Snow storm

[nate704]

DC/Northern Virginia area just got hit by a snow storm and I-95 got shut down.
One of my friends spent 20 hours in his car stuck in the interstate.
I wonder any Tesla owners got stuck in the I-95 and how long their battery lasted.
My friend had enough gas after 20 hours of engine running with heater and phone charger on and still had enough gas after 20 hours.
Will Tesla cars survive that long?

 

[norazi]

If you're not moving, the HVAC lasts a surprisingly long time... you have to remember that these things are packing a 70-100kwh battery. To put things in perspective, a Powerwall for powering your entire home is 13.5kwh (most setups having 2-3x)

 

[jboy210]

If you're not moving, the HVAC lasts a surprisingly long time... you have to remember that these things are packing a 70-100kwh battery. To put things in perspective, a Powerwall for powering your entire home is 13.5kwh (most setups having 2-3x)

Great response. As a comparison, my 3100+ sq ft house used 35 kWh yesterday. That includes power for drying clothes and baking. We have gas heat but heat is circulated by the HVAC fans.

 

[bodosom]

Will Tesla cars survive that long?

It's hard to know. A primary factor would be state of charge when you got stuck, e.g. did you get stuck with 20% because your were in transit to a super charger. The ambient temperature is also a factor. Then you have to consider how far you have to drive after sitting for 20 hours.

It's also worth noting that, at least in areas where things like this are known to happen, it's not uncommon for emergency personnel to deliver food/water/gasoline/etc. by snowmobile. This extends the run time of an ICE (and the people inside) but not so much for a BEV.

I ran the heat at 69℉, with seat-heaters on, for an hour in 12℉ weather and used 1% (80 to 79%). We were in the back and sometimes a door was opened.

 

[Tam]

...My friend had enough gas after 20 hours of engine running with heater and phone charger on and still had enough gas after 20 hours.
Will Tesla cars survive that long?

Depending on how prepared you are by leaving with a full battery or not.

Heater at 74F 23C setting would deplete 1.03 MPH

 

[Nosken]

Last Winter when Interstate 80 in Truckee was closed, I spent 7 hours "camping" in the car. I used the real heater as needed. I think I used around 30 miles of range.

 

[Stach]

Don't forget that unlike the ICE's, a Tesla would have no chance of exhaust fumes or carbon monoxide poisoning!

 

[Jjrss]

Don't forget that unlike the ICE's, a Tesla would have no chance of exhaust fumes or carbon monoxide poisoning!

Theres always the risk of the lithium ion funeral spire.

 

[thecavalry]

Theres always the risk of the lithium ion funeral spire.

*Pyre. Funeral pyre.

But no.

 

[jsmay311]

Heater at 74F 23C setting would deplete 1.03 MPH

Lots of problems with this:

1. That 1.03mph figure excludes the baseline battery drain from the car simply being powered on, which is ~1mph all by itself.
2. The guy who did the test that came up with this 1.03mph figure did it in 50F ambient temps on a sunny day with the sun also heating the cabin.
3. The guy also didn’t even show how he got the 1.03mph results from the “74F” test in the video he posted. Presumably it was done off-camera, since he mentioned he did follow-up tests after the fact to refine his findings.
4. The actual drain will depend on lots of variables, including outside ambient temp, vehicle type, and vehicle heating system type, among others.

Long story short, there’s no way you’re keeping the cabin at 74F in freezing ambient temps and only losing 1mph.

 

[Rshephorse]

I always keep a blanket in the car in the winter. With a blanket over you, you could keep yourself warm with the seat heater for a week! The smartest way to do it would be to heat up with the seat heater, then turn the car OFF to minimize baseline drain, go back and forth as needed.

 

[MG535]

It's hard to know. A primary factor would be state of charge when you got stuck, e.g. did you get stuck with 20% because your were in transit to a super charger. The ambient temperature is also a factor. Then you have to consider how far you have to drive after sitting for 20 hours.

It's also worth noting that, at least in areas where things like this are known to happen, it's not uncommon for emergency personnel to deliver food/water/gasoline/etc. by snowmobile. This extends the run time of an ICE (and the people inside) but not so much for a BEV.

I ran the heat at 69℉, with seat-heaters on, for an hour in 12℉ weather and used 1% (80 to 79%). We were in the back and sometimes a door was opened.

