I plug in my cold brick Tesla after a subzero night! Drama, drama this week as the cold snap disabled some fast chargers from various makers including Tesla in Chicago. Can EVs really work in super cold areas?
After watching a guy in Alaska build a fire under his gas car to warm up his 12v battery so he could start it, this doesn't seem so bad. Note, don't do this because it's extremely dangerous.
Snow tires perform much better under cooler conditions than all season or summer tires. Not only is it about actual snow on the roads but more so the ambient temperature. Below 40°F and winter tires performance much better regardless of the precipitation status.
Preconditioning is the #1 cold weather tip. It makes a huge and noticeable difference in terms of regen, efficiency, range, performance, and charge rates. If a whole lot of Tesla drivers go to the supercharger because they know where it is, you'll get compounding congestion.
In some temps, the battery heater may struggle to precondition adequately, especially if the vehicle is sitting in line to supercharge in subzero temps for a couple hrs, which then makes the line longer. And if ppl arrive at low state of charge bc they are travelling, now they don't have enough battery to sit a couple hrs and heat
I minor thing, Europe universally uses CCS including Tesla cars, and the CCS connector fits into the supercharger stay like a petrol pump, so never falls out the plug holder on the supercharger. It does not depend on the latch pin to say mounted.
The pin lock is not a problem. Probably some petrol head clown took the the cable & put them on the ground to give a false information to the Tesla customer that the station is down.
@@rozonoemi9374 no, there is no pin lock, it's just a little plastic notch that wears down after a couple years (bad design), and then the cable doesn't stay up
@@rozonoemi9374 I did not mean to say that I prefer CCS if that is how you interpreted it. I have no problem with the actual NACS design itself, I was only referring to the method of how the cable is secured when the supercharger stall is not used
You're at the Walker Michigan super charger. The worst chargers in the grand rapids area. I literally drive to Hudsonville or Cascade to avoid that crap charger that rarely gives more than 54kwh. Even if your the only one there. I found the West most charger is the best, however.
Just for me, I like Wranglers. Considered getting a 4xe instead of the Rivian. For family vehicle, either an AWD minivan w/every convenience feature or a large SUV (wagoneer, suburban, etc)
Because people did that in the Chicago area. They had to wait for a charger and didn't know how to precondition or even that they needed to. Uber Tesla renters. They thought charges were not working, if they were super cold and drove just a couple miles to charge the battery was still too cold and would charge really slowly so now they have to charge really long and lines pile up. You'd know that if you watched this whole video before commenting.
@@MCSapp-fj2jn user pays for any power coming from the supercharger whether the car uses it for heat, cooling, or charging. User might also pay for power that the charger uses for cooling, too I'm not sure.
I always find it interesting when some Tesla owners use the "%" instead of actual miles on their battery icon. I find it absurd because % don't mean anything when I'm on a trip and know I have to go X number of miles. Its bizarre why that is even a thing. And the other fascinating thing is how completely unbothered you are with leaving 2 of your doors wide open while charging when its 10 degrees outside. I am finding it bizarrely hilarious like its not even bothering you sitting with doors open in the kind of cold that can kill a person quickly.
In mine and a lot of other people's experiences, Teslas are known for essentially never reaching their EPA range estimates (which is what the mileage would be next to the battery icon, the range doesn't typically adjust due to drivin history, only estimated degradation) so I've gotten very used to using percentage throughout my driving similar to most other people having a traditional gas gauge in their cluster and understanding approximately how far they can go.
This rated range is not helpful. When you use % you always know that full is 100%, you now that recuperation is weak over 90%, you know that yous should not leave car below 20%and some features do not work below 20%. So it gives more information. With regular daily usage, you do not need to know the exact range left. Only if you plan longer trips but then use navigation and check how ti looks and ho much you need to charge. So % in my opinion is better
For me, much more useful would be kWh remaining. You know that heater uses 2kW, and driving 80km/h uses 20kW. So if you have 44kWh reaming, that means either 200 more km at current speed. Or, if the car just sits, you have about 20 hours of heat remaining.
I agree, driving around with a tank full of potentially explosive gas seems monumentally stupid. In reality of course cars very rarely catch fire so lets cut down on the childish unintelligent rhetoric and grow up shall we?
No if your car sits outside and plugged in. If you have to go to work at 7:00, you program it into the car, and car would turn on the charger, even if battery is full, then heat up the whole car and melt the snow. Same in the summer, if you finish your work at 17:00, you enter air conditioned cabbing, with no range penalty.
Bull. Just heat up the car remotely with your phone 30 minutes before you make it to Supercharger & no problem. What about frozen gas line on ICE or dead 12 volt battery?
@@rozonoemi9374 easy Noco battery booster/charger and gas line antifreeze. 5 mins and you’re on your way. What about your EV if you forget to charge and don’t have enough charge to preheat? 🤣🤣🤣
@rozonoemi9374 I own 4 Teslas, driven them for 5 years, over 250k miles. I live in the mountains and I would not recommend an EV to anyone without home charging unless you live within 5 or 10 miles of one, turn off Sentry mode, never let your charge get below 30-40% and you are willing to pay $4/gallon gasoline equivalent for your fueling. I love my Teslas, but the laws of thermal dynamics are unbreakable.
I guess ppl manage in more temperate areas, but yeah it would be difficult w/out home or work charging. Having said that, a major grocery store here hosts most of the superchargers, so if you grocery shop once a week it wouldn't add much time
@Teslavangelist It's doable, just not as easy as ICE. Tesla is really remiss in not educating people about hoe EVs work and the pros and cons over ICE.
In ideal case, car would arrive at the supercharger with battery that is already warmed up. Super charger or any DC fast charger should not be treated as petrol station. It makes 0 economic sense to run your car off of them. You should charge at home or at work, when car is just sitting, 99% of the time. DC fast chargers are there to make road trips possible. I think that battery warranty should be 1000 DC charging sessions. And Tesla should charge an idle fee for any car that warms up battery or charges over 90%, because they just use up space.
@@Teslavangelist Tesla charges on energy delivered, not energy that went into the battery. But if you do not have the way to charge at work or home, then you should not own an EV. I know a guy that owns 40kWh Renault Zoe, and charges it at 22kW free chargers at shopping centers. Then he drives the whole week for free.
