Winter driving advice, winter tire choices, etc.

[CarlE_P439]

While I have a RWD Tesla, I would agree that for an AWD in combo with the even weight distribution, you are good to go with “all season” tires!

Great post with insights that accurately align with what I learned last year in my first Wisconsin winter with my M3 AWD. I would only add that the overall weight and broad weight distribution of the M3 also contributes to very solid handling in snow and ice. I made it through my first winter with stock tires and had no issues at all for what it's worth.

 

[CarlE_P439]

Don’t know what part of the country you live in but perhaps with an AWD car you don’t need winter/snow tires? I have a RWD Model S so I pop on winter tires each year.

Any recommendations for a cheap winter wheel for the Performance 3? It’s seems to be a big unknown with wheel vendors when I ask if they will fit a Performance Model 3. Most want me to buy one and test fit, then send it back if it doesn’t work. I am just looking for an inexpensive set that will clear the brakes so I can put some all season tires on for 4 months of the year.

Any first hand knowledge of specific wheels and offsets would be helpful. I would like to go with an 18” but 19” is also fine if the price is less.

 

[ElectricOrgan]

Regen is braking using a generator. Stated another way, it is converting kinetic to electric energy. Whether the car slows down or not depends on the contribution of potential to kinetic energy.

BTW, unless you are going downhill, you can't regen without losing speed, but let's not quibble about that since it is not the point.

There is no valid reason I can think of why turning regen off or down would save energy. Why would regen be operating if you don't want to slow the car or reduce your accelleration while going downhill?

Regen is used in lieu of brakes when you wish to slow the car or reduce acceleration while going downhill. Without regen you would need to use brakes wasting energy and fuel.

 

[ElectricOrgan]

I currently only leave charge at 70 all week since I rarely touch it and jump to 80 on Saturday before I go out. For how I drive I never need it above that 80. I have so far only charged up to 90 5 times on my road trip with SCs max ever was 93. In terms of pre conditioning before driving, how long does it take to get most of the Regen back let's say if it was just below freezing.

My experience is that it takes a pretty fair amount of time to get regen back fully. The max reduction is pretty severe and if you are used to regen, pretty dangerous. That's the biggest reason to not charge to 100%. In the cold you are stuck unless you preheat or have a warm garage.

I seem to recall that when it is freezing out it can take 20 minutes or more to get back to a slight reduction in regen and closer to an hour to get it back fully.

 

[ElectricOrgan]

I've found using the heated seats (contact points to your body) keep me just as warm as heating the cabin and are much easier on the battery. If the Model 3 had a heated steering wheel I doubt I'd to warm the air in the car at all.

I have the heated steering wheel and use the seat warmer, but that doesn't keep my legs warm. In fact they are even cold when the heater is on low. I think there is an air leak in the door, but it's not enough to feel with your hand and it's rather dangerous to explore while driving. So I don't think I can get the service center to fix it. They won't fix anything I can't hit them over the head with.

 

[PACEMD]

I don't think I can get the service center to fix it. They won't fix anything I can't hit them over the head with.

I wonder if I can get them to fix my rolling pin........or bottle of gin........last night the night before.........

 

[Feathermerchan]

BTW, unless you are going downhill, you can't regen without losing speed, but let's not quibble about that since it is not the point.

There is no valid reason I can think of why turning regen off or down would save energy. Why would regen be operating if you don't want to slow the car or reduce your accelleration while going downhill?

Regen is used in lieu of brakes when you wish to slow the car or reduce acceleration while going downhill. Without regen you would need to use brakes wasting energy and fuel.

By careful driving, you can use less regen/brakes. Why would you want to do that? Regen recovers some energy otherwise wasted by using brakes. But coasting recovers the most energy of all because there is no conversion from motion to electricity thru the geartrain, motor, battery, motor, geartrain when you coast. Ambient traffic may dictate your driving pattern but I have been aboe to cut my Wh/mi by about 20 or so. That can help when you are suffering reduced range in the winter.

(Don't drive like a Dilbert and make others mad.)

