Can a Tesla Slow Charge on a FREEZING Canadian Winter Night?

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Today I'll be finding out if a level 1 slow charger can put out enough juice to charge up a Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - Highland Refresh, on a super cold night here in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Will it actually charge the car? Or will it just keep the battery warm? Find out!
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[@FrozenTesla]

How did you guys think the car would do in this situation? Have you done similar testing yourself? Let myself and the other views know! Considering a Tesla? Use my referral link to get $1000+ off! ts.la/mason474273

[@rompemord1]

We have charged our 2021 model 3 on the mobile charger in Norway. 240V, 8 amp. Works decent at temperatures around 0 to -3 in a open cold garage.

[@jonathanschneidersk]

I live about 5 minutes away from you, when I test drove a 2024 I also asked them for a travel charger just so I could test the charging outside on a cold day on a 15amp plug, I can confirm I gained about 2% over night when it was around -25C. Before buying the car I installed a Tesla wall connector outside on a 240v 60amp breaker, so I get 11kwh charge rates now, no problems at all in the coldest of weather. The wife’s car and my summer toy take the garage spots, so the Tesla lives on the driveway.

[@nurseitkalbaev]

Your extension cord most likely got overheated .

[@alxx26]

Im from Québec and worked out with the app you need at least 20A to charge at -30.. Little tip i found to is when its really cold instead of charging at 32A 7kw and get my charge done by ~ 4am ..i will charge slower (20A ~5kw) so my charge finish by 7h30 (time i leave for work) battery will still be warm by the charge that just finish and wont need so much time to have regen fully availlable

[@FrozenTesla]

Awesome idea to adjust the amperage to be done roughly when you leave! Super smart I might look into that

[@Camo.Enthusiast]

I swear every one of these videos I've watched within 30 mins of release entirely unintentionally. Great content as always!

[@FrozenTesla]

Appreciate it!! See you next Tuesday on an ultra cold camping in the M3 video!

[@klantic2]

Great information and details. I'm in Pennsylvania (USA), have a garage, and the 48A Tesla charger so it's nowhere near your conditions, but I'm super glad I bought and installed (professionally and in the garage) the Tesla charger.

[@FrozenTesla]

Thanks for the kindness and the Super Thanks! Never had one on the channel, that sure was a surprise :D appreciate you watching! With a 48a charger you're absolutely set for life. My 32A in non-heated garage MORE than keeps up in the cold here, but I wouldn't mind setting up a more elegant system than I currently have. Summer project!

[@gibsonrocker17]

The 9A vs 12A was definitely due to your extension cord and the resistance a smaller gauge can add. You'd want a minimum of a 12 gauge cord, but would be better off with a 10 gauge extension for full sustained output. Thankfully, the Tesla mobile chargers are smart and recognize the amperage loss and will derate when necessary to avoid a fire. I'm guessing your cord was either a 14 gauge or even a 16 gauge, which is pretty standard for most outdoor home extension cords. I bought a 10 gauge from Harbor Freight specifically for the scenarios in which I need to charge the car and need an extension cord. I do have an outdoor 12 gauge, but never even bothered with it, because I knew even that could cause some resistance. Might be worth it to pick up a 10 gauge from Harbor Freight or Canadian Tire in your part of the world and do another "scientific test." 🤣... Thanks for your videos, I've enjoyed this series. Although where I live, we don't get quite as cold as you, we still have nights that are below 0ºF and I have noticed significant increases in charging times on the nights that are less than 20ºF or so.

[@FrozenTesla]

I do plan to redo the test with a proper cord, making these videos is teaching me a lot about all of this :)

[@civwar64bob77]

Since I live in NY, I really appreciate that you show the temps in both C and F units, and also pop up the Wh/mile usage.

[@FrozenTesla]

Of course!! Love my American viewers too :)

[@derBerg]

A little addition: (german here) In Europe I think there is the slight advantage that we have 230V 16A (3860 W) for charging even with the Tesla plug in normal power outlets. It does not get as cold here (not nearly) but I would be interested what this would change. Great content! I hope you find content to do in the not so cold months because I like your style.

[@Bonjurro]

After some more digging I think the company was EvInsulate. It looks like they sell something to create a double pane roof still but I don’t see the original one I was looking at for the battery

[@FrozenTesla]

I'll do a lot of comparison to winter results, I should have content to make, just might be a little less frequent but we'll see! Thanks for the kind words :)

[@FrozenTesla]

Looking into EVInsulate! I think it'd be great for my climate lol

[@Xanthopteryx]

Three phase on a Tesla will give you a theoretical max of 11 kW. Worth remember that that also means that your main electricity circuit can handle it! Like here in Sweden, it is not uncommon with 3x400V/16A fuses as main fuse, and that should be shared with all the utilities needing power at home, including heating. If you have 20A then you of course have more to spare. That is why it is a really good idea to have a load balancer to your charger so you can use whatever is left on the main fuse - this means that when your dish washer start, it will lower the charge to the car, and when it ends it will raise it again.

