Tesla Model 3 — Cold Weather Tips
There are tons of videos with tips for driving EVs in the winter, but they take time to watch. It’s very old-school of me to use all these words. I have condensed what I have learned so far in videos, and in my own driving in the Boston area. I’ll update as I go — add your comments. I hope this is helpful.
Three parts: first is for quick consumption, then in the second I’ll explain why if needed, and in the third, some links to the videos.
Updated Oct 2019: after a winter of Boston driving my Tesla Model 3 LR/RWD.
Quick tips for driving your Tesla in the cold
- Turn off auto-wipers in winter to avoid damage when wipers frozen
- Pre-heat to warm up the cabin and battery — heat for 30–60 minutes
- Schedule overnight charging to end when you leave in the morning
- Expect substantial range reduction in the cold
- Short trips make range reduction worse
- Be aware that regen may be off and you have to use the brake
- Keep regen on low in snow/ice to avoid unexpected braking and skids
- Turn on Chill Mode in snow/ice
- Park in a garage or covered area
- Use silicone lubricant on door seals to reduce window freeze-up
- Battery heater on when charging in the cold — 110v cannot keep up
- Get winter tires (Update: most definitely, get winter tires!!)
- Keep moisture off charge port and door handles
Cold Weather Tips Explained in Detail
Roughly in order of the above, here are the details if you’re interested.
Turn off auto-wipers in winter
If the automatic wiper mode is on, and wipers are frozen in place, or covered with heavy snow, this can cause damage. One video suggested that the wiper motors can be damaged and need replacement … which seems like a major design flaw to me. Perhaps this has been resolved, but I am not willing to find out.
I put this tip first because it hadn’t occurred to me, and I would be bummed if this happened to me … and it would have.
Pre-heating isn’t just for comfort
Batteries need to be at a suitable operating temperature for optimal performance, and when it’s cold batteries need to be warmed up — this happens automatically when driving as needed, but it makes sense to “precondition”. Turning on the cabin heat not only warms the car, it also warms the battery.
Note: the Tesla Model S and X have dedicated battery heaters. The Model 3 uses its motor as a kind of heater — it’s just a different way to turn electrical energy into heat.
If the battery is cold, heating will happen as you drive, but requires some extra power. Notably, regenerative braking will be limited or off when the battery is even moderately cold.
Use the app to turn on the cabin heat for 30–60 minutes before you leave so that the car and battery are warm.
Schedule overnight charging to finish as you leave
The battery also needs to be warm in to get optimal charging rate, and the battery heater will turn on as necessary when you’re charging. If you charge nightly, use the Scheduled Charging feature to finish up charging around the time you leave. This way, the battery will be already warm.
Better yet, get the Stats for Tesla app and schedule battery prep and cabin heating to finish just before you leave. Battery prep works by charging to a set percentage as soon as you plug in (e.g. at night), then scheduling another 5% of charging for the last hour or so.
Substantial range reduction in the cold
As noted above, batteries don’t perform well in the cold — they don’t discharge as fast, which means less power. Cold batteries don’t charge as fast which is why regen is reduced.
You’ll see the reported remaining range drop a lot if the battery is cold. The energy is still stored in the battery, it just can’t be accessed by the car until the battery is warmed up, which will happen as you drive. Don’t panic.
There are a number of factors that make (all) cars less efficient when cold — more resistance, winter tires, poor road conditions and others. In the Tesla, both the cabin heater and the battery heater use extra juice since there’s any heat loss as there would be in an ICE vehicle … again, charge and warm the car before you leave to improve range, performance, and comfort.
Many people discuss loss of range in the cold, and it is real. But if you use your house power to get your battery warmed up before you leave, the impact is significantly smaller.
It seems to depend on your situation — some people are saying 5% reduction, and others are saying 30% or more. Note also, the range estimates are said not to take temperature into account, so will tend to estimate optimistically.
Short trips make range reduction seem worse
If you are taking short trips, this extra heating load will be drain the battery more quickly. The battery heater will be on whenever your battery is not at a suitable temperature, then turn off after a while. If your trips are short or the battery is very cold, the battery will be heating whenever you drive.
Regen braking may be completely off when cold — use the brakes
When the battery is cold it can’t charge quickly, so regen braking is reduced or disabled by the car. The amount of reduction varies, from “mostly on” to “completely off”. You will get an alert that “Regenerative braking limited” until the battery warms up.
The first time I drove on a completely cold battery the first (pre-caffeination) stop was a surprise. If you’re used to one-pedal driving, retrain yourself to remember the good ol’ brake pedal.
You can tell how much regen braking will be reduced by looking just under the speed display for a usually solid line . The left side of the line will be dotted — if the left side of the line is fully dotted, regen is completely off. See here for a picture. The dots will recede as the battery warms up. You may also see dots on the right side when the battery is very cold, indicating that max power is also limited.
