Winter Driving Experiences

[PatP]

Yes! I had this exact issue happen this past weekend on a 2 hour drive. In a different instance, I was taking someone for a ride when all of a sudden it seemd like the AC was on instead of the heat.

Driving to the Cottage

Yes! if you take the mobile app, you'll see that in those cases, the car thinks the temperature is higher than reality. So it will start blowing cold to cool down the car in the middle of winter...! Happened to me several times.

Tesla service is fixing many items (windshield finally cracked!) on my car and they're supposed to check on that annoying issue. I should also get the new updated vent.

My theory is a bad sensor. My car reports at least 5-6°C more than reality.

 

[PatP]

I've seen it several times suggested that when in Auto mode, the fans go too slow (1 or 2) so that even if you crank the heat way up you're not getting proper heating, since there isn't enough air flow through the heater... I will be careful to pass judgement though, as I don't have the car to experiment with!

Yes, the auto mode is too slow in cold temperature. I found 3-4 a good setting. With more people in the car, I have to select 5-6. However, it always resets to auto when you use the mobile app pre heating...

However, the car getting cold is another problem IMO as it does it even in manual mode.

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Pat, in the few times (read that my wife has let me use the car :crying I've noticed another problem (imo) with the wipers...

The Model S has a large "A" pillar...when the wipers sweep snow / slush from the windshield on the driver's side, the wipers do not come close enough to the driver's side edge of the windshield...when driving in these conditions, the wiper is leaving the slush too far out on the windshield which creates the dangerous effect of increasing the "A" pillar blind spot...does this happen on your car?

Yes, however, I applied Aquapel on my windshield so snow doesn't stick as much. But I agree, it's bad design.

 

[Doug_G]

I went for my first long drive the other day (1 hour). I pre warmed the car via the app, and it was nice and toasty when I got in. (I had the heat set to 20.5C). Over the course of the drive the car got colder and colder, I kept adjusting the heat up, 21, 22, 24, 28C. At the 28C setting it finally was starting to feel comfortable again. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? It was -12C outside FWIW.

Don't use the Auto setting for the fan. It is utterly useless and will cause this very thing. Always set the fan manually. Always check the fan because under many situations the car likes to pop it back into Auto mode without telling you (including if you use the Defog button or turn on climate control using the App).

 

[William13]

Strangely the car selects the windshield vrs vent vrs floor percentage differently at different temp settings and does not ever follow the on screen marked selection consistently. I expect this is why my windshield has not fogged up. These changes occur even when all the settings are chosen manually and then you change the temp setting.

I am easy going about all this after sitting next to my 20 year menopausal spouse. She suddenly cranks the temp up, down or off. The window sometimes goes down in 10 degree weather.

 

[toto_48313]

Yes! if you take the mobile app, you'll see that in those cases, the car thinks the temperature is higher than reality. So it will start blowing cold to cool down the car in the middle of winter...! Happened to me several times.

Tesla service is fixing many items (windshield finally cracked!) on my car and they're supposed to check on that annoying issue. I should also get the new updated vent.

My theory is a bad sensor. My car reports at least 5-6°C more than reality.

I didn't validate it with true data, but I'm under the same impression. I'ts at least 3 to 4 degres more on the apps phone than the true temp. And for the charging rate there is minor difference too (was sitting in the car with my phone). So it's seems that data got somewhat modified during their way to California and back to the phone.

I'll make more accurate data aquisition soon in order to confirm or not.

 

[Duckjybe]

I didn't validate it with true data, but I'm under the same impression. I'ts at least 3 to 4 degres more on the apps phone than the true temp. And for the charging rate there is minor difference too (was sitting in the car with my phone). So it's seems that data got somewhat modified during their way to California and back to the phone.

I'll make more accurate data aquisition soon in order to confirm or not.

I wonder if it's a Metric conversion error? Anybody having the issue in imperial? One thing I am sure has been mentioned is I can't turn the heat down on the app.

 

[PatP]

I wonder if it's a Metric conversion error? Anybody having the issue in imperial? One thing I am sure has been mentioned is I can't turn the heat down on the app.

I've been putting my car in Fahrenheit for a week because of the mobile app bug in Celcius. Regardless of that, I'm still experiencing temperature issues with the car. I hope Tesla will find the problem.

 

[PatP]

Interesting interview with Elon Musk on cold weather management. I actually learned a couple of interesting things:

EXCLUSIVE Interview With Elon Musk on How Model S Manages Cold Weather: EXCLUSIVE Interview With Elon Musk on How Model S Manages Cold Weather

 

[montgom626]

Interesting interview with Elon Musk on cold weather management. I actually learned a couple of interesting things:

EXCLUSIVE Interview With Elon Musk on How Model S Manages Cold Weather: EXCLUSIVE Interview With Elon Musk on How Model S Manages Cold Weather

ME: What is the energy spent (per hour) to warm up the batteries to the chosen temperature, even in subzero conditions?Elon: The battery actually loses very little energy when cold. Keeping batteries cold is actually the best way to preserve them! It only loses energy when keeping the pack warm for the convenience of the driver — so you don’t have to wait long to drive.