[@markbartlett6287]

Your test confirms what I've observed with my Bolt. My miles/kWh is reduced while driving with a very cold battery, but the car otherwise performs as usual. The media scare stories about EVs being unusable in cold weather are majorly overblown.

[@TheLukasdesign]

I do live in Manitoba. I have only level 1 charge, In insulated garage, it's not ideal, but you can live with that.

[@FrozenTesla]

Doing a video very similar to your situation! Stay tuned

[@DblOSmith]

I was in an apartment and ran an industrial extension cord to my Tesla. L1 charging outside in 9 degree F.... I don't think I even broke even. Plus I couldn't run a vacuum cleaner at the same time I charged my car. So happy I have a graaaj, now. :)

[@FrozenTesla]

Graaj is essential in cold climates! Lol

[@Muonium1]

Gettin pretty low on the voltage there to the cahr, bahd! 😁 What's happening is that the long extension cord is introducing more resistance to the circuit and once the M3 sees voltage droop below about 108V or so on a 120V line it assumes something's maybe wrong with the plug (loose or bad connection) and will automatically cut the amps down to minimize the risk of heating and fire at the outlet. I always wondered if my M3LR would actually charge outside on 120V but never tested it out! Guess not! It means about 1kW of heat is being lost from the battery continuously when it's super cold out. Never had a problem charging on 120V in the garage even when extremely cold out. Adds about 100mi per 24 hours if I bump it up to 15 amps, but this is riskaayyyyyy and I'd never do it when it's hot in the summer. Wires surrounded by fiberglass in the walls will overheat VERY quickly with ambient temps in summer.

[@FrozenTesla]

Thanks for the insights! Very interesting stuff. I just filmed a test where I see how long I can go on level 1 but plugged directly to the outlet in the garage, always getting 12amps, stay tuned for that one!

[@Muonium1]

@FrozenTesla 👍 looking forward to seeing your upcoming 1 but plug video 🤭

[@FrozenTesla]

🤣

[@meandmyEV]

Your videos are very informative. I have learned so much like I never, ever want to visit Saskatoon in the winter. 😂

[@FrozenTesla]

HAHA I hope you learn more than just that!

[@Xanthopteryx]

Soo good to show the reality. People that say "It's so cheap to charge!" never count the REAL electricity used, from the meter in the house. They always go for what is used FROM the battery and perhaps, rarely, they tell what goes IN the battery, but not what is wasted for losses and heating and such.

[@FrozenTesla]

Yup! Level 1 has a ton of waste when outside is what I've learned, haha. Much less in a warmer climate though

[@Xanthopteryx]

​@@FrozenTeslaOther charge types will also have a waste. Either you have to heat the batteries or cool them down.

[@KevinT3141]

It's still really cheap to charge. Our monthly hydro bill doubled when we got our Tesla Model Y, basically increasing by about 1¼ tanks worth of gas in the Santa Fe XL it replaced. That Santa Fe would be using 8 to 10 tanks of gas a month though with the mileage my wife puts on the Y for work, so it's still a massive win. No measurement at the wall or battery required...

[@ElijahPerrin80]

Howdy neighborino, I am a few hours to the west of you. I have been enjoying these videos.

[@FrozenTesla]

Hi! Thanks! Now you know what to expect in an EV around here, haha

[@iscadean6038]

You didn’t mention that diesel becomes a gel at 15 degrees F (-10C) and is difficult to pump from the tank which means a diesel engined vehicle won’t start unless you pre-heat it with a small fire under the tank.

[@bigcybermnky]

I live in MN and ran into this issue last week. I have two level 2 chargers at home but we drove our 2023 Model Y to family in remote Wisconsin and only had access to Level 1 for the weekend. It was extremely cold the whole time and it never charged past 75%. On our drive home it was -18 and we made it to the closest supercharger at 1%. Next time I’ll probably drive our plug in hybrid RAV4 in below zero weather to Wisconsin.

