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Winter Driving Experiences
- Thread starter kevincwelch
- Start date
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
Depends on how the heater is programmed, but I can't imagine that you would end up using more. The vast majority of the energy is wasted in the motor, tires and air, but it's entirely possible that part of the gain is lost.
Good news, that!
I may be delusional having finalized already, but I hope that with a firmware tweak (winter mode) the S can be usable most days in Quebec, with the possible exception of blizzards like the one on december 27th (with good tires like the Hakkas, of course).
Your continued updates are much appreciated!
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
Had very slippery conditions today...about 2 inches of snow with icy patches on the road (27°F).
Car performed better than I was expecting. One of the enormous advantages of this car is that it's SO easy to apply a very small amount of power. The pedal is so well mapped that you can feather in power at a very controlled rate and avoid any tire slippage. When lights turned green, I would start moving gracefully, hearing others spinning their tires around me (and praying they wouldn't slide into me!)
Car performed better than I was expecting. One of the enormous advantages of this car is that it's SO easy to apply a very small amount of power. The pedal is so well mapped that you can feather in power at a very controlled rate and avoid any tire slippage. When lights turned green, I would start moving gracefully, hearing others spinning their tires around me (and praying they wouldn't slide into me!)
Zapped
Model S - PURE EV
If the battery pack is heating, would there be some kind of indication/noise from a pump circulating the liquid coolant /heatant ?
I've noticed a noise from the front of the car, that seems to only go away if I manually power down the car using the center screen.
Just locking the car does not seem to turn everything off all the time.
I also noticed after the car is fully charged and I have not driven it, the range starts to drop. (charged over night and lost 10 km today) I wonder at what point it will start charging again.
No, you can't hear anything. You can't even tell when the A/C compressor is running.
Zapped
Model S - PURE EV
Don't know if anyone else experiences this but as soon as I open the drivers door and lock it again, a motor / compressor noise starts up near the front of the car and winds down to a slower quieter sound after about 30 seconds. Must be the compressor for the air ride.
Driving in Snow
I thought I would beat out a storm, but ended up getting caught with snow covered roads and 70 miles to go to my destination. I have the 21 inch wheels with the summer max performance tires, so was not a happy camper.
The car handled well, but with standard regen it over-braked and lost traction causing the car to feel unstable. It generally stayed straight but was very unnerving. Turning regen to low helped a great deal, but I would not recommend driving with the summer tires in the snow.
We made to our destination without incident after a stressful couple of hours.
I thought I would beat out a storm, but ended up getting caught with snow covered roads and 70 miles to go to my destination. I have the 21 inch wheels with the summer max performance tires, so was not a happy camper.
The car handled well, but with standard regen it over-braked and lost traction causing the car to feel unstable. It generally stayed straight but was very unnerving. Turning regen to low helped a great deal, but I would not recommend driving with the summer tires in the snow.
We made to our destination without incident after a stressful couple of hours.
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This is EXACTLY why I "downgraded" to the 19" wheels on my P85 instead of keeping the 21s. That, and the maintenance costs. The fast tread wear, high prone to damage, and high costs of replacement would offset any savings from not having to buy gas. I am in southern NJ. I'm surprised you opted for the 21s being in northern VA ( which really isn't too much further "south" than me. We can still get some nasty weather around here sometimes. I would recommend you purchase their 19" winter wheel/tire set and only use the 21s during summer. It would be a pain though to have to go to a Tesla service center twice a year for them to swap and reset the tire pressure monitor settings each time.
pilotSteve
Active Member
Why do you say this? I can easily hear the heat pump running while in my garage after opening a door and sitting down. Plus I feel the warm air! This noise is a distinct low rumble. Other fan noises are heard after charging has ramped up to 10kW.
I'm also in NoVA, P85, and went with 21s. If Teslas pricing provided a discount for the 19s and offered a performance tire option I would have done that. All seasons are a terrible compromise. The increase in stopping distance is several car lengths, and wet performance is not great. I will buy a second set of wheels and tires for winter. I've done this for years. It's not that bad. If Tesla can fix the TPMS problem you can easily change the wheels at home. My current car allows for two sets of TPMS sensors to be mated to the car at the sane time.
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We really don't get much snow in Northern VA. I have swapped my stock 19" wheels for aftermarket and will be getting winter rubber mounted to the stock wheels.
Dave - there are a lot of very affordable aftermarket options for winter wheels that will be MUCH cheaper than the stock Tesla winter package. This will give you the option of switching wheels for the whopping 2-3 days of snow we get in the area a season. In which time I'm sure you can tolerate a TPMS warning.
This is my plan BTW.
mknox
Well-Known Member
Sorry to keep harping on this, but this is one of my big concerns with re-gen on the gas pedal. I would really like Tesla to implement a software option to move it to the brake pedal.
It has more to do with using max performance summer tires in the winter on snow, doesn't it? Hopefully they can create a 'winter driving mode' that when paired with the appropriate tires makes this less of a concern.
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Switching to low regen did a lot to reduce the problem. I think this should be standard operating procedure with any tires. Snow = Low Regen
I'm having no issues at all with regen (I recommend setting it to LOW for winter) with proper winter tire. I had more issues with traction control climbing snowy roads.
Maybe the Model S could automatically switch to low regen if the temp was low enough and the traction control system sensed the wheels where slipping. It should warn you what it is doing but that could be a safety feature/option.
My trip from Boston to Milford, CT (supercharger) ... Took snapshots of trip and energy apps every 30 miles. ~20F outside. Cabin set for 72. Started with full standard mode charge (and I'd just charged it and got the interior hot). 19" Pirelli winter tire package. Driving generally 10 over the limit (90% of the trip was at 75 MPH).
30 miles
60 miles
90 miles
120 miles
147 miles (end of trip)
Initial Power limit at 50 miles
Yellow battery somewhere around 38 miles (didn't catch it right away)
I'm going to stitch the meter pics together and compare with the jurassictest site ... it's very hilly around here so don't freak out at the Wh/mil you see. That said, I ate 210 miles of range going 147 miles. Ouch.
30 miles
60 miles
90 miles
120 miles
147 miles (end of trip)
Initial Power limit at 50 miles
Yellow battery somewhere around 38 miles (didn't catch it right away)
I'm going to stitch the meter pics together and compare with the jurassictest site ... it's very hilly around here so don't freak out at the Wh/mil you see. That said, I ate 210 miles of range going 147 miles. Ouch.
mknox
Well-Known Member
Certainly using summer performance tires on slippery winter roads is a big factor, but sudden braking on only the rear wheels (if you quickly let go of the accelerator) is not a good thing on slippery roads regardless of the tire.
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