Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Winter Shock : 800kWh?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Ok, perhaps a really silly question then...to preheat the battery, my best option is to "pre warm" the cabin climate for 20 or 30 minutes? I prewarmed the cabin this morning in my heated garage (40 degrees for about 30 min) then drove to the airport for 25-30 minutes in 20 degrees and I still had a half or quarter yellow lines for regeneration. Normal???

I've only noticed this "battery heating" logo once when I did a "cabin climate preheat" and that was when it had been sitting outside at the airport.

Yes, preheating can make a difference. Watch Bjorn Nyland's (TeslaBjorn) YouTube videos to see techniques and their impact. He lives in Norway and deals with a lot of cold weather. He also sometimes sleeps overnight in the car in Norwegian winters.
 
I am new to my X but not to EV in the winter. While compared to MN the winters in NC are milder.

Heating AIr & moving it around use more energy than the heated seats. If it's just you in the car, turn off the heater and turn on the heated seat.

I have had my battery heater come on once after it was parked outside and temps got into mid 30s. The battery heater was on and regen was limited to all but the smallest. During that drive home I was 489 Wh/Mile.

Do you use anything like TeslaFi or Teslascope? they will give you more averages over the entire trip. The in car numbers can be a bit wonky/short sighted. but if you had the heater blasting, seat heaters one, battery heater on, rear defroster on that number isn't outrageous.
 
Ok, perhaps a really silly question then...to preheat the battery, my best option is to "pre warm" the cabin climate for 20 or 30 minutes? I prewarmed the cabin this morning in my heated garage (40 degrees for about 30 min) then drove to the airport for 25-30 minutes in 20 degrees and I still had a half or quarter yellow lines for regeneration. Normal???

I've only noticed this "battery heating" logo once when I did a "cabin climate preheat" and that was when it had been sitting outside at the airport.

At the moment, I don’t think there’s any settings or options to heat the pack like the car is on.

The thing I hate most about is the loss of regen. If they gave me an option that said “I don’t care how much electricity it takes, when plugged in keep the battery above the regen limiting temps,” I would probably take it. If they offered me a version for when unplugged too I would think about it.
 
Hey guys, I'm on my first 6-months of owning a new Tesla Model X in Minnesota and seeing upwards of 750-800kWh when gently driving through the city in single-digit temps (below 15 degrees). This is after a short pre-warming and sitting in a garage that is heated to 40 degrees. Does this seem crazy accessive? I love the vehicle no matter what, but the range hit and energy use is MUCH-MUCH higher than expected. I realize the X is a heavy-weight, but man...
Did you try just using the heated seat and no HVAC for the first 20 minutes of driving?
 
Fellow minnesotan here:
Yes 700-800 is normal for short trips. You need to warm the battery to have less range loss. When I first start (from cold without charging), I can burn 2000wh/mi and it'll drop to around 700wh/mi. A longer drive say 20+ minutes, it'll drop to 500wh/mi.

I set my car to start charging at 10pm to 70%. Then I change it to 90% at 5am and it'll take 2.5 hours to get to 90%. That way the battery is somewhat warm when I leave at 8ish. This helps a bunch.

But just wait until it's -20. Ha!

Screenshot 2019-11-13 12.21.36.png
 
Definitely a huge jump as temps drop, compared to Model 3 last winter.

Seems the limited regen hits much harder on the Model X than the Model 3.
I had Zero Regen when I pulled out of 46F Garage. That would have been 50% Regen in the Model 3.
I also see no loss in Regen on the Chevy Volt under the exact same conditions.

I went from 270 wh/mi on the X to high 300's with the HVAC OFF !!

Lack of having regen seems to hit the Model X harder too.
50% regen loss on Model 3 was almost not detectable in wh/mi where it's big hit on the Model X.

I assume it's not actively heating the battery?
 
Ok, perhaps a really silly question then...to preheat the battery, my best option is to "pre warm" the cabin climate for 20 or 30 minutes? I prewarmed the cabin this morning in my heated garage (40 degrees for about 30 min) then drove to the airport for 25-30 minutes in 20 degrees and I still had a half or quarter yellow lines for regeneration. Normal???

I've only noticed this "battery heating" logo once when I did a "cabin climate preheat" and that was when it had been sitting outside at the airport.

