Is there anyone who drives the Tesla 3 Standard Rear-Wheel Drive in winter conditions such as in the Prairie Provinces of Canada or the US States like

[farmerinnorth]

Currently, Tesla 3 long-range AWD is not available, I am wondering if anyone has experience with Tesla 3 Standard Rear-Wheel Drive in winter conditions such as in the Prairie Provinces of Canada or the US States like Minnesota or Dakotas? Is this model good enough in such winter conditions?

 

[bjhinkle]

My friend does. The LFP takes a bigger range hit when the pack is cold. But he preconditions in the garage before he drives in the cold which minimizes that issue a bit. I think the bigger concern for me in cold climates regardless of EV vs Gas is RWD instead of AWD. I can’t get up my driveway when iced over without AWD.

 

[Randy-12]

My friend does. The LFP takes a bigger range hit when the pack is cold. But he preconditions in the garage before he drives in the cold which minimizes that issue a bit. I think the bigger concern for me in cold climates regardless of EV vs Gas is RWD instead of AWD. I can’t get up my driveway when iced over without AWD.

With the proper tires you can.

 

[Randy-12]

Currently, Tesla 3 long-range AWD is not available, I am wondering if anyone has experience with Tesla 3 Standard Rear-Wheel Drive in winter conditions such as in the Prairie Provinces of Canada or the US States like Minnesota or Dakotas? Is this model good enough in such winter conditions?

There many people in Canada with the RWD car. Drives great with the proper tires.
And as others have said it does take a big hit mileage wise.

 

[heavyD]

The dual motor cars are still RWD the majority of the time and since the front and rear drives aren't mechanically coupled there's a delay in the front wheels kicking in under rear slippage that makes the car largely feel like a RWD car in slippery conditions anyway. RWD models are only really missing that extra front wheel grip in extremely slippery conditions or deep snow from a stop. If the roads are maintained pretty well in your area you should be fine with a good set of winter tires.

 

[idontwantaname]

Ottawa here. I have SR+ with Hakka's and its just fine.

 

[Locoloco]

I drove my RWD from Surrey BC to Canmore Alberta on December 27th. We left about 11 am and stayed overnight just outside of Salmon Arm. We continued on the next morning. Revelstoke had a lot of snow during the night but Highway 1 was drivable. Driving from Golden to Banff/Golden over the mountain passes in winter was a new experience for me and was Ok. Temperatures in Canmore were -10 deg Celsius. The battery took a hit on efficiency by about 10 to 20% but that included preconditioning for supercharging and sentry mode would take about 3%. FWIW driving back to BC on New Years Eve was fine except for some slippery conditions after Lake Louise and on Coquihalla Highway. I can post some pictures I have on the battery efficiency if anybody is interested. I had the 18” pirelli winter tires that Tesla sell. Vancouver had a lot of snow last month and I never had too many problems except if there is about 5 inches of slushy snow on side roads in Vancouver.

 

[Copes]

Currently, Tesla 3 long-range AWD is not available, I am wondering if anyone has experience with Tesla 3 Standard Rear-Wheel Drive in winter conditions such as in the Prairie Provinces of Canada or the US States like Minnesota or Dakotas? Is this model good enough in such winter conditions?

I have a 2020 SR+ and am in NH. I love the car and RW drive does give you a certain pop on acceleration but if I were to do it over again, I wouldn’t go RW drive. I don’t even take it out when snowing but easy for me to say when I have 2 other AWD options. Worth mentioning that in cold conditions range loss is exactly what other are saying. I would even say it’s close to 25-30%. You can keep your seat heater (as Tesla says) on but fogging and just staying warm is an issue with the smaller range battery you get with the SR+

 

[bckelowna]

The dual motor cars are still RWD the majority of the time and since the front and rear drives aren't mechanically coupled there's a delay in the front wheels kicking in under rear slippage that makes the car largely feel like a RWD car in slippery conditions anyway. RWD models are only really missing that extra front wheel grip in extremely slippery conditions or deep snow from a stop. If the roads are maintained pretty well in your area you should be fine with a good set of winter tires.

What winter tires you use?

 

[heavyD]

Pilot Alpin PA4

 

[UniResearcher]

Hi! Any experiences of driving in subzero temperatures? How is the battery life, use of touchscreen (with gloves?) etc.? Would be great to hear your views and observations!

 

[indyjaco]

No issues driving, battery is probably 30% less than summer due to heat pump not working below around 15 degrees F

 

[Soul Surfer]

Hi! Any experiences of driving in subzero temperatures? How is the battery life, use of touchscreen (with gloves?) etc.? Would be great to hear your views and observations!

Hi new user,
Welcome aboard. What year and model is your M3? I believe Finland & Norway have a huge adoption of Teslas so there should be some more owners providing comments.

 

[Originalando]

No issues driving, battery is probably 30% less than summer due to heat pump not working below around 15 degrees F

Just want to clarify that there is no PTC heater in cars with the heat pump, so it does in fact work below 15°F. The heat pump can pull energy from outside, batteries, and drive units. When needed, the car sends a lot of power through the drive units to create additional heat, which the heat pump can then scavenge and bring into the cabin.

 

[Marsh25]

The OP is in Finland, so I think they mean below zero C, not zero F.

Range is affected. Pay attention to your navigation. It compensates for your current power usage. The little range indicator next to the battery does not.

 

[rwiegand]

For everyday driving down to about -10C no effect whatsoever, except minimal regenerative braking until it warms up. For longer trips you will see range loss at those temps (obviously there will be range loss on shorter trips as well, but it doesn't much matter). No prolonged experience at colder temperature. One day driving at -20 (0F) and the car worked, I didn't notice much else-- it was too darn cold!
I don't poke at the screen while driving, so don't know about gloves. The steering wheel heater is fabulous if you tend to have cold hands!

 

[Lindenwood]

I have road-tripped down to 5F (-15C) and everything worked normally except perhaps a 20% range reduction from having to continually reheat the battery, which resulted in about 10-15% more total charging time along the trip.

 

[804son]

No need for gloves, precondition the car before leaving. You'll have a nice warm cabin/steering wheel and full regen braking.

 

[BabyYeggie]

I've done 4 years with RWD and X-ice 3 in Central Alberta. I can make it up most hills except when it's iced over, snowing and below -25C. The properties of ice and snow change at low temperatures, so I can't make it up a 10% hill to my parking spot. I have to spend an extra 3 minutes going around.

Heat works in under 30 seconds 100% of the time due to the PTC heater.

Minimum air temperature driven in is -44C and max is only 36C.

 

[UniResearcher]

Hi new user,
Welcome aboard. What year and model is your M3? I believe Finland & Norway have a huge adoption of Teslas so there should be some more owners providing comments.

Hi, many thanks for pointing out those forums, I will look for threads there as well. I am not an owner of Tesla yet but gathering information at the moment so I highly appreciate the expert information in the forum!