[@FrozenTesla]

Whoa!! Yeah, when doing a trip like that, glancing at the weather forecast could make the difference. Thank goodness you at least had the level 1, enabled you to make it to the super

[@Mlondii-j6g]

I hope you keep reviewing more things like fsd in offroads. In a snowy weather and other tech you are interested in. Your reviews are the experiments are the things we think about but never get to try😂

[@FrozenTesla]

Yeah!! Noting that down, just going to test and experiment as many situations as I can come up with :D

[@FSDdriver]

the way you say garage makes me feel like im on lake of the woods

[@rameusunlimited1561]

Just under 650 miles away from Warman.

[@FrozenTesla]

Hahahahahaha

[@snubblaren]

I’m not sure if it’s possible to force the car to heat the battery while driving-perhaps setting a nearby Supercharger as your destination could help. It would be interesting to see if preheating the battery on your way home makes a difference. When you arrive, you could immediately plug in your Type 1 charger and check if it performs any better.

[@FrozenTesla]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm I like the idea! There is a way, with S3XY knob from Enhance auto! I just got that and installed it and it has an option to pre-condition battery without any navigation required! Very neat feature, all that gear by them is so cool. Noting down as a video idea!

[@christianjohansen5089]

I have a 2019 M3P with only lvl1 charging at home in Europe, 230volt at 13amps(around 3kw). It works fine as coldest temperatures where i live is around -8 degrees celsius for max a few days a year. My main reason for going electric was that both mine and my partners employer offers free lvl2 charging 230volt 16A 3phase (11kw)

[@FrozenTesla]

Wow!!! Free 11kw charging at work is incredible!! You never pay for fuel then lol. Love that.

[@rompemord1]

You doing this testing is very important for potential EV buyers! :) Spread sheet is awesome. And if you show relevant info from the spread sheet in your videos, like you did in this one, that would be awesome!

[@FrozenTesla]

I plan to keep adding to the spreadsheet! Glad it's helpful

[@scotduckrow8524]

The extremely long cords must lose energy in transmission.

[@rodzack]

Great information for us cold weather people. Treat yourself to a heater for that garage! Especially if it's already insulated... You will absolutely love it.

[@FrozenTesla]

Been seriously considering that! Seeing as it only gets to -10c at WORST, wouldn't be that crazy to heat. Would be so nice to keep it above freezing to melt ice/snow off the car

[@rodzack]

@@FrozenTesla yeah there's some pretty nice electric ones these days. Don't know your square footage but they may be enough for you. If you can even maintain 5°- 7° it would make a big difference.

[@FrozenTesla]

I don't overly want to spend a ton on electric ones, and 1500w would cost me around $6/day, so that's not worth it to me.. And I'm pretty unaware of cost of gas ones regarding install etc. Something to check into in the summer!

[@msirazer2702]

I'm in Sask with a 2025 Model 3. I haven't put in a level 2 yet (waiting for electrician). In my unheated garage, level 1 keeps up. When its -25c or below, it does take 30 minutes or so to heat the battery and will cycle heat thru-out the night. It works but IMO, if you park outside in a Saskatchewan winter - you definitely need a level 2 setup, which isn't a big deal. There is a Model Y around the corner from me with a hard connection level 2 and its kept outside. Good and accurate review once again! Thanks.

[@FrozenTesla]

Wow, so you get by with level 1 in the garage? Let me tell you... I just filmed an endurance level 1 test to be uploaded in 2 weeks, and (spoiler) for my lifestyle/how much I drive I need level 2 (or supercharge) stay tuned!

[@msirazer2702]

@@FrozenTesla Mine adds 8-9km/hr, according to the app. So living in a smaller city will help. I probably put 40-60kms a day on it, so even with battery warming while charging, it will add more kms than I lose. But -25c is the point where I start noticing it gets close to the break even point. (I would guess my garage is 10 degrees warmer than outside.) When we go out of town with it, I take it to a Flo fast charger here to catch up - (no Tesla superchargers here.) I can't wait to see how efficient these things are in the summer. We got ours home right when winter cold temps kicked in so its only known the cold. Keep up the great vids!

[@dennislyon5412]

@@msirazer2702- way different once it gets warm out. You’ll love the efficiency change.

[@FrozenTesla]

Both of us can't wait to see the summer efficiency!! My average since I bought the car is 235wh/km 😵

[@dennislyon5412]

@@FrozenTesla - 160 wh/km or perhaps even better on the warmer days. That’s when you want to take a long distance trip.

[@Mr101BAM]

Great to hear about the Prairie Tesla’s in the winter. And the FSD performance on the winter roads in town was a surprise. Nice to see how a non-optimal Level 1 set-up did.

