What happens when Model S sits, unplugged, in cold, for long periods of time?

[dsm363]

Ah, thanks. I would think a 120V outlet would prevent this from happening at least.

 

[Canuck]

Not a moot point and the warranty is far from unconditional, the above is from the updated warranty that was released after that blog post.

I agree it's not a moot point but to say the battery warranty is "far from unconditional" doesn't make sense to me. It seems pretty damn close to unconditional to me. The only exceptions relate to intentional acts, and that certainly seems fair. I guess exposing it to extreme low temperatures, flooding or direct flame, could happen unintentionally, but even then, those don't make it "far from unconditional" to me.

 

[David_Cary]

If it were me, I'd use a car service for airport travel in Jan/Feb for a week long trip. If I lived in MSP of course.

EVs are definitely a little less practical/ideal in the super north.

 

[rlang59]

I agree it's not a moot point but to say the battery warranty is "far from unconditional" doesn't make sense to me. It seems pretty damn close to unconditional to me. The only exceptions relate to intentional acts, and that certainly seems fair. I guess exposing it to extreme low temperatures, flooding or direct flame, could happen unintentionally, but even then, those don't make it "far from unconditional" to me.

It's just semantics I guess, but people seem to think that Tesla will cover anything that happens to the battery other than degradation (and some even think that is covered). The point is that the warranty has conditions so people do need to be aware of them.

- - - Updated - - -

Ah, thanks. I would think a 120V outlet would prevent this from happening at least.

I do wonder about that since Tesla doesn't specifically state that in the warranty it seems like they could deny coverage even if the car is plugged in. I don't think they would but the language appears to be there that allows them to do just that.

 

[Zythryn]

If it were me, I'd use a car service for airport travel in Jan/Feb for a week long trip. If I lived in MSP of course.

EVs are definitely a little less practical/ideal in the super north.

Quite the opposite.
Yes, the range is impacted more and the car needs some protection if leaving it outside for a 24 hour period in -22 temps.
However, the car always starts without complaint and the heat is instant.
And the handling is the best I have ever experienced, and that was before the AWD.

The pluses, for me, definitely outweigh the added planning.

Oh, and I almost forgot the biggest benifit...
On frigidly cold days, I don't have to stop, get out of my car, and pump gas in a blizzard:scared:

 

[InternetDude]

It definitely gets to -30 C and colder where I live. Since I have a heated garage I could say that I would not leave it out in those conditions for 24 straight hours unless I was traveling. I guess if I'm traveling in the winter and it's cold, I better leave the Tesla at home because it can't handle it. I suppose though that it would depend on what the daytime high is, because even if it dips to -34 as it did in Feb/14 here, the daytime high did get up to -20.

 

[Hybris]

I live in Sweden and yes we can see -20-50 degrees celsius some winters. But more interesting its extremely rare to see -30 for 24 hours in a row... Check your temperature statistics in your area...

 

[gpetti]

I live in Sweden and yes we can see -20-50 degrees celsius some winters. But more interesting its extremely rare to see -30 for 24 hours in a row... Check your temperature statistics in your area...

This is true. When I first saw this thread, I started looking for stats on our city and was surprised to see that we typically don't stay below this temperature for a whole day. At a quick glance at winter 2014 Calgary went down to -30C a couple of times but manage to get up to at least -25 in the day. I haven't looked back on any of the few -40 years but I guess here we typically do warm up a tad in the day.
This note about the battery was one of my only concerns - primarily with the idea of leaving my car at the airport for a few days in the winter.