So, my son had a hockey tournament in Buffalo this weekend and we decided to take my Model S and I wanted to share some thoughts of my experience. Some positives and some negatives.
First off, we left for Buffalo on Thursday afternoon and them temp peaked at 16c, which was unreal. I had started the drive with about 410km of range and I got to our hotel in Amherst, NY without about 200km of range left (not exactly sure but it was somwhere around 40%. So far, so good.
The plan was to go to the Keybank Center to watch the Sabres that night so I drove over to the Buffalo Supercharger and I got myself up to about 340km in range. I unded up using the Supercharger 3 times and only once saw another Tesla (white Model X). Doesn't seem to be heavy traffic at this SC. I didn't love the location of the Supercharger but on one occasion, I went to Duff's for wings which was sort of nice.
I ended up going to the hockey game with an Uber as bigger group of us went to the game, so Struja was left at the hotel (we had no charger at the hotel - not even a wall plug).
Woke up in the morning and had very little vampire drain as it wasn't very cold at all.
Off we went to the first rink, still about +15c but a light drizzle had started. Finished the game and drove around Buffalo for a bit. Our next game was at 6:25pm and we were told some really nasty weather was coming. We were told right. I hit the SC again, just to top up becuase I didn't know what the days to come would bring. I returned to the hotel and waited until it was time to leave for game #2.
As my car sat in parking lot of the hotel, it became encased in ice. So, problem one was the door handles and side view mirrors stopped function (auto present and auto fold). I was able to chisle away enough ice to get the driver door open.
The weather was awful and Buffalo's plowing/salting leaves something to be desired. Having said that, Struja did awesome in some treacherous conditions. The combination of snow and ice vs. the X-Ice 3's, the all wheel drive and the weight of the car proved perfect. Coming from a RWD Lexus, the Model S is a real champ in the snow.
The car met and surpassed all of my winter driving (performance) expectations. I consider this the single most important winter factor for me (ahead of range, and comfort features). The car was a real beauty in terrible weather.
Here is where I thought the car was lacking...
The weather got REALLY cold and my range plummeted. @mrElbe had told me that he experiences up to 40% loss of range in the cold and that is about what I experienced, maybe even a bit more. That was a bit of a downer.
I also felt that in the real cold (snow and ice) the heating and defrosting was below average. I couldn't seem to melt any of the ice no matter how high I turned on the defrost and I am not quite sure what the wiper heat is suppose to do, but it didn't do much as far as I could tell (neither did the sideview mirror heaters - they remained ice covered).
I also felt, because the it was so cold and I didn't have a destination charger, that I had to be careful with how much/little I drove (when you go to a hockey tournament - you don't get to pick your hotel, you are left to the whims of the team). I found myself constantly concerned that I would run my range down too low to get to and from the rinks. Most of the rinks were a 20-30 minute drive from the hotel so with round trips, I found myself really running down my range quickly.
What was also quite interesting was how poor I felt Buffalo's charging infrastructure is, compared to Toronto (or even Peterborough for that matter). I couldn't find a single L2 charger within a 10 minute walk from any of the 4 rinks where my son played. When we played in Peterborough, there were 2 L2 chargers within walking distance of both rinks we played at.. not the case in Buffalo. What I did in Peterborough was drop my son off at the rink (1 hour before the game), I would drive over the L2 charger and plugin (walk over the rink) and let the car charge for 2.5-3 hours and get about 90km of charge during the game). No such luck and Buffalo.
As a result, I felt the car was less convenient (for this type of trip) than my old ICE car.
In a perfect world, we would have stayed at a hotel with desitnation charging and I could have plugged in overnight (that would have alleviated all issues, so I can see this being easier in the future, but for now (and an until more hotels get on board), I found myself to have had plenty of anxiety range this weekend. I also wrote a friendly note to the Marriott Niagara (where we stayed). They have a nice note in their bathrooms about preserving the environment by reusing towels, turning off lights and not running the AC/Heating to high or low, yet they don't even offer a wall charger. I have written to them about offering destination charging as a means of adding to their goals of being an environmental hotel.
Last night we decided to come home (about about 9:30pm) and we were in downtown Buffalo with about 385km of range. My Nav said I would make it home with about 29% of range left so no stop in Grimsby was planned. I was driving at 110km/hr. Roads were clear and dry. No traffic. I was using AP1 for much of the drive and it performed like a champ as well.
As I got to St. Catherines, my range was plummetting and my Nav now said I would arrive home with 21%. At that point in time, I decided to stop at Grimsby. I stopped at Grimsby and unfortuantely everything except the Tim Horton's was closed (and even Tim's was about to close - so they had no food options). Grabbed a quick coffee and off we went, back up to about 300km in range and off to home. Arrived with about 40% left. Very comfortable.
This also reinforces my belief in getting the biggest battery possible for Northern climates. The reality is, if Tesla made a 1000km range Model S (which I think we now know they will be able to do), that would be the Model I would want because even with a 40% loss in range, you would still have a 600km range. Still amazing now matter what..
So, in a nutshell my positives were car performance in brutal driving conditions (and the fact that I was away for 4 days and I didn't have to pay 1 penny in fuel charges for my car) and my negatives would be range loss in the cold and the inability to really remediate any of the ice buildup.