Keep regen on Low in snow/ice for safety
If regen engages it’s like hitting the brakes, which is a thing you want to do very gently when driving on snow or ice. I am sure that with practice, regen braking in ice and snow is something you can control, it’s more of a case that you want to be aware. In my first snow driving, in my Model 3 RWD with All-Season tires, I had a couple of unexpected slides when regen kicked in.
Update: embracing “single pedal driving” takes a bit of getting used to, but when you master it, it’s wonderful. You can “feather” the accelerator to get the amount of power or regen braking needed. Unlike a regular car where your foot is either on the accelerator or brake, in the Tesla, partial pressure on the accelerator provides a “neutral” power, and gently lifting your foot gradually engages more regen. If you completely remove your foot from accelerator, you’ll fully engage regen, which can be quite substantial braking — this is what can cause unexpected skidding in snow and ice.
Turn on Chill Mode in snow/ice to reduce skidding
Slower acceleration is what you want, and Chill Mode reduces that instant power enough to help reduce skidding at start. As with regenerative braking, you can accomplish the same thing by “feathering” the accelerator pedal to precisely control power.
Silicone lubricant to reduce window freeze-up
If moisture gets between window and door seals, it can freeze in the cold. Tesla windows must roll down a short distance before door will unlock, so you’re locked out of your car if this happens with all doors.
Apply silicone lubricant to seals to reduce the occurrence. The video I watched recommends spraying on the door seals. I may try applying to a cloth to avoid spraying lube all over the place. Here’s a link to the product.
Bonus tip: make sure door handles are dry after car wash or rain. They also freeze.
Park in a garage or covered area
Even if the garage or enclosure is unheated, being in a space with less wind helps the car retain heat. It’s also helpful to keep snow, rain and other moisture off the car to reduce chances for freezing.
110v cannot keep up with battery heater (in extreme cold)
I have seen conflicting information on this tip, so maybe it’s wrong. Edit: my experience is that with a 20 Amp outlet, only in extreme cold (< 0F / -15C) may this be a problem.
One video suggested that charging on 110v may be worse than not charging at all. The rationale is that at 110v you might gain 3 miles of range per hour of charging. However, because the battery heater is on when charging, you might use the 5 miles of range per hour just to heat the battery. Edit: I have not observed any actual loss of range. Even if it’s just a break-even, having a warm battery when you start driving will substantially increase driving range, especially on shorter trips.
Several factors matter here. The current temperature of the battery, the temperature outside, and the length of time charging seem like obvious factors. Other factors may be the car itself (Model 3 charges faster than S or X, I think), and whether your 110v outlet is at 15 or 20 amps.
Update: I am now charging at night on a 120v 20a circuit. When the battery is warm, I’ll gain 5 miles of range per hour of charge. It can take an hour or more to get the battery up to temperature when it’s cold (~32F / 0C) and you may not gain very much range overnight when very cold … but you’ll be able to keep the battery warm, at least.
Get winter tires
Remarkably all the Canadian videos on driving in the snow extoll the dramatic improvements of winter tires, while the Mid-Atlantic videos say you can get away with all-season tires if you have AWD.
I have the Model 3 RWD with all-season tires. I can confidently say that winter tires are not optional. I have driven front-wheel-drive cars for most of my life — rear-wheel drive is very different, and I don’t think the mass of the car helps at all. I have seen several videos of people driving in the same version and same tires and they seem to be thrilled with handling, but I was not.
Best bet is to get the winter tires mounted on new wheels. I was rather surprised that you can get a four wheel set for around $1600 total, including the TPMS sensors. Tire Rack will mount and balance tires and ship them. This reduces risk of damage to the rims from mounting and removing, and if you can find a suitable jack, saves a twice yearly trip to a service center. And remember, you’re just buying the wheels, as you’ll need new tires less frequently.
Update: Winter tires are awesomely great and perform better even when it’s just cold. Here’s my post on the winter tires I got, and if you’re feeling motivated (or as in my case just cheap) how to do it all yourself.
Keep moisture off charge port and door handles
If water gets in the charge-port door, or door handles, it can freeze and cause problems. This probably won’t be an issue from normal rain, but if water gets splashed upward, or sprayed (notably from car washing) icing will be more likely. Use a dry cloth to keep these two areas free of water.
In an update over winter of 2018–2019 Tesla made adjustments to cabin heating to specifically aim heat towards the charge-port. I am not sure if this is just from cabin heating or something special, but have seen several reports that lowering the rear seat on the charge-port side of the car can help.
Links to good videos
Rich Rebuilds — Tesla Model S driver and a guy who knows his stuff
Model 3 Owner’s Club — How to prevent windows/doors from freezing
Tesla Canuck — In-car video of driving in the snow. Another one.
Mother Frunker — some good tips and explanation of stuff I mention above
Ariell Xavier Arevalo — a little long winded, but the tips are dead on
Do you have tips to add? Let me know!