Comment: Appears that question was not answered.

 

[PatP]

ME: What is the energy spent (per hour) to warm up the batteries to the chosen temperature, even in subzero conditions?Elon: The battery actually loses very little energy when cold. Keeping batteries cold is actually the best way to preserve them! It only loses energy when keeping the pack warm for the convenience of the driver — so you don’t have to wait long to drive.

Comment: Appears that question was not answered.

I agree. I would prefer an option for no auto pre warming and use the mobile app to pre heat only when necessary (let's say 20 mins before leaving my hotel room when not able to plug)

 

[RDoc]

A couple of comments.

A. I think the deal with his comment "It only loses energy when keeping the pack warm for the convenience of the driver — so you don’t have to wait long to drive" is that when the batteries are cold, < 32F? they can't be safely discharged at a high rate. If the batteries are allowed to chill, it might take several minutes to get them back up to operating temperature before the car could be driven. Personally, I have no problem with this if there's a timer and a remote application to get it warm before the car is needed.

B. I'm not convinced by his statement that most of the loss in range in cold weather is due to keeping the cabin warm. If you play with their range calculator, @55 mph there's a loss of 42 miles if the temperature drops from 70F to 32F with cabin heat off, and from what many people have posted, it drops even more as it gets significantly colder.

I really wish they would extend the temperature range down to 0F in that calculator. It's not very useful as it stands (outside of California).

 

[agileone]

My theory is a bad sensor. My car reports at least 5-6°C more than reality.

I can attest to that as, my 3 days old MS, often reports -5C, -6C while parked in my heated garage, where it is more like 10C.

 

[Jeeps17]

I can attest to that as, my 3 days old MS, often reports -5C, -6C while parked in my heated garage, where it is more like 10C.

So in your case the car under-reports temperature?

 

[PatP]

I can attest to that as, my 3 days old MS, often reports -5C, -6C while parked in my heated garage, where it is more like 10C.

My car is being serviced in Laval right now and they'll be checking the temperature issues early this week. I hope they'll find the problem as this is annoying to have the AC blowing cold air in the winter! I'll report back.

 

[pbrulott]

Hope your patience will pay off patp for you and for us. I'm still tempted to take the $500 additional Service package for TM to Service the car without me having to drive my car to the Service center. I smell some regular visits at start. No time for garage visits, one of the reason why I wanted to go electric...

 

[PatP]

Hope your patience will pay off patp for you and for us. I'm still tempted to take the $500 additional Service package for TM to Service the car without me having to drive my car to the Service center. I smell some regular visits at start. No time for garage visits, one of the reason why I wanted to go electric...

I wanted to have Ranger service but it wasn't possible for the issues I had (cracked windshield as one of the things). I don't want to discourage you, but you'll probably have more issues than your average car. We're early adopters! A friend of mine in Montreal just got the following message today.

 

[pbrulott]

I imagine my wife on Decarie having to pull over safely... I would have to sleep in the car (vs on the couch) for a while. The good thing is there is lots of space in the TMS

 

[Robert.Boston]

Little update: about 1" of fresh snow on my very steep (18°-slope) alleyway this morning. Traction Control handled the sharp turn and upward climb flawlessly.

 

[Jeeps17]

I imagine my wife on Decarie having to pull over safely... I would have to sleep in the car (vs on the couch) for a while. The good thing is there is lots of space in the TMS

Well, most of the time pulling over on Décarie means slowly making your way to the right lane through bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Minimal risk of a crash!

:tongue:

 

[Norbert]

I agree. I would prefer an option for no auto pre warming and use the mobile app to pre heat only when necessary (let's say 20 mins before leaving my hotel room when not able to plug)

Out of curiosity... is your assumption that currently, the Model S keeps the battery warm continuously? (If not, can you start driving with a cold battery, or do you have to wait?)

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B. I'm not convinced by his statement that most of the loss in range in cold weather is due to keeping the cabin warm. If you play with their range calculator, @55 mph there's a loss of 42 miles if the temperature drops from 70F to 32F with cabin heat off, and from what many people have posted, it drops even more as it gets significantly colder.

That's not what I see. When I go from 70F to 32F, with AC/heat off, the range drops from 301 miles to 287 miles, a difference of 14 miles. Turning on heat, the range drops to 249 miles, a difference of 38 miles. So at that point, according to the range calculator, 73% of the energy loss is for cabin heating, so really "primarily" that.

However, the total range loss at 32F is 17% at 55 mph, and 15% at 65 mph (according to the range calculator). (At 50F, it is 10% at 55 mph.)