portable generator just for compensating the vampire drain?

 

[Oyinko]

This is so beautiful... it looks like a Christmas card.

In fact I have been in a similar situation near Squaw Valley.
The plow truck cleaned the main road but not the access road to the cabin.

Where do you plan to park your car?

I wonder if you should rent a portable generator just for compensating the vampire drain?

I plan on parking the car at the bottom of the ski resort.

 

[NeverFollow]

I'm supposed to stay at a friend house and was originally planning to plug there but because of the amount of snow they got,
their driveway isn't accessible. Hence I will need to charge somewhere in Bear Valley.

I plan on parking the car at the bottom of the ski resort.

Do you have an idea of the length of the driveway?
May be you could clear the entrance and part of the driveway, to park your car not too far from the cabin.

I recently had to do some work in my garage and I had to borrow an hammer drill, from the Toll Library of the city where I live.
I also got 200 ft of extension cord and this was working fine.
(The new Makita Hammer drill on e-Bay is now cordless with a 18v Lithium-Ion battery, I understand why...)

I even tried to plug my car using the 200 ft extension cord under 120 V and I was getting 1 kWh
which was slow but enough to compensate for the vampire drain.

 

[Oyinko]

Well they actually closed the entire road leading to the house. We will need to use snowmobile to access the house.

I’m curious if anyone has done a similar trip and know if it’s right or if i have other alternatives than the Tesla destination charger at the Lodge.

 

[NeverFollow]

Well they actually closed the entire road leading to the house. We will need to use snowmobile to access the house.

I’m curious if anyone has done a similar trip and know if it’s right or if i have other alternatives than the Tesla destination charger at the Lodge.

I noticed few comments regarding loosing range in winter, but not too much regarding vampire drain will park outdoor in winter.

Lousy Range Cold Weather

Electric Vehicles Do Work In Cold Weather

Tesla Model 3 Range Loss In Bitter Cold

May be a good idea would be to practice towing mode and have some kind of good rope or strap in case you may need

to get tow until you can find some good down the hill road to get some re-gen to recharge your battery.

I wonder how much snow you will encounter while driving, but watching this YouTube video can make you prepared:

How Does The Tesla Model 3 Handle Snow?

Note: Do you plan using any snow tires or chains?

 

[Oyinko]

See below a recap of my experience. It's a copy past from my post on Reddit. For pictures, check out the original thread.

If you are going to use the Destination Charger in Bear Valley, please leave your contact details on your car so we can organize charging with other owners. Don't be that guy that leaves a car plugged for 24h without leaving a note...


Yesterday I did my first winter road trip by driving from San Francisco to Bear Valley Ski Resort, California! I knew I wouldn't be able to charge the Model 3 at the house I'm currently staying because the access road is under 10 feet of snow. Hence I had to be strategic about battery management...


My plan A was to charge at the public Tesla Destination Charger at the Bear Valley Lodge. However, because I couldn't guarantee the charger would work and be accessible (the charger has a poor rating on PlugShare), my backup plan was to stop at Manteca Supercharger (the last one before going up the mountain) and charge to 100%. With 100% battery, I would make it to Bear Valley with about 45% left which would be enough to go down (15% range needed) and endure the cold over 4 nights and 4 days (estimated to be 10%) if I wasn't able to charge at the Tesla Destination Charger.

On Thursday evening, I hit the road and arrived at Manteca Supercharger with about 65% battery left. I immediately plugged my car but it was charging slower than expected (maximum of 38kw) mostly likely because it was only 50°F. I stopped about 45 minutes and had dinner at a not so nice Mexican place. When I got back to the car, It was charged at 98% and I was ready to go up the mountain.

I hit the road toward Bear Valley and the Tesla indicated I would make it up there with about 46% battery left. With 4 passengers in the car and the front and rear trunks fully loaded, I expected that the prediction wouldn't be accurate. The road going up (107 miles) was uneven until we arrived in Arnold where it started to snow and got colder (about 28°F).

