Range reduction in cold

[cdeleo]

Also the seat heaters with back and butt get very hot on hi. I normally keep mine on low and only sometimes put it on mid. High is in my opinion pretty uncomfortable. I could see using hi if you had some sore muscles lol.

Also pay attention to battery drain while parking. I don't have good data on this but I'm sure it's out there or someone will respond.

 

[dmurphy]

1) Pre-heating will indeed use shore power instead of battery

2) 70 is no problem. It's much quicker to heat up to that temperature than a conventional car. You don't have to wait for the engine to warm up as there is a dedicated heater.

3) Can't recall what the max setting is, but on my app it moves up in increments of 0.5C. It hits 27, then the next setting is HI. So that means it's higher than 80.6F. Also, note that the driver profiles keep temperature in mind. So as long as you hit your profile, you don't have to worry about the previous user's high heat desire to overwhelm you. (you still have to select your profile on entry)

Thank you! #1 is as I expect; #2 is great to hear. #3 is even better. The challenge is when we're in the car side by side - I roast while she’s broiling me.

Sounds like you have a perfect use case for an EV. The Model X or Model 3 choice really depends on how much space you need, how much money you want to spend, and which one you like more (looks, features - i.e. two screens or one, SUV vs. sedan). Model 3 felt a lot more sporty to me than the Model S hence that made my choice. I also felt the Model S design (and X) were a bit dated.

Yep, I think I’m a perfect candidate for an EV. The major question is whether I’d be happy downsizing to the 3. Given my way I’d take the X, but that’s a whole lotta boxes of ziti..... I haven’t convinced myself that a used Tesla is a good equation yet.

It seems pretty solid to me but it's hard to quality intense. 70F seems pretty normal and I did a winter road trip with that setting and had no issues. Car warmed up relatively fast. The directional air vents were pretty neat. Actually I found it generally was too hot and ended up setting it to 19C (66) and using the seat warmer.

There are dual climate settings. I'm not sure how hot it can get - good question, I should try it out! It will definitely eat up some range but your commutes are so short it shouldn't be an issue at all.

That’s all good for me; It’s keeping my lovely wife warm and comfortable that matters.

Tesla doesn’t have a fire pit option, do they? (Haha!)

All seriousness - thanks everyone for the quick and informative responses! Definitely eases my mind ... now she has to get over the lack of tactile switches. That’ll be a big one.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Here's another tidbit on range reduction in cool weather. These pictures were taken in my S60, which has a power meter to show how much power is being used/regenerated at any given moment. The orange line is power out (it is green for power being regenerated). The first picture is with the battery heater on because it was cool (the battery was likely at the ambient temperature of 4-5ºC (40-42ºF), the temperature of my garage. The second picture is with the battery heater off, because it had warmed up from driving. Both pictures were taken in neutral and with climate control off. The second one did have headlights on, so that was drawing a bit of power beyond the base load to run the car systems.

^ Battery heater on. (Sorry about the dust on the IC, the sun angle was making it show up more than usual.) Again, car is in neutral with climate control off. You can see that the battery heater appears to be drawing about 4 kW and regen is limited to about 13 kW. This is in moderately cool temperatures of about 40-42ºF at a charge level of 61% — the battery isn't anywhere near freezing so I do have some regen and it recovers fairly quickly while driving. In very cold weather the regen limitation is greater and it lasts longer.

^ Battery heater off. This picture was taken with a battery warm from driving — car is in neutral and climate control is off. Headlights are on, so it is drawing a small amount of power above base load. Without the headlights the orange line would be even thinner.


The Model 3 uses a different method of battery heating than the Model S does, but it should also have a battery heating load when the battery is cold. This is one of the things that reduces range a bit when driving in cold weather, at least until the battery warms up. (It also greatly reduces Supercharging speed, again until the battery warms up.) Charging the car for an hour or two right before leaving should warm the battery up somewhat.