that sounds terrible. i wouldn't even get into my car at that temp. does it help keeping your tesla in a garage? or is it the same if left outside?
Polar Vortex vs Model 3 Performance 0-60 time. (okay, 0-59)
- Thread starter rhuber
- Start date
that sounds terrible. i wouldn't even get into my car at that temp. does it help keeping your tesla in a garage? or is it the same if left outside?
Nocturnal
Supporting Member
On the plus side, we don't have to worry about our engine blocks freezing.
It was -7 or so here in Kansas last night. My garage stayed at maybe 20-25. Heat leaking from house + some minor heat gain from the concrete slab I suppose.
dmurphy
Woof.
Wish I could park a car inside my garage .... the previous owners carved the back of the garage out into a small sun porch, so it's no longer deep enough for a vehicle to fit! Thankfully it only got down to about -2 here last night in NJ. Our ICE vehicles fired up, but since I'm considering a Model 3, curious how it would do sitting outside (plugged in, of course) soaking in temps like that for a few days between drives ...
Nocturnal
Supporting Member
If I left my car outside at 0 or so I'd just plan on it not having full power and having zero regen. You can combat that a little by scheduling your charge to end at about the time you want to leave. When I do that in my garage I have 100% power and almost all regen. You are going to want to keep it plugged in anyway so you can preheat your interior.
I hope Tesla offers a software fix that will do more to pre-heat the batteries. It would be a "waste" of electricity, but should be doable. Just cycling charging with interior climate etc would really help out in a lot of cases.
dmurphy
Woof.
Great input, thanks! My plan would be to leave it outdoors but plugged in whenever I'm home. The problem is that my schedule is somewhat unpredictable; I work from home so don't have a daily commute, per se. I usually know the day before when/where I'm headed out to, so I guess I could adjust the charging cycle then, but not sure how that'd work if the battery is being kept topped off by being plugged in all the time ... have to think through that I guess.
Pre-warming won't be an issue, and as I understand it, that also uses shore power, so that's a good thing. As you said, cycling interior climate (i.e. let me set a limit - say, don't-let-the-interior-drop-below-55) or something would probably do the trick.
Either way, I think I'm settling in on the idea of a Model 3... the range won't be an issue for me; just a question of whether I'd be happy in the sedan form factor vs. the SUVs I've been driving for the last ~15 years.
Model Y can't get here fast enough!
You could set the limit lower to keep it topped to that limit and then schedule higher limit before you were heading out.
Or just set higher limit via the app couple of hours before you head out.
Nocturnal
Supporting Member
If you are just worried about power/performance the cold is not a concern unless you are in a super cold climate. It's only impacted me while parking outside during this polar vortex crap.
As far as the SUV, pros and cons for sure. I had a Highlander before the 3. Folding the seats down in the 3 gives me a good bit of room for sure. I may add the hidden hitch at some point and get a small trailer for the occasional load of mulch or whatever.
dmurphy
Woof.
Don't think weather will be a real concern; in NJ we usually have a few days a year in single digits... it "really isn't that bad" all things considered.
The good news is that my wife has a Buick Enclave, with a hitch. So if I have to move anything big, I've got room for it. Just takes a little planning so we can swap vehicles. And, of course, she'd need to be comfortable driving the Model 3... I'm not concerned about me - I'll adapt to it just fine (techno dork myself) but not sure she'd be happy with the touchscreen-for-everything model. But we'll see; best thing at this point, I think, is an overnight test drive if I can talk the local showroom into one. I'll wait till the weather improves.
Nocturnal
Supporting Member
I was always a "I prefer physical buttons" kind of guy prior to owning the 3. I think it's a great balance with just a few real buttons for the real common things and the rest on an easy to use screen. Good luck!The good news is that my wife has a Buick Enclave, with a hitch. So if I have to move anything big, I've got room for it. Just takes a little planning so we can swap vehicles. And, of course, she'd need to be comfortable driving the Model 3... I'm not concerned about me - I'll adapt to it just fine (techno dork myself) but not sure she'd be happy with the touchscreen-for-everything model. But we'll see; best thing at this point, I think, is an overnight test drive if I can talk the local showroom into one. I'll wait till the weather improves.
The only physical buttons that I miss are the wipers (at least until they figure out auto function).
I've also been experiencing the polar vortex recently (-25F) here in Minnesota and my Model S has been great, but I store it in a garage and preheat it before getting in. That's one of the best things about owning an EV: Preheating in your garage.
To contrast, on my daily commute my Prius which lives in the driveway was having a hard time even after 10 minutes of warm up it would run the motor at much higher RPMs to make power (probably the battery being too cold to help) and would keep stuttering every time I tried to accelerate.
To contrast, on my daily commute my Prius which lives in the driveway was having a hard time even after 10 minutes of warm up it would run the motor at much higher RPMs to make power (probably the battery being too cold to help) and would keep stuttering every time I tried to accelerate.
SilverSp33d3r
No Longer Silver
Im in Jerzy and keep my car outside full time, I don't worry about preheating the car for the regenerative braking not worth it. When the car is just sitting and loses some range the charger will kick on again to top it off. If there is no snow or ice that needs to be melted you can just like warm the car for 5 min so its not freezing when you get it... warms up really fast.. this video i made is from before the update that puts on the heated seats to help warm the car even faster...
dmurphy
Woof.
BOOM! That right there is what I'm talking about! Thanks so much - and Yakety Sax makes EVERYTHING better! hahaha.
9 minutes to get it from 15 to 70 degrees is pretty spectacular - that'll certainly be about 25 bonus points in the Wife Adoption Factor. It takes 2 or 3 10-minute remote starts on her Enclave to get to the point where she can even sit in it... nowhere near 70.
Nocturnal
Supporting Member
I remember having ICE cars that basically never got warm in that type of weather, at least during a short commute.
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