I found a good tip on the Tesla forum from 2kids10horses. By preheating the car, using the Tesla app, for 30 minutes with the temperature set to HI you can get very good driving performance right from the start in cold weather. The original tip came from someone at a Tesla Service Center. The thread is at this location:
Winter tip UPDATE | Forums | Tesla Motors
I have done this myself the last two days during a cold spell and have been very happy with the results. Both mornings the interior temperature of the car, which was parked in my garage, was -6C to -8C, significantly colder than usual. Using this technique, the interior temperature rose to 17C to 20C but the important factors were that there was no limit on power output, the regen was only limited to 30 kW, and there were no warning messages about performance improving as you drive or battery heating. There was also very little loss of range using the preheating.
My charging started in the evening and should have been over for some time. I have yet to try situations like leaving the car outside, without any charging to possibly heat the battery, or whether it would work almost as well at say 30C temperature setting instead of HI, or what length of preheating time is needed in different situations.
Winter tip UPDATE | Forums | Tesla Motors
I have done this myself the last two days during a cold spell and have been very happy with the results. Both mornings the interior temperature of the car, which was parked in my garage, was -6C to -8C, significantly colder than usual. Using this technique, the interior temperature rose to 17C to 20C but the important factors were that there was no limit on power output, the regen was only limited to 30 kW, and there were no warning messages about performance improving as you drive or battery heating. There was also very little loss of range using the preheating.
My charging started in the evening and should have been over for some time. I have yet to try situations like leaving the car outside, without any charging to possibly heat the battery, or whether it would work almost as well at say 30C temperature setting instead of HI, or what length of preheating time is needed in different situations.
