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mknox
Well-Known Member
Yes. My Cadillac called them the same thing, and they also became disabled when the bumper crusted over with ice like that.
ModelS1079
Member
See the end of the video above - close call with range due to poor planning by a novice driver. Good sense of humor and a little spare range make for a happy ending. Tune in with about five minutes left.
dmckinstry
Model X 2019
I'm away from home, and that's what I've been trying. I just don't know how effective it is.
Oh, it's quite effective, but don't expect summer performance. In my experience, in extreme cold the battery never achieves normal operating temperature even after two hours of highway driving. You stop and a message pops up saying "Battery is cold" etc.
Pretty much the same as last winter. No unexpected issues; drives great as soon as you hop in.
Power consumption is higher. If the car cold soaks in extreme temperatures I get no regen for a while. If you don't preheat the pack heater takes 6 kW and so does the cabin heater, so it's like you're driving 50 mph without moving. If the car is fully warmed then the cabin heat consumes just 1-2 kW. Needless to say I preheat whenever possible, especially if I can plug in so the power comes from AC instead of the battery.
I rarely have to wipe or scrape off the windows because the preheating melts the snow and ice off. It's so lovely getting into a nice warm car on a cold day!
Some have reported that the steering gets a little stiffer when it's extremely cold; I can confirm that from last night, which was the coldest of the season so far. No biggie. Ride also gets a little rougher but that might just be the tires.
I'm still running on the stock Pirelli winter tires I got at delivery. Going to switch to something better when they wear out. I think the traction control is a bit better than last year, maybe they've tweaked it by firmware? Last year I had a couple of times when the TC bit so hard the wheels wouldn't even turn. Hasn't happened this year... at least not yet anyway.
The revised defog vents make a huge difference. Under most conditions they keep the windows clear with the default Auto settings. In very cold conditions down to -20C you might need to put defog on low. However at -28C (-18F) that wouldn't keep the side windows clear; it was just enough that I could see the side rear view mirrors but nothing else. There was also fogging in the outer 2 inches of the windshield, but that didn't affect driving. I had to put it on HI to (mostly but not completely) clear the side windows. Unfortunately that mode takes 3 kW and makes the cabin too hot! But that cold a temperature is only an occasional thing around here.
Power consumption is higher. If the car cold soaks in extreme temperatures I get no regen for a while. If you don't preheat the pack heater takes 6 kW and so does the cabin heater, so it's like you're driving 50 mph without moving. If the car is fully warmed then the cabin heat consumes just 1-2 kW. Needless to say I preheat whenever possible, especially if I can plug in so the power comes from AC instead of the battery.
I rarely have to wipe or scrape off the windows because the preheating melts the snow and ice off. It's so lovely getting into a nice warm car on a cold day!
Some have reported that the steering gets a little stiffer when it's extremely cold; I can confirm that from last night, which was the coldest of the season so far. No biggie. Ride also gets a little rougher but that might just be the tires.
I'm still running on the stock Pirelli winter tires I got at delivery. Going to switch to something better when they wear out. I think the traction control is a bit better than last year, maybe they've tweaked it by firmware? Last year I had a couple of times when the TC bit so hard the wheels wouldn't even turn. Hasn't happened this year... at least not yet anyway.
The revised defog vents make a huge difference. Under most conditions they keep the windows clear with the default Auto settings. In very cold conditions down to -20C you might need to put defog on low. However at -28C (-18F) that wouldn't keep the side windows clear; it was just enough that I could see the side rear view mirrors but nothing else. There was also fogging in the outer 2 inches of the windshield, but that didn't affect driving. I had to put it on HI to (mostly but not completely) clear the side windows. Unfortunately that mode takes 3 kW and makes the cabin too hot! But that cold a temperature is only an occasional thing around here.
Yeah... "At -28C you may have to set defrog to HI". That should be the advertising slogan for this car. LOL.
Be careful when defrogging your car. It's not good for the amphibians.
I was just noting how it behaves. In many ways the Model S is far better than ICE cars - e.g. not having to wait for the engine to warm up before you can defrost the windows. In the past I've certainly had ICE cars that handle cabin heat and windshield defog a lot worse than the Model S (looking at you, Mazda MPV!).
JakeP
S P4996 ==> P02547
Doug, did you get the cold weather retrofit defrost vents installed? I am thinking of doing that during my annual service visit.
JakeP
S P4996 ==> P02547
JakeP
S P4996 ==> P02547
Thank you, sir!
Unfortunately it is doubtful that the rear seat heaters can be retrofit, as it may require replacement of the entire internal wiring harness.
Unfortunately it is doubtful that the rear seat heaters can be retrofit, as it may require replacement of the entire internal wiring harness.
Yes, my wife would love that. As for the front vents, Tesla in Norristown told me not to do it since it's not as much a problem by us... however, I very often get fogging. The new defrost settings help though.
If you frequently get windshield and front window fogging, you should definitely get the retrofit done.
As to the main thread topic, +1 to everything Doug_G noted above regarding very cold weather performance. My car has performed flawlessly in conditions that are harsh for all vehicles (the sound my parent's XC70 made starting last week was painful to hear). The most important thing is to plan for greater energy use (I usually give myself a 20% range buffer when driving, in deep freeze temperatures like we had over the last two weeks I doubled it).
The only issue I encountered (once) was icing of my windshield wiper blades while driving in a snow storm, which required frequent use of the de-icing fluid. My car was manufactured before the cold-weather package became available.
... and headlight washing sprays would be nice.
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