 

[ElectricOrgan]

By careful driving, you can use less regen/brakes. Why would you want to do that? Regen recovers some energy otherwise wasted by using brakes. But coasting recovers the most energy of all because there is no conversion from motion to electricity thru the geartrain, motor, battery, motor, geartrain when you coast. Ambient traffic may dictate your driving pattern but I have been aboe to cut my Wh/mi by about 20 or so. That can help when you are suffering reduced range in the winter.

(Don't drive like a Dilbert and make others mad.)

I'm still not following how you can save by reducing the regen setting. Or are you just saying you try to not need to use regen by moderating the speed of the car carefully?

Please stop telling me about the inefficiency encountered in using regen. Everyone understands you don't get 100% recovery. By stating that it only shows you aren't understanding the question being asked.

Do you know how I prevent regen loss? By not taking my foot all the way off the pedal. I keep regen turned on because getting 80% of my energy back on braking is infinitely more than getting 0% back.

I will also say that I seriously doubt I would ever notice 20 Wh/mi difference and likely would never be able to even measure that difference in consumption since this is only about 7% of the total. Encountering rain, wind or having to hit my brakes a few extra times from traffic would swamp that figure. That's even if I believed it would be better to turn off regen.

 

[AdEPT erik]

at what temp does efficiency start to degrade? i just lowered my car an inch and the day i took my car home from the shop saw an increase in efficiency....temp was around 70. my drive to work today was about 345wi/mi when i average about 280 normally .. temp was 50. lowest temps so far with my model 3.

Lowering your car will reduce drag considerably, thereby increasing efficiency. The temperature might reduce it more than the drag will increase it, but we can't be expected to inform you which is having more of an affect. I hope it helps you to know that lowering an inch reduces wind drag, that's all I can offer, cheers.

 

[SageBrush]

BTW, unless you are going downhill, you can't regen without losing speed, but let's not quibble about that since it is not the point.

There is no valid reason I can think of why turning regen off or down would save energy. Why would regen be operating if you don't want to slow the car or reduce your accelleration while going downhill?

Regen is used in lieu of brakes when you wish to slow the car or reduce acceleration while going downhill. Without regen you would need to use brakes wasting energy and fuel.

I think the answer is in behavior rather than physics. (A few) people learn to manage their kinetic energy more efficiently by using the road to slow down.

 

[ivy_]

The big thing I notice is that when going straight, the road always feels perfect. I'm sure this is because the traction control is adapting so quickly, I can't feel anything. At least once a winter, I end up sliding into an intersection because the road was much icier than I thought. Thus far I've been lucky and never hit anything. So my biggest advice to anyone driving a Tesla in winter is that the road is always much worse than you think and to drive accordingly.

It may sound odd, this is one advantage that RWD has over AWD. With rear wheel drive, you have two tires to accelerate, and four to stop. This way, you always have around twice the stopping power. If you are having a hard time getting the car moving, this is a pretty good warning that you need to add more caution to your drive, while still having some safety margin to stop.

While the extra traction is nice, it can give you a totally false sense of confidence.

 

[StealthP3D]

Winter Wheels for Model P3D. TSPORTLINE Tesla Model 3 Aftermarket 18 inch Tesla Wheels wheels are the only aftermarket 18" wheels that will fit the Modle 3 Performance with clearance for the larger Brake Calipers and the 3MM lip on the hub that I was able to find.

These fit the red calipers also:
https://www.fastwheels.ca/productin...ur+(traction+intégrale)+(étriers+rouges)_s_pp

 

[Clem Fandango]

Hi All, on this topic I ordered Tesla's own 18inch winter tire/wheel combo back in September. Since then, nothing but crickets. It's staring to get colder here and I wondered how long others may have taken to arrive after they ordered? Not super impressed to pay $2K and then hear nothing....

 

[navguy12]

Hi All, on this topic I ordered Tesla's own 18inch winter tire/wheel combo back in September. Since then, nothing but crickets. It's staring to get colder here and I wondered how long others may have taken to arrive after they ordered? Not super impressed to pay $2K and then hear nothing....