Normal for MN. I usually do a few hard acceleration pulls and the regen limit goes away pretty quickly.
 
I am new to my X but not to EV in the winter. While compared to MN the winters in NC are milder.

Heating AIr & moving it around use more energy than the heated seats. If it's just you in the car, turn off the heater and turn on the heated seat.

I have had my battery heater come on once after it was parked outside and temps got into mid 30s. The battery heater was on and regen was limited to all but the smallest. During that drive home I was 489 Wh/Mile.

Do you use anything like TeslaFi or Teslascope? they will give you more averages over the entire trip. The in car numbers can be a bit wonky/short sighted. but if you had the heater blasting, seat heaters one, battery heater on, rear defroster on that number isn't outrageous.

How do you know when your battery heater is on? I didn't think it would activity heat battery unless it was much colder than Mid 30's.
What's it heat to? How long does it take?
 
Threads like these make me worry if the X would work as my wife's SUV and all of her daily running around. Loved it during the test drive but she is not going to be driving around with a blanket on her lap. She will want and expect the same experience and comfort as the BMW/MB/RR we've had over the years. That means not worrying about consumption, blasting the AC with the heated seat on, temp at 85 in winter, etc.

We are so sick and tired of the $$ associated with putting 18k miles a year on an X5 between the gas, repairs and maintenance. Really, really hoping the X solves our problem.
 
Threads like these make me worry if the X would work as my wife's SUV and all of her daily running around. Loved it during the test drive but she is not going to be driving around with a blanket on her lap. She will want and expect the same experience and comfort as the BMW/MB/RR we've had over the years. That means not worrying about consumption, blasting the AC with the heated seat on, temp at 85 in winter, etc.

We are so sick and tired of the $$ associated with putting 18k miles a year on an X5 between the gas, repairs and maintenance. Really, really hoping the X solves our problem.

So have her switch the battery gauge to percentage, put something other than the trips and power/energy graph on the two side panes, and don’t worry about it.

Yes, winter efficiency is way down while heating a cold car. As long as you can plug in every day, it shouldn’t cause any issues for the vast majority of drivers - even at the 800 Wh per mile quoted above the car will do more than a hundred miles on a charge and anyone driving more than half an hour at a time will get much better efficiency once everything warms up.
 
Thank you all for the replies, it's comical that someone would actually consider purchasing 100k vehicle and would leave the heat off for 20 minutes in a Minnesota winter. That is absolute ludacris (pun intended). I love my Model X, but definitely didn't expect over a 50% hit on the battery just above single digits. Again, I have a standard range, but when I see a 70-mile range estimate at 85% battery that' silly.
 
Thank you all for the replies, it's comical that someone would actually consider purchasing 100k vehicle and would leave the heat off for 20 minutes in a Minnesota winter. That is absolute ludacris (pun intended). I love my Model X, but definitely didn't expect over a 50% hit on the battery just above single digits. Again, I have a standard range, but when I see a 70-mile range estimate at 85% battery that' silly.
70-mile range is just during heating, right? Also can't you pre-heat while charging?
 
  • Like
Reactions: nwdiver
70-mile range is just during heating, right? Also can't you pre-heat while charging?

During cold city driving, when the car has only been prewarmed unplugged (in garage). Honestly, I would love for someone to say your car needs service and something is incredibly wrong, but I'm feeling that's not the case. A standard range Tesla simply sucks in the winter. Period.
 
During cold city driving, when the car has only been prewarmed unplugged (in garage). Honestly, I would love for someone to say your car needs service and something is incredibly wrong, but I'm feeling that's not the case. A standard range Tesla simply sucks in the winter. Period.

The key is to schedule charging to warm the battery and pre-heat while the car is plugged in.
 
The key is to schedule charging to warm the battery and pre-heat while the car is plugged in.

You're correct, but I don't like playing these silly games to preheat the battery. You have to charge your battery until a certain time to only a certain level, then strategically start-up charging again before you depart (again at a strategic time). But if you leave at different times each day, you need to readjust those times for maximum capacity. Don't worry though...it makes fart noises.

Elon's engineers should work on a fix for folks wanting to maximize range in cold weather when plugged in.

Absolutely love-love-love my Model X, but man the weakness has been exposed. They haven't thought of everything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SeaNile