What's with the snowflake?

[whitecotton]

Being from Houston it is highly unlikely that I see it in person, I saw on the Facebook page many different answers, does anyone know for sure the answer?


Also looking for clarification on another issue- does range mode heat the battery?

 

[jdw]

The snowflake means that the battery is very cold and power and capacity will be limited.

First stage of cold: Limited or no regen available
Second Stage of cold: Available power is slightly reduced
Third stage of cold: The snowflake appears and power is seriously limited and no regen available

It hit -22 here yesterday and after the car sat in that all day, I’ve never driven a Tesla that gutless. I had zero regen and only about 50kW of drive power. I could barely get up to highway speed ...

 

[beegee]

It was added as part of a software upgrade. When the battery is cold the Snowflake is coupled with a blue section of battery (at least it was), and that amount of energy will be used to warm the pack up to the operating temperature. I've only seen it once after parking all day on a cold day.

 

[odguy]

The snowflake means that the battery is very cold and power and capacity will be limited.

First stage of cold: Limited or no regen available
Second Stage of cold: Available power is slightly reduced
Third stage of cold: The snowflake appears and power is seriously limited and no regen available

It hit -22 here yesterday and after the car sat in that all day, I’ve never driven a Tesla that gutless. I had zero regen and only about 50kW of drive power. I could barely get up to highway speed ...

Curious did you pre heat the car at all?

 

[green1]

The snowflake means that the battery is very cold and power and capacity will be limited.

First stage of cold: Limited or no regen available
Second Stage of cold: Available power is slightly reduced
Third stage of cold: The snowflake appears and power is seriously limited and no regen available

It hit -22 here yesterday and after the car sat in that all day, I’ve never driven a Tesla that gutless. I had zero regen and only about 50kW of drive power. I could barely get up to highway speed ...

I had a very similar situation this past weekend, parked outdoors and unplugged below -20c all day. I pre-heated the cabin for 20 mins before going out to it, and had no "snowflake" (in fact I've never seen it) and although my power and regen were both limited, the road itself was far more limiting and I had no desire to get anywhere near the power limit. (the power limit went away very quickly while driving, the regen limit, as usual, stuck around for quite a while)

 

[whitecotton]

It was added as part of a software upgrade. When the battery is cold the Snowflake is coupled with a blue section of battery (at least it was), and that amount of energy will be used to warm the pack up to the operating temperature. I've only seen it once after parking all day on a cold day.

so to clarify the snowflake replaced the blue portion of the battery indication?

 

[CHG-ON]

I remember those days. Thank the lord I moved to CA and became a total "weather wimp"

 

[whitecotton]

I remember those days. Thank the lord I moved to CA and became a total "weather wimp"

It is forecasted to be a low of 28 Sunday night... I'm about to lose my mind hahah I need to take a last minute trip to a warm beach.

 

[NikeWings]

I remember those days. Thank the lord I moved to CA and became a total "weather wimp"

+1
Boston is in my rear view mirror.

 

[jdw]

Curious did you pre heat the car at all?

No, I had Range mode on, and the car wasn’t plugged in so I just got in went. I did turn range mode off fairly soon after and the power limitation began to gradually improve.

 

[kort677]

Curious did you pre heat the car at all?

If I am not mistaken preheating is for the cabin, the best advice for when temps are that low is to keep the car plugged in, even a 110 will keep the battery warm and protect it from those harsh conditions.

 

[darker123]

The snowflake means that the battery is very cold and power and capacity will be limited.

First stage of cold: Limited or no regen available
Second Stage of cold: Available power is slightly reduced
Third stage of cold: The snowflake appears and power is seriously limited and no regen available

It hit -22 here yesterday and after the car sat in that all day, I’ve never driven a Tesla that gutless. I had zero regen and only about 50kW of drive power. I could barely get up to highway speed ...

Can someone post a picture I assume it is shown on dashboard...

 

[jdw]

Don’t have a picture, but it is now a small blue snowflake to the left of the charge indicator in the lower left corner of the intstrument display.

Plus, with range mode on, preheating only preheats the cabin. With range mode off, preheating heats both the battery and the cabin. Very obvious in the power consumption - with range mode off the car draws 2-3 times the power compared to range mode at extremely low temperatures.

 

[CHG-ON]

+1
Boston is in my rear view mirror.

You betcha! Lovely dog, BTW.

 

[CHG-ON]

It is forecasted to be a low of 28 Sunday night... I'm about to lose my mind hahah I need to take a last minute trip to a warm beach.

We are actually in the low 30's and can hit mid-low 20's overnight in Santa Cruz occasionally. The hippies simply don't know what to do with that!

 

[johnster007]

Here are some pics. It's cold up here!!!

 

[drklain]

-1F! Now I remember why I don't want to live in Minnesota...

 

[RDoc]

I saw the snowflake when the car was cold soaked overnight at about 18F. The Wh per mile number was terrifying, over 430!

 

[mknox]

Never seen it once in my car ever (now in my 5th winter) even cold soaked as low as 0 F. Asked Tesla Service why and they had no explanation. Have seen it in loaners I've had.

 

[Peter Greis]

Saw the famed blue snowflake two weeks ago during the Telemark festival here. -22°C, left for Davos with 49km range left. 8km later in Davos I had 9km left when plugging in.... too close for comfort.