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Winter Storm Nick Jonas - What if your Model S was on one of the closed roads?

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Just had a scary thought after seeing all the blizzard footage on TV. Some cars have been stranded on the highway for 20+ hours. So basically if you are in a Tesla or other electric car you most likely ran out of power keeping the heat on. Big problem would be no one can bring you electricity and your car would probably sit there until you could get a flat bed tow truck to a charger/service center. It seems that you would be the lowest priority as other cars could be brought gas and be saved easier. So I think the moral of the story is if Winter Storm Kaskade is coming my way next, I am staying home :biggrin:
 
Bjorn did an episode when he car camped with the heater running all night. only used a bit of power didnt seem like catastrophic battery depletion

Look from like 8 minutes on.

Bjørns Tesla Model S #7: Sleeping in The Car - YouTube


well I disagree with Bjorn. the car has an 8.5kWh heater. sometimes when I charge to 100% then decide not to go anywhere I strategically unplug it (or just flip the breaker switch off if i'm too lazy to go outside), then turn the heater on full blast using remote app. It automatically shuts off after 30 minutes so about 30 minutes into it I turn it back on full blast again. After an hour, I lose about 30 miles or so, which is like 10-12% range. that lines up with the power draw from an 8.5kWh heater, so losting about 8.5 kW's. You can easily deplete the battery sitting there for a several hours in the freezing cold with just the heat blasting.
 
well I disagree with Bjorn. the car has an 8.5kWh heater. sometimes when I charge to 100% then decide not to go anywhere I strategically unplug it (or just flip the breaker switch off if i'm too lazy to go outside), then turn the heater on full blast using remote app. It automatically shuts off after 30 minutes so about 30 minutes into it I turn it back on full blast again. After an hour, I lose about 30 miles or so, which is like 10-12% range. that lines up with the power draw from an 8.5kWh heater, so losting about 8.5 kW's. You can easily deplete the battery sitting there for a several hours in the freezing cold with just the heat blasting.

Why would you blast it constantly? Yes, the heat draw initially is high, but once you reach the set temperature, consumption goes down significantly.
 
Staying off the roads when a big storm is coming is indeed a good idea. But no, I'm not more worried just because I have an EV. Gas cars running out of gas in such situations is extremely common and is one of the things that DOTs and AAA plan for. It's just a risk people already accept. We've had a thread before where somebody came up with some numbers, if anybody wants to search for it.
 
I dont think hes running it at full blast. But maybe just comfortable. I think that would be key. I mean if your stuck im hoping you would be smart enough to conserve energy, just like a ICE vehicle might run out of gas.

Lets say there are so many stranded vehicles that all of them ran out of gas and electricity. This is a probable scenario where the cars stuck might not be touched until 3-5 days from now. Now your Model S is depleted and turned off, even worse, could it go lower past the reserve and brick your battery entirely?
 
Very timely discussion. My wife and I are in the Sierra Nevada mountains this weekend with our Model S, very near Yosemite Park. Just a few hours ago she asked me essentially the same question posed by the OP: if one was stuck in the car in a blizzard and could not move due to traffic and weather conditions, how long could you keep warm in the car? I said that assuming a moderately well charged battery, and lots of warm clothes available, many hours, likely more than 12, and likely longer than a typical ICE with a full tank of gas. But I could not even approximately quantify just how many hours. Sounds like it could be as many as 24 hours or more starting with a good charge.
 
At full blast and a full charge you have ~12 hours. Of course, if you're stuck in a snow storm, you've probably already used most of your battery for driving. So let's say 6 hours. On the positive side it should not run full blast until it gets really, really cold. How cold I don't know but somewhere well below 0 I imagine. Can you make it 20 hours? Well it depends on how cold it is.
 
I've driven during many winters in very rural northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia, often in rental cars with questionable maintenance. If the ICE runs out of gas your time to live is about thirty minutes unless you have a candle and blankets. As the time between seeing another vehicle in these areas is more than thirty minutes--at least between 00:00-05:00--it's somewhat risky. I wouldn't do it now except in an EV.
 
I've driven during many winters in very rural northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia, often in rental cars with questionable maintenance. If the ICE runs out of gas your time to live is about thirty minutes unless you have a candle and blankets. As the time between seeing another vehicle in these areas is more than thirty minutes--at least between 00:00-05:00--it's somewhat risky. I wouldn't do it now except in an EV.
Running out of gas, or running out of charge are no different, and at idle an ICE will run quite a while on a tank of fuel, they also tend to carry more fuel than an EV carries charge, so are more likely to be in the top portion of it when you get stranded.
The ev doesn't have carbon monoxide though, and is more efficient at directing the heat in to the cabin instead of out the radiator.

The real takeaway though, is if you ever leave the city in any car, carry blankets. I also recommend carrying a shovel, and I never drive anywhere without being dressed for the weather outside (or at least having the gear with me)doesn't matter if I'm planning to go from heated garage to heated garage, you never know what might happen in between.
 
Running out of gas, or running out of charge are no different, and at idle an ICE will run quite a while on a tank of fuel, they also tend to carry more fuel than an EV carries charge, so are more likely to be in the top portion of it when you get stranded.
The ev doesn't have carbon monoxide though, and is more efficient at directing the heat in to the cabin instead of out the radiator.

The real takeaway though, is if you ever leave the city in any car, carry blankets. I also recommend carrying a shovel, and I never drive anywhere without being dressed for the weather outside (or at least having the gear with me)doesn't matter if I'm planning to go from heated garage to heated garage, you never know what might happen in between.

Bought one of these on sale for $19.99 the other day at EMS.
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