I see nothing has improved since last year

Last year I ordered around end October 2018 and actually got them end January 2019.

Crickets as well at that time......

YMMV

 

[eCharcoal]

Any recommendations for a cheap winter wheel for the Performance 3? It’s seems to be a big unknown with wheel vendors when I ask if they will fit a Performance Model 3. Most want me to buy one and test fit, then send it back if it doesn’t work. I am just looking for an inexpensive set that will clear the brakes so I can put some all season tires on for 4 months of the year.

Any first hand knowledge of specific wheels and offsets would be helpful. I would like to go with an 18” but 19” is also fine if the price is less.

I remember a fellow member had these on his P3D+. Tire Rack has them for $173/wheel. The wheels are relatively light which is nice.
https://m.tirerack.com/wheels/Wheel...&autoYear=2018&autoModClar=Performance+Brakes

 

[MRGEDU]

These fit the red calipers also:
https://www.fastwheels.ca/productinfo.aspx?wn=ev01(+)&fn=titanium&v=tesla_2018_model+3_performance+dual+motor+(awd)+(red+calipers)-performance+double+moteur+(traction+intégrale)+(étriers+rouges)_s_pp

They are still a little on the high price end and appear to be hard to come by.

I was shooting for $600 - $800 for the set + lugs and TPMS

 

[Feathermerchan]

I'm still not following how you can save by reducing the regen setting. Or are you just saying you try to not need to use regen by moderating the speed of the car carefully?

Please stop telling me about the inefficiency encountered in using regen. Everyone understands you don't get 100% recovery. By stating that it only shows you aren't understanding the question being asked.

Do you know how I prevent regen loss? By not taking my foot all the way off the pedal. I keep regen turned on because getting 80% of my energy back on braking is infinitely more than getting 0% back.

I will also say that I seriously doubt I would ever notice 20 Wh/mi difference and likely would never be able to even measure that difference in consumption since this is only about 7% of the total. Encountering rain, wind or having to hit my brakes a few extra times from traffic would swamp that figure. That's even if I believed it would be better to turn off regen.

I'm not saying to change the regen setting. I'm saying that by reducing the amount of regen you use by changing your driving habits without using the brake more you can reduce battery consumption and increase range. So the reduction in regen available in cold weather can be considered somewhat of a good thing. I almost never use full regen anymore because I plan for my deceleration to be more gradual than I used to. In the winter you need to maximize your range and this is one easy way to help.

I'm guessing that using full regen often you get back only about 70%. By easing up, you don't rely on regen as much for deceleration but just road and aerodynamic friction.

 

[MRGEDU]

Any one use the Axis MS wheels on a P3D+? If they weren’t for the winter, I would get the staggered set.

 

[Jerev]

Just got the 19" for my M3 AWD LR but not sure they will fit a P3D+. See pics.

 

[jdw]

I notice a number of recommendations to time battery charging to coincide with departure time in the winter. This is a good idea if you live in a relatively moderate climate or park in a heated garage. It may not be a good idea if your car is parked in a cold environment, as lithium batteries really do not do well charging when frozen. There is a reason Tesla limits regen when the battery is cold.

Preheating a frozen car when connected to shore power is a great idea, but I also reverse charging in the summer and winter to be a little kinder to the battery. In summer, I let the battery cool down overnight before charging so charging is timed to finish before I leave in the morning. In winter, if parking in the cold, I charge as soon as I get home, while the battery is still warm from driving and then I preheat in the morning when the battery is frozen to warm it up. Similarily, I park outside at work and if I do plug in in the winter I only preheat/precondition to warm the battery, never charge. If I park in a heated garage, I let the battery warm up overnight and charge in the morning.

Make of this what you will, but lithium plating caused by higher C rates of cold charging is a thing. The dendrites caused by lithium plating are likely behind some of the spontaneous battery fires and likely why Tesla has reduced battery capacities on some of the older 85 packs.