Zero help to stranded motorists from the authorities in VA from what I gather

 

[avs007]

DC/Northern Virginia area just got hit by a snow storm and I-95 got shut down.
One of my friends spent 20 hours in his car stuck in the interstate.
I wonder any Tesla owners got stuck in the I-95 and how long their battery lasted.
My friend had enough gas after 20 hours of engine running with heater and phone charger on and still had enough gas after 20 hours.
Will Tesla cars survive that long?

What kind of car was your friend in? I ask, because a long time ago, I was in a GM car with a supercharged V6, and I pulled into a casino parking lot, to take a 6 hour nap while it was around 30 degrees outside. After 6 hours of idling, it used a little less than a 1/4 tank of gas....

A few days ago, my kids had back to back activities, so I was in the car for about 2 hours, in camp mode while watching movies, while it was around 24 or so degrees outside. I had the cabin temp set to 68. I think I was consuming about 4% per hour.

 

[Jjrss]

*Pyre. Funeral pyre.

But no.

Hrmm... pyre, spire... look up Notre Dame burning... still accurate

 

[Unclepaul]

Believe this is a made up issue. Over the years lots of people have frozen to death in their gas cars getting caught in freezing weather. Never saw a report of this ever happening in a Tesla. EVs are very efficient. If you are stuck in cold weather, simply turn on your heated seats or steering wheel and be toasty as you want. Battery will keep you warm for days.

Fake news.

 

[acarney]

Believe this is a made up issue. Over the years lots of people have frozen to death in their gas cars getting caught in freezing weather. Never saw a report of this ever happening in a Tesla. EVs are very efficient. If you are stuck in cold weather, simply turn on your heated seats or steering wheel and be toasty as you want. Battery will keep you warm for days.

Fake news.

I don’t think days. I’m 15-25 F out I think you might be able to stay toasty for 20 hours or something, but I’d you wanted to make it a couple days you probably would need to drop it down to 62F or something. You wouldn’t be toasty but you wouldn’t freeze to death.

Heat takes a lot of energy and Tesla isn’t any better insulated than most cars.

 

[RNHurt]

I wonder if you could use portable solar panels to help? You could lay them out on the roof but I'm not sure how would you plug them into the car. Is there any way to recharge a Tesla from portable solar?

If you do get stuck in a snowstorm and run your battery all the way down, is there such a think as a portable "Supercharger"? Like a truck with a huge battery on it that can dump enough juice into a Tesla to get it to a power outlet? Or would you just have to tow the Tesla to the nearest power outlet?

Maybe a portable "Supercharger" is a good business idea! With more and more BEVs on the road, it's bound to happen that someone runs out of juice on the freeway.

 

[thecavalry]

I wonder if you could use portable solar panels to help? You could lay them out on the roof but I'm not sure how would you plug them into the car. Is there any way to recharge a Tesla from portable solar?

Not in a meaningful way. You would need a lot of panels, an inverter, and a boatload of direct sunlight.

 

[RNHurt]

It looks like there is a portable charger product called Roadie from SparkCharge. The "State of Charge" YouTube channel has a couple of videos about the Roadie, including one where he "rescues" a Model 3 owner from a parking lot. Interesting...

 

[acarney]

It looks like there is a portable charger product called Roadie from SparkCharge. The "State of Charge" YouTube channel has a couple of videos about the Roadie, including one where he "rescues" a Model 3 owner from a parking lot. Interesting...

~7kWh is about $12k and almost 300 pounds. AAA actually had a rescue vehicle for EVs a few years ago but due to lack of use I think they’ve actually discontinued it. Ideally if Tesla started to deploy roadside assistance vans to their mobile service hubs with a couple powerwalls in them they probably could pack 20kWh or so into it and use that as a rescue… but I suspect that would even see a short life. As superchargers show up more and more it’s probably faster, cheaper, and easier to just get a flatbed tow to one. HOWEVER, in a natural disaster or winter storm you might have a huge backup with towing services in which case 10kWh pumped into the vehicle might be a huge benefit compared to waiting for a tow.

Maybe we’ll see F150 lightning owners make a few extra bucks acting as recovery vehicles. Not sure the amps on the 240v, but it may be able to do 7.2kW. The Rivian might also be able to do it after some OTA updates down the road…