At this moment the navigation system was estimating to arrive in Bear Valley with 42% battery left. All together a 4% loss wasn't so bad. However between Arnold and Bear Valley (25 miles) the efficiency plummeted. My guess it was because of the snow on the road and because of something else I would found out a bit later... more on that soon!



During the last 25 miles, road conditions were really poor but I was excited to see how my new set of tires would perform. Last week I mounted a new set of 18" TSportLine with Goodyear Assurance Weather Ready (235/45R18). The tires are technically all seasons but sufficiently good enough on snow that they have a snowflake on the sidewall. During the 25 miles doing up, I did not have any issue beside few times when I started to slightly loose the rear or the front. The road was very icy!



I eventually arrived at the Tesla Destination Charger with 37% battery left and to my surprise, it was available! I immediately got out and plugged the car and then found out I had a huge amount of snow build up in the wheel arch. The clearance between the tires and the snow was close to zero. To my understanding this can explain why I loss so much range in the last 25 miles. Unfortunately I made the mistake to not immediately clear the snow which would create some issues the next morning. More on that later.



The Tesla charger at the Bear Valley Lodge is very useful but difficult to use in winter because snow is covering the spots where you can park the car to charge. One of them was also completely broken (most likely a snow plow caught the cable while removing the snow). With no one around and the hotel lobby empty (it was 1:00AM...), I decided to leave the car to get a charge overnight. I did my best to park the Model 3 out of the way and left a note at the reception with my contact details and indicated I would remove the car before 8:00AM.



Six hours later, I got back to my car charged to 90% but covered of snow! It took me a good 45 minutes to dig out the car and move it to another location. If you are wondering, I had zero issue with opening the doors and removing the charger. My car is now sitting in a parking lot with 88% battery left. I'm very curious to see how much battery it will use with three to four feet of snow expected in the next 36 hours and temperatures that will be around 15°F.



To conclude, on the snow build up in the wheel arch, I was surprised to see so much! Because I did not clear it when arriving, the snow froze overnight and it was a real pain to remove this morning. It also did slightly push away the liner in one of the rear wheel, I will check this closely when I will be back in San Francisco.

Has anyone any advice on how to mitigate the snow build up? It's a common issue for sedans but I never had so much!

Thanks for reading!

 

[DR61]

Has anyone any advice on how to mitigate the snow build up? It's a common issue for sedans but I never had so much!

Common on most vehicles I have used in heavy snow in the Sierras over many decades. I carry a small plastic-bladed mountaineering shovel and dig snow out whenever parked. Also useful to dig out the car itself of course.

 

[voip-ninja]

See below a recap of my experience. It's a copy past from my post on Reddit. For pictures, check out the original thread.

If you are going to use the Destination Charger in Bear Valley, please leave your contact details on your car so we can organize charging with other owners. Don't be that guy that leaves a car plugged for 24h without leaving a note...


Yesterday I did my first winter road trip by driving from San Francisco to Bear Valley Ski Resort, California! I knew I wouldn't be able to charge the Model 3 at the house I'm currently staying because the access road is under 10 feet of snow. Hence I had to be strategic about battery management...


My plan A was to charge at the public Tesla Destination Charger at the Bear Valley Lodge. However, because I couldn't guarantee the charger would work and be accessible (the charger has a poor rating on PlugShare), my backup plan was to stop at Manteca Supercharger (the last one before going up the mountain) and charge to 100%. With 100% battery, I would make it to Bear Valley with about 45% left which would be enough to go down (15% range needed) and endure the cold over 4 nights and 4 days (estimated to be 10%) if I wasn't able to charge at the Tesla Destination Charger.

