Winter Range Anxiety

Hopefully, you read our earlier blog entry about prepping for the winter months but now that they’re here you may be wondering if there’s anything you can do about the affect cold temperature is having on your range. We scoured the internet for answers and here’s what we found.

As this article in Wired magazine explains, cold winter weather has a severely diminishing effect on EV range. Their lithium-ion batteries don’t produce as much power on discharge and they really don’t accept a charge well in cold temps either. (In extreme cases – not at all.) In fact, EV drivers across all brands report a significant loss of range in extreme cold temperatures. Fortunately, there are some things Model 3 drivers can do to mitigate this loss.

Garage Your Car

You might think your garage is cold but it’s colder still outside.  And the colder your battery gets, the harder it will be to warm it in the morning.  In fact, overnight temps could leave you with a cold-soaked battery. You’ll recognize this by the little snowflake on the touchscreen between the state-of-charge indicator and the battery icon. When you see this, some of the battery’s energy will not be available until the battery warms up. In fact, your state-of-charge might reflect more than the usual amount of phantom drain. That’s because, when the battery is very cold, the software artificially “removes” some of the battery capacity. Even if your Model 3 is completely charged when you put her in the barn, a cold battery means you won’t get the benefit of regenerative braking and that’s going to affect range on your morning commute.

Charge At The End Of Your Drive

Charge your battery at the end of your drive when the battery is warm.  It takes much less time to charge a warm battery, than a cold one. If at all possible, stay plugged in and charging all night.  

Precondition

Precondition your car for at least an hour before you drive. This will make the cabin more comfortable but also it will help warm the battery and avoid that  “regenerative braking reduced” message which means a reduction in range.  Do this while charging, if possible. You can even schedule this to occur automatically (Charging -> Scheduled Departure -> Schedule -> Depart At). 

Use the Seat Warmers

While driving, use seat warmers rather than the climate control to warm the cabin. The seat warmers draw current from the 12V battery which doesn’t directly affect range. The climate control system is the only thing in the cabin that actually draws energy from the main (400V) battery and it will have a noticeable affect on your range.

Snow Tires

When the tires slip, it reduces range. Even driving in rain will reduce traction enough to affect range. Snow tires will not only make your trip safer it will also mitigate range loss.

Want to know more about owning a Tesla Model 3?