First off, we left for Buffalo on Thursday afternoon and them temp peaked at 16c, which was unreal. I had started the drive with about 410km of range and I got to our hotel in Amherst, NY without about 200km of range left (not exactly sure but it was somwhere around 40%. So far, so good.
The plan was to go to the Keybank Center to watch the Sabres that night so I drove over to the Buffalo Supercharger and I got myself up to about 340km in range. I unded up using the Supercharger 3 times and only once saw another Tesla (white Model X). Doesn't seem to be heavy traffic at this SC. I didn't love the location of the Supercharger but on one occasion, I went to Duff's for wings which was sort of nice.
I ended up going to the hockey game with an Uber as bigger group of us went to the game, so Struja was left at the hotel (we had no charger at the hotel - not even a wall plug).
Woke up in the morning and had very little vampire drain as it wasn't very cold at all.
Off we went to the first rink, still about +15c but a light drizzle had started. Finished the game and drove around Buffalo for a bit. Our next game was at 6:25pm and we were told some really nasty weather was coming. We were told right. I hit the SC again, just to top up becuase I didn't know what the days to come would bring. I returned to the hotel and waited until it was time to leave for game #2.
As my car sat in parking lot of the hotel, it became encased in ice. So, problem one was the door handles and side view mirrors stopped function (auto present and auto fold). I was able to chisle away enough ice to get the driver door open.
The weather was awful and Buffalo's plowing/salting leaves something to be desired. Having said that, Struja did awesome in some treacherous conditions. The combination of snow and ice vs. the X-Ice 3's, the all wheel drive and the weight of the car proved perfect. Coming from a RWD Lexus, the Model S is a real champ in the snow.
The car met and surpassed all of my winter driving (performance) expectations. I consider this the single most important winter factor for me (ahead of range, and comfort features). The car was a real beauty in terrible weather.
Here is where I thought the car was lacking...
The weather got REALLY cold and my range plummeted. @mrElbe had told me that he experiences up to 40% loss of range in the cold and that is about what I experienced, maybe even a bit more. That was a bit of a downer.
I also felt that in the real cold (snow and ice) the heating and defrosting was below average. I couldn't seem to melt any of the ice no matter how high I turned on the defrost and I am not quite sure what the wiper heat is suppose to do, but it didn't do much as far as I could tell (neither did the sideview mirror heaters - they remained ice covered).
I also felt, because the it was so cold and I didn't have a destination charger, that I had to be careful with how much/little I drove (when you go to a hockey tournament - you don't get to pick your hotel, you are left to the whims of the team). I found myself constantly concerned that I would run my range down too low to get to and from the rinks. Most of the rinks were a 20-30 minute drive from the hotel so with round trips, I found myself really running down my range quickly.
What was also quite interesting was how poor I felt Buffalo's charging infrastructure is, compared to Toronto (or even Peterborough for that matter). I couldn't find a single L2 charger within a 10 minute walk from any of the 4 rinks where my son played. When we played in Peterborough, there were 2 L2 chargers within walking distance of both rinks we played at.. not the case in Buffalo. What I did in Peterborough was drop my son off at the rink (1 hour before the game), I would drive over the L2 charger and plugin (walk over the rink) and let the car charge for 2.5-3 hours and get about 90km of charge during the game). No such luck and Buffalo.
As a result, I felt the car was less convenient (for this type of trip) than my old ICE car.
In a perfect world, we would have stayed at a hotel with desitnation charging and I could have plugged in overnight (that would have alleviated all issues, so I can see this being easier in the future, but for now (and an until more hotels get on board), I found myself to have had plenty of anxiety range this weekend. I also wrote a friendly note to the Marriott Niagara (where we stayed). They have a nice note in their bathrooms about preserving the environment by reusing towels, turning off lights and not running the AC/Heating to high or low, yet they don't even offer a wall charger. I have written to them about offering destination charging as a means of adding to their goals of being an environmental hotel.
Last night we decided to come home (about about 9:30pm) and we were in downtown Buffalo with about 385km of range. My Nav said I would make it home with about 29% of range left so no stop in Grimsby was planned. I was driving at 110km/hr. Roads were clear and dry. No traffic. I was using AP1 for much of the drive and it performed like a champ as well.
As I got to St. Catherines, my range was plummetting and my Nav now said I would arrive home with 21%. At that point in time, I decided to stop at Grimsby. I stopped at Grimsby and unfortuantely everything except the Tim Horton's was closed (and even Tim's was about to close - so they had no food options). Grabbed a quick coffee and off we went, back up to about 300km in range and off to home. Arrived with about 40% left. Very comfortable.
This also reinforces my belief in getting the biggest battery possible for Northern climates. The reality is, if Tesla made a 1000km range Model S (which I think we now know they will be able to do), that would be the Model I would want because even with a 40% loss in range, you would still have a 600km range. Still amazing now matter what..
So, in a nutshell my positives were car performance in brutal driving conditions (and the fact that I was away for 4 days and I didn't have to pay 1 penny in fuel charges for my car) and my negatives would be range loss in the cold and the inability to really remediate any of the ice buildup.