On Thursday evening, I hit the road and arrived at Manteca Supercharger with about 65% battery left. I immediately plugged my car but it was charging slower than expected (maximum of 38kw) mostly likely because it was only 50°F. I stopped about 45 minutes and had dinner at a not so nice Mexican place. When I got back to the car, It was charged at 98% and I was ready to go up the mountain.

I hit the road toward Bear Valley and the Tesla indicated I would make it up there with about 46% battery left. With 4 passengers in the car and the front and rear trunks fully loaded, I expected that the prediction wouldn't be accurate. The road going up (107 miles) was uneven until we arrived in Arnold where it started to snow and got colder (about 28°F).

At this moment the navigation system was estimating to arrive in Bear Valley with 42% battery left. All together a 4% loss wasn't so bad. However between Arnold and Bear Valley (25 miles) the efficiency plummeted. My guess it was because of the snow on the road and because of something else I would found out a bit later... more on that soon!



During the last 25 miles, road conditions were really poor but I was excited to see how my new set of tires would perform. Last week I mounted a new set of 18" TSportLine with Goodyear Assurance Weather Ready (235/45R18). The tires are technically all seasons but sufficiently good enough on snow that they have a snowflake on the sidewall. During the 25 miles doing up, I did not have any issue beside few times when I started to slightly loose the rear or the front. The road was very icy!



I eventually arrived at the Tesla Destination Charger with 37% battery left and to my surprise, it was available! I immediately got out and plugged the car and then found out I had a huge amount of snow build up in the wheel arch. The clearance between the tires and the snow was close to zero. To my understanding this can explain why I loss so much range in the last 25 miles. Unfortunately I made the mistake to not immediately clear the snow which would create some issues the next morning. More on that later.



The Tesla charger at the Bear Valley Lodge is very useful but difficult to use in winter because snow is covering the spots where you can park the car to charge. One of them was also completely broken (most likely a snow plow caught the cable while removing the snow). With no one around and the hotel lobby empty (it was 1:00AM...), I decided to leave the car to get a charge overnight. I did my best to park the Model 3 out of the way and left a note at the reception with my contact details and indicated I would remove the car before 8:00AM.



Six hours later, I got back to my car charged to 90% but covered of snow! It took me a good 45 minutes to dig out the car and move it to another location. If you are wondering, I had zero issue with opening the doors and removing the charger. My car is now sitting in a parking lot with 88% battery left. I'm very curious to see how much battery it will use with three to four feet of snow expected in the next 36 hours and temperatures that will be around 15°F.



To conclude, on the snow build up in the wheel arch, I was surprised to see so much! Because I did not clear it when arriving, the snow froze overnight and it was a real pain to remove this morning. It also did slightly push away the liner in one of the rear wheel, I will check this closely when I will be back in San Francisco.

Has anyone any advice on how to mitigate the snow build up? It's a common issue for sedans but I never had so much!

Thanks for reading!

In ICE vehicles snow build up in the wheel wells is still a problem but for the front wheels they typically are taken care of by engine heat. Something you could do that might help is to spray a silicone spray into the wheel wells. You would want to make sure you are using one that doesn't have any additives that might damage the car parts or permanently stain them. You also might want to drape something over the wheels when applying as lubricants dripping all over your tires could lead to some unpleasant results when driving.

I hope you had good luck with loss in low temps when parked. My car has lost as much as 5% in one evening when temps were only in the 20's.

 

[mihird]

Why hasn’t Tesla put a supercharger somewhere near the highest elevation point of Bear Valley?

It would be a God send for so many cars that go to that end..

 

[Mrbrock]

In the future this will help you out. Top off on the way in and won’t have to go as far back to top off on your way home.

Supercharger - Copperopolis, CA (LIVE 31 Mar 2021, 12 V3 stalls)

I saw a posting on Next Door (Nextdoor is the neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services. Join your neighborhood.) showing a picture of the Superchargers being installed in Copperopolis, CA. Coordinates: 37° 58.372'N 120° 39.196'W...

teslamotorsclub.com