How to start a Tesla at -34C

[noteven]

Tesla cold start

[PA12DRVR]

"Long time ago bush pilots up north used to drain oil and heat it over fire before puring it back in the engine.
Lots o fun flying in those early days"

It wasn't that long ago.... I've pretty much stopped cold weather flying in the past 10 years but before that, when venturing to the cabin in the winter, I'd drain the warm oil and pull the battery out to take into the cabin on the odd instance when I was out there in -30 or colder. Warmer than that, a good pre-heat would do it, but having warm oil sure reduced the pre-heat time and stress on the engine.

[Reisender]

thomas201 wrote:
Even after all these years, still the best:

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-battery-range-sub-zero-snowy-conditions/


Want to kill your EV range. Stay at a hotel with no plugs (no shore power preheat), melt snow off the car, then drive in the snow (those low rolling resistance tires are no longer low).

Until charging stations are faster and more common, you need to "figger" this in. Does anyone know of another table showing temperature, range and special conditions like shore power preheat or not?

I don’t know another table and can’t say I’ve dealt with minus 30. But we routinely do minus 15 to minus 20 cold soak not plugged in. Not a big deal really. Car doesn’t really act any differently other than the hit to range. I would say a typical model 3 AWD would have a real world range of around 400 km in those conditions. We haven't done a lot of road tripping in those conditions though soooooo..... Fast chargers are ubiquitous in this province (or at least where we travel) so can’t see it being a problem for us. If you live in more isolated areas and have to do long road trips in winter though, an EV might not be the right way to go...yet. :).

Side note. Our Grand Cherokee lost a lot of range in winter as well. Rolling resistance etc. Not as much as our Tesla or leaf though. Overall the Tesla is a much better winter vehicle for us. Miss the big hatch on the Grand Cherokee sometime.

[thomas201]

Even after all these years, still the best:

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-battery-range-sub-zero-snowy-conditions/


Want to kill your EV range. Stay at a hotel with no plugs (no shore power preheat), melt snow off the car, then drive in the snow (those low rolling resistance tires are no longer low).

Until charging stations are faster and more common, you need to "figger" this in. Does anyone know of another table showing temperature, range and special conditions like shore power preheat or not?

[Bumpyroad]

Groover wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
I see that warm up test was done with the vehicle plugged in. what does this do with range when you run the batteries down and are not plugged in?.
bumpy

A large number of ICE engines would have the range reduced to zero at that temp because they won't start if they haven't been plugged in.

we used to have a light bulb on under the hood on those coldest days.
bumpy

[Groover]

Bumpyroad wrote:
I see that warm up test was done with the vehicle plugged in. what does this do with range when you run the batteries down and are not plugged in?.
bumpy

A large number of ICE engines would have the range reduced to zero at that temp because they won't start if they haven't been plugged in.

[Reisender]

Yepir. We live in Canada but where we live minus 20 is as cold as it gets. This is the first year the car has seen snow but we had some minus 17 temps last march when we got it. We don't set it to 20 though. Way too hot when all dressed up in winter clothes. 17 is nice with the heated seats. If the car is cold soaked we count on a 20 to 30 percent range loss at minus 20. If its been in the garage overnight maybe 10 or 15 percent. We love being able to pre-heat or pre-cool it from the app.

At minus 15 it gets to 18 degrees inside in like three minutes. Best winter car we have ever had and all wheel drive to boot.

All temperatures celcius of course.

[free_radical]

Bumpyroad wrote:
reminds me of my Dad telling us about having to drain the oil out of the vehicles at night so they could pour them back in in to start in the morning. of course that was at Thief River Falls. 🙂

checked and the lowest wind chill was at Thief river falls at -54, with International falls setting the record at - 40 F. (Not windchill)
weather only fit for rutabega farmers. 🙂
bumpy

Good thing someone invented synthetic oil.

Long time ago bush pilots up north used to drain oil and heat it over fire before puring it back in the engine.
Lots o fun flying in those early days

[Bumpyroad]

reminds me of my Dad telling us about having to drain the oil out of the vehicles at night so they could pour them back in in to start in the morning. of course that was at Thief River Falls. 🙂

checked and the lowest wind chill was at Thief river falls at -54, with International falls setting the record at - 40 F. (Not windchill)
weather only fit for rutabega farmers. 🙂
bumpy

[colliehauler]

stickdog wrote:
No reason for me to be any place that is -34.

Got my vote. The only trip I would be making is to warmer weather.

[stickdog]

No reason for me to be any place that is -34.

[time2roll]

Bumpyroad wrote:
I see that warm up test was done with the vehicle plugged in. what does this do with range when you run the batteries down and are not plugged in?.
bumpy

Video said the M3 warmed up in 4 minutes. Not going to lose more than a couple miles during this process.
Of course range is probably cut in half at this temperature if you let the battery cold soak. Car will keep the battery warm to reduce range loss if plugged in.

And of course if you have an enclosed garage attached to your house the EV can preheat inside the closed garage.

[mikim]

Wife and I own both a model S & Model X. I take the S skiing to local mountains and once a year to Lake Tahoe. The cold really sucks down the battery. Maybe a 50% loss of range? At minus 34c that must really lose power.

Still, great cars!!

[Bumpyroad]

I see that warm up test was done with the vehicle plugged in. what does this do with range when you run the batteries down and are not plugged in?.
bumpy