Might be good to compare notes on winter driving in the Roadster.
I wasn't planning on getting winter tires for my Roadster; figured I wouldn't want to drive it in the fairly nasty Ottawa winter. Maybe take it out on nice days. Today the less-traveled roads are snow covered, so I figured I'd take the SUV. Unfortunately the SUV's battery is apparently getting old; when I stopped for gas I couldn't start it again. So I got a boost and went home to get the Tesla.
Suffice it to say I was quite pleasantly surprised by how well it did on (thin) snow and ice, especially considering the summer tires. If I pressed the throttle the TC light would illuminate and the car would gently accelerate. I tried flooring it and the exact same thing happened. If I lifted off the TC light would come on again, and it would decelerate steadily. No muss, no fuss. Pretty impressive, actually.
I didn't seem to have any trouble cornering either. Of course I was driving it gently around the corners, as I'm always cautious on snow in any car.
My only real concern is deep snow. Just backing out I bottomed out on the tiny snowbank (and I mean tiny) at the end of the driveway. It didn't affect the car except for making a raspy sound. But I wonder how the car would handle a major snowfall even if it had snow tires.
As for the SUV I was able to stop in at Canadian Tire and buy a new battery for it. Seemed odd lifting a lead-acid car battery into the back of the Telsa...
I wasn't planning on getting winter tires for my Roadster; figured I wouldn't want to drive it in the fairly nasty Ottawa winter. Maybe take it out on nice days. Today the less-traveled roads are snow covered, so I figured I'd take the SUV. Unfortunately the SUV's battery is apparently getting old; when I stopped for gas I couldn't start it again. So I got a boost and went home to get the Tesla.
Suffice it to say I was quite pleasantly surprised by how well it did on (thin) snow and ice, especially considering the summer tires. If I pressed the throttle the TC light would illuminate and the car would gently accelerate. I tried flooring it and the exact same thing happened. If I lifted off the TC light would come on again, and it would decelerate steadily. No muss, no fuss. Pretty impressive, actually.
I didn't seem to have any trouble cornering either. Of course I was driving it gently around the corners, as I'm always cautious on snow in any car.
My only real concern is deep snow. Just backing out I bottomed out on the tiny snowbank (and I mean tiny) at the end of the driveway. It didn't affect the car except for making a raspy sound. But I wonder how the car would handle a major snowfall even if it had snow tires.
As for the SUV I was able to stop in at Canadian Tire and buy a new battery for it. Seemed odd lifting a lead-acid car battery into the back of the Telsa...