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Will I make it? -23 celsius & 320 km

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I know that this is a 'general' range tip, but the one time I drafted behind a transport it really reduced my Wh/Km. Something you could consider as well if the option presents itself.....I just hope you have some protective film on your front, though.

Good Luck!


I second the strategy of drafting behind a truck. Not too close mind you, but even at a safe distance it will cut the wind drag substantially and make a big difference in your consumption. It also can enforce driving at a slower speed if you find one going, say, 95kmh. Let autopilot do the driving for you.
 
Does anyone know here approx how much is the L2 charge rate reduced at -20C? Are we talking half? On a good summer day let's say the 48A charger would add charge at a rate of 48 km/h (past experience at another 48A charger), what would I expect now? Half? I know it is slower at first because the battery needs to warm, I've read stories of it taking over an hour before the battery charge would even increase!
The stories of an hour-to-increase are from people charging a cold-soaked car on a 120V outlet. The battery heater will use up almost the entirety of the juice off a 120V@12A outlet, again if the battery is completely cold. You can do the math to figure out the loss from there: 120V x 12A = 1.44 kW. Assuming worst case for the charger that it's on a 208V line instead of 240V, it'll put out 208V x 48A = 9.984 kW. This means the heater will take up to 15% in the absolute worst case for that charger (cold battery, lower voltage line, hand-wavey math that glosses over minor technical details :) )

As for the usage when you're on the road - it's unfortunately extremely difficult to estimate in the winter. Any headwind will increase your usage, any snow on the road will increase your usage, any wind at all will increase the chilling effect of the cold on the battery, plus you want to reserve additional buffer in case there's an accident on the road and you're stuck in slow-moving traffic. In the winter I usually add an extra 40% to the distance (if my wife's in the car. If it's just me I'll add 25-30%. I've rolled into the garage with <5km remaining a few times now, doing so with her in the car makes her....antsy...)
 
And snow/rain that ices up your car's windows can require front and rear defrosters running at 100% which also kills your range.
rear is 100% optional, let it ice over. many vehicles (mainly trucks) don't even have a back window. Rain doesn't happen at -23, and even snow doesn't tend to. only issue on the windows at those temps tends to be condensation from your breathing, the "blue" windshield defroster is generally enough to handle that, and barely touches range.
these really cold temps require more cabin heat, but actually require less in the way of other accessories.
 
I second the strategy of drafting behind a truck. Not too close mind you, but even at a safe distance it will cut the wind drag substantially

I've always been curious -- what constitutes "not too close, but close enough"? Say, in terms of TACC following distance setting? (I keep mine on 7 unless there's reason not to.)

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And snow/rain that ices up your car's windows can require front and rear defrosters running at 100% which also kills your range.

Do you really think the resistive defrost on the rear kills range? I'd be surprised. I would expect the heat/AC/blower for front defrost to be a power hog, agreed.
 
The current forecast is saying -28, ugh.

I think you'll be fine provided the Sun Country charger is functional. One other tip I'd offer would be to bring some gloves and maybe a blanket for wearing whilst driving. At those temperatures with the Eco Heat setting I find the cabin to be chilly. Everybody says to use the seat warmers but I find that my hands and feet still get cold. Maybe people are putting their hands on the seat, I dunno... :)
 
rear is 100% optional, let it ice over. many vehicles (mainly trucks) don't even have a back window. Rain doesn't happen at -23, and even snow doesn't tend to. only issue on the windows at those temps tends to be condensation from your breathing, the "blue" windshield defroster is generally enough to handle that, and barely touches range.

You can't leave it on Red defrost for more than ten minutes or so - it turns the car interior into a sauna. Blue defrost simply uses the temperature settings that you've set for the cabin, so you can control the usage by dialing the temperature down. (Or turn on Range mode... but same thing really.)

Do you really think the resistive defrost on the rear kills range? I'd be surprised. I would expect the heat/AC/blower for front defrost to be a power hog, agreed.

Nah, I'd be very surprised if it took one kW.

None of the other power draws in the car matter for range. The main draws are how fast you drive, followed by cabin heater and pack heater. You can reduce the impact of the pack heater by using Range Mode - but only do that when the car is cold soaked. You can reduce the impact of the cabin heater by dialing back the temperature (and use the seat heaters liberally, so you can stand the cabin a bit cooler). You can greatly reduce consumption by slowing down a bit.

Nothing else really matters. Headlamps / wipers / etc. might use a couple of dozen watts. Radio, seat heaters, etc., take negligible power. Cabin heater and pack heater can each take ~ 5500 W at full power. Highway driving in the cold can take 20,000 watts or more. You might save a couple of dozen feet of range by turning off the headlights.
 
While I don't know where the Dude is going, just noting for those following the thread it didn't get as cold as they were predicting even yesterday. They predict -26 tonight though in Regina. It's snowing down there though, which might affect the W/Km.
 
-23c in Alberta this morning, last 50km average 236wh/km which I still don't think is that bad.

My Smart Electric Drive uses 350 wh/km on my short commute on cold days. The cabin gets toasty hot in a few minutes (thanks to being a small car) no matter the temperature outside. The heated seats are way faster/hotter than any other car I've ever driven in.

But yes, back to topic, the Tesla is amazingly efficient in cold conditions in our driving so far, will see as winter kicks in harder here in Ontario.
 
Will I make it? -23 celsius &amp; 320 km

Long story short I went the night before and stayed in a hotel. I verified the charger worked as soon as I arrived in the town so my stress was gone LOL. Charging the battery before heading out plus preheating the interior helps a lot. I did take some video clips, maybe I'll put them together one of these days. I estimate a total 268 km range in similar conditions. Higher if the wind is behind you. I'll go into more detail in the video.