Ploughing Snow...

[Medved_77]

Just watched a video by 'EV Dave', demonstrating how useless his Model Y is in 6 inches of snow:

I found it really uncomfortable to watch when he:

• Scraped the snow off his car with a ruler
• Tried to activate the wipers when frozen
• Banged the top of the window to release the glass.
• Kicked the door sills to remove the snow from his shoes
• Tried to move the snow at the front and rear by ploughing into it.
• Recovered the UMC from within a large pile of snow
• Tried to manually close the charge port door whilst there was still snow inside it.

It's getting cold in the North, winter is coming and all that.. This'll be my first winter with the Model 3 and also the first time with frameless doors.

Naively, I'm hoping to just precondition the car for 30 minutes and walk out to find all the snow gone, job done, but I suspect it won't be that easy.

What are your top tips for clearing snow from the car and preparing for a drive?

 

[pgkevet]

Horses for courses. If you're going to be battling 6" snow on rural unploughed side roads regulalrly then it's not the car for the job. If you're going to just get out of the drive and use cleared roads thereafter then winter tyres and you should be good to go.
I've been through 2 winters with my S but neither winter has been as bad as a few years ago. The lanes here do get ploughed.. but often not for a while. If it;s not too deep then I take the ICE SUV for the ground clearance. If its poughed but icy Ill take the S with caution and have been known to turn back and swap to a cheaper car in case of skids into ditches etc. If its really bad then that's why we keep good stocks of essentials - stay at home. A few years back it was bad enough that I actually took a wrong turn on the 3-mile trip back from the village 'cos the roads were almost whited out. I ended up down a single track with snow walls each side above the X-trail's roof until i came to the end of the ploughed bit - the snow plough was still there 'cos the driver had slept in the cab after also becoming disorientated at night and ploughing a field instead of the lane. I gave the hungry guy breakfast from my shopping bags and he cut me a turning area to go back and try again...Those aren't Tesla conditions unless the Cybertruck gets built better for it..

 

[Zakalwe]

EVDave is a bit thick, isn't he? Why not precondition and allow the cabin heat to clear, or at least loosen that snow?

 

[Shetlandmdl3]

I’ve found if you put the wipers in to service mode when you park up for the night, when you pre heat the cabin in the morning the wipers aren’t froze to the window.

 

[ElRey]

Just watched a video by 'EV Dave', demonstrating how useless his Model Y is in 6 inches of snow:

I found it really uncomfortable to watch when he:

• Scraped the snow off his car with a ruler
• Tried to activate the wipers when frozen
• Banged the top of the window to release the glass.
• Kicked the door sills to remove the snow from his shoes
• Tried to move the snow at the front and rear by ploughing into it.
• Recovered the UMC from within a large pile of snow
• Tried to manually close the charge port door whilst there was still snow inside it.

It's getting cold in the North, winter is coming and all that.. This'll be my first winter with the Model 3 and also the first time with frameless doors.

Naively, I'm hoping to just precondition the car for 30 minutes and walk out to find all the snow gone, job done, but I suspect it won't be that easy.

What are your top tips for clearing snow from the car and preparing for a drive?

Having lived in conditions far worse than that, the video seems a little silly to me.

I always had a remote starter to warm the car but even then the snow would not fall off and certainly the wipers would never be enough to brush off all the snow.
You would typically brush the snow off off and then use your fingers to break off any snow on the wiper blades. (Preconditioning will help soften the ice on the windscreen and wipers)

Most people would also have a shovel in the boot to at least clear behind or in front of the car. Once on the road, the city would usually have done some clearing.

My point is he seems to be highlighting a vehicle problem as a Tesla or electric car problem.

 

[Sparkeur]

Taptes will have a plough attachment out by next week...

 

[M3noob]

Having lived in conditions far worse than that, the video seems a little silly to me.

...

My point is he seems to be highlighting a vehicle problem as a Tesla or electric car problem.

I think he has self-identified a Dave problem

 

[ACarneiro]

Is there anything nearly as much snow as that left in the UK?
We had all of about 3 snow flakes in the Midlands last winter

 

[Andy_T_73]

Wipe off the snow from windscreen before you pre-heat, otherwise melt water runs down the scuttle and freezes up the air inlet for the heater and wiper arms. Found this out the hard way on my previous car which had remote start.

 

[Medved_77]

Is there anything nearly as much snow as that left in the UK?
We had all of about 3 snow flakes in the Midlands last winter

That amount of snow isn't uncommon in Scotland. Agree it's far less of a concern in the midlands.

 

[Haddock]

On summer tyres he doesn't have a chance.

Even on winter tyres it would get really hard once the snow depth exceeds the ground clearance. At some point you are just building up a pile of snow at the front of the car and that doesn't work.

 

[ElRey]

On summer tyres he doesn't have a chance.

Even on winter tyres it would get really hard once the snow depth exceeds the ground clearance. At some point you are just building up a pile of snow at the front of the car and that doesn't work.

Most places I know that get that level of snow would usually have systems in place where the public roads would be ploughed and or gritted so not likely to encounter that. People with large driveways, farms etc tend to have ways of dealing with.

 

[Haddock]

Most places I know that get that level of snow would usually have systems in place where the public roads would be ploughed and or gritted so not likely to encounter that. People with large driveways, farms etc tend to have ways of dealing with.

Sure. But on summer tyres (these are not winter or all-year tyres) you will still have a bad time.

 

[Neilio]

I find that video extremely satisfying for some reason. I like seeing people challenge their vehicles to see who they can do.

In the "real world" You'd pre heat the cabin whilst still on charge. You'd scrape the snow off before driving anywhere, you'd have winter tyres on, you'd be driving on probably pre ploughed or gritted roads. Or you'd take the massive pick up in the drive way.

What it does highlight is that the Car doesn't have any limitations compared to a similar ice vehicle in such conditions. Apart from the fact it doesn't have petrol to freeze. Yes, the fuel economy will be horrific as the car tries to heat the batteries and the cabin but you would normally pre heat whilst plugged in to help mitigate some of that.

 

[Zakalwe]

Apart from the fact it doesn't have petrol to freeze.

Diesel, maybe. It'd have to hit -60C for petrol to freeze.

 

[Zakalwe]

Taptes will have a plough attachment out by next week...

Given their delivery times, it'll arrive just as hell freezes over!

 

[LongRanger]

if anyone remembers the mental winter we had maybe 2009/10 ish - I had a 730d BMW with the Webasto heater, I think it was -13 Celcius in the midlands for around a week, that car coped well on frozen roads even on summer tyres (Pirelli P Zero Nero) - the Webasto was great - but diesel was not happy at -13.

This has reminded me to do the door handle WD40 thing that the manual mentions.

 

[Jason71]

if anyone remembers the mental winter we had maybe 2009/10 ish - I had a 730d BMW with the Webasto heater, I think it was -13 Celcius in the midlands for around a week, that car coped well on frozen roads even on summer tyres (Pirelli P Zero Nero) - the Webasto was great - but diesel was not happy at -13.

This has reminded me to do the door handle WD40 thing that the manual mentions.

I do. it was crazy. I had an LPG car at the time and the LCD displays on the LPG pumps use to freeze up and not work

 

[Durzel]

I've never had any issue pouring warm water on frameless windows, etc. Obviously if I was in the same boat I'd precondition the car for ages.

 

[Neilio]

Diesel, maybe. It'd have to hit -60C for petrol to freeze.

Apologies. I also thought petrol froze easier than diesel. I didn't realise I was wrong