Last week, I drove from the SF Bay Area to Lake Tahoe. Above 5000 feet, it was snowing (heavy flurries), snow on the surface, temperature 29-31F, on a two lane highway (US50).
We stopped for 2 hours while an avalanche was cleared, and then resumed travel in the dark. Soon, the road was barely visible through our iced windshield, with occasional white-outs from blown snow. I was reluctant to scrape the windshield due to concerns that I would be hit by a sliding vehicle, but when I was able to scrape it, it quickly frosted again.
While the traction was superb, there are serious Model S winter driving shortcomings:
- The front windshield defroster is grossly underpowered, inadequate to keep ice from forming, and it was barely freezing
- There are no heaters at the base of the windshield to keep the wiper blades from freezing
- There are no heaters to keep the windshield spray nozzles free of ice
- There is no wiper blade or spray nozzle to clear the rear windshield
- There is no spray nozzle to clear the rear camera
- Because I was unclear as to the meaning of the blue vs orange indicator on the front windshield defroster, I discovered there is no Tesla User Manual when there is no cell service
- Without internet access, when I attempted to tune into an AM station for road conditions, I discovered that there is no AM radio
I drove slowly, peering through 2 to 3 inch gaps in the frozen windshield. When we finally arrived at Lake Tahoe, I spoke with a Model X driver at a super charger who reported a similar issues. It was an absolutely terrifying experience which we survived. With a couple of exceptions, I would expect these features on any modern automobile, and certainly all of them on a car costing $100,000.