[@FrozenTesla]

Thanks!! More level 1 testing coming soon! Parked in garage, better results than this haha

[@nevermab]

If I understand this correctly, the outside plugged in to 120 test was about what I had expected it would be, but to say it performed better than the garage test is leaving the "lost" or battery heated power out of the number is the telling part. It used over 14kw to keep the battery warm and when in the garage it didn't use any. Or did I miss something? Either way I totally agree, you need 240v home charging in cold climates and a garage / insulated garage is even better.

[@FrozenTesla]

You're totally correct, I just had a different perspective and was only factoring in the % used on the drive and not factoring in the costs at all. So cost wise, much less efficient than in garage!

[@rn160751]

The extension cord crushed it - still only a level 1, but really even less.

[@davidbuchan3753]

-40 in Lethbridge AB - plugging in kept it from draining… But it’s rarely ‘filling’ the battery

[@FrozenTesla]

Sounds about right. Still worth something haha

[@ProXcaliber]

@@FrozenTesla I'm just curious. Even in those temperatures where the car can barely charge on a level 1, wouldn't that at least offset some of your future charging requirements? I mean, it is keeping the battery warm at least, which means that your car won't have to spend as much energy to warm up the battery. Which then means, you can likely save at least some money when you do have to charge again. I'm suspecting that maybe the difference you saw between your -30 and this video is that difference in keeping the battery warm while at home.

[@FrozenTesla]

Definitely plays a part I'd say. Keeping the battery at around 10c is way better than letting it cold soak, and will make future charges a lot easier on the battery

[@SteveM1966]

I’d love to see a road trip to Edmonton! You’re making me want to take a road trip to Canada now! 😂 Thanks as always!

[@FrozenTesla]

I think I have to do one! On a cold day as well. Would be great content I feel! Also, how am I selling you on Canada with how cold everything is that I'm showing!?

[@SteveM1966]

@@FrozenTesla Excellent! Can’t wait to watch! Well, #1, have you seen any US news? And #2, I have cousins in Canada, and #3, might be time to try to claim my Canadian citizenship, since my biological father was Canadian 😉! Look forward to your next video!

[@SteveM1966]

@@FrozenTesla oh, and Nebraska winters can be much like yours. So nothing new, just longer, and colder.

[@FrozenTesla]

Ahhhh 3 great points. And as long as your cousins aren't in SK or Manitoba it'll be pretty decent in the winters 🤣

[@SteveM1966]

@@FrozenTesla Calgary area 😁

[@joels4664]

Interesting content even though I don’t have a Tesla still cool to see the metrics

[@vincentroux842]

Glad to have found your channel. I live in Montreal so quite cold especially this year, many days in the -10 C and-15. And I must say the cold is affecting the range pretty badly, I’d say I lose 50% on the very cold days. And I rely on public level 2 charging which is thankfully across the street from my condo. No complaints with this arrangement, Montreal has done a pretty decent job with public charging. I have also the new model 3 but it’s the standard range rear wheel drive. The car sleeps in a heated garage and I use the car for personal trips, about 8k kms per year. Electricity is really cheap here even with public charging, $1 per hour so about $7 to ‘fill’ her up. One strange thing is the Tesla fully charges faster if it’s cold. A few times, I plug it in and the app says it will be fully charged in let’s say 6 hours but then within 5 hours I get a notification saying the Tesla is fully charged… at -15. What?!

[@FrozenTesla]

I find that the estimated charge time is always longer than reality too! And yeah, 50% loss from EPA seems standard when it's super cold. I'm surprised you see that though, -10 to -15 is pretty mild to me 🤣

[@leeshenparaiso7390]

Loved watching your videos! Watching from Saskatoon!😄

[@FrozenTesla]

Awesome! Good context for the cold I get in the vids 😁

[@Cybernatural]

You want a lower gage extension cable. Something rated to be used for construction. Not a thin home cord.

[@StrongEnergy-EVCharging]

Canada Winters 🇨🇦 🙌

[@redplayzgamzalt2460]

I bought my Model Y in May of last year and only have used a level 1 mobile charger since. It got to -13F degrees here and what I learned this winter season is to take a 5min 1% hit to have Max Defrost turned on to heat the battery quickly so it doesn't spend a ton of time doing it from the slow charger. I've been able to gain 15 to 20% in 14hrs between work days doing that

[@FrozenTesla]

Nice! Yea the problem with the slow charger is if you do stuff in the evening, you're using the car draining more % and also only getting 8-10hrs to charge instead of 14... Very quickly you'd run out and have to supercharge!

[@floodtheinbox]

I recently did a trip from St. Louis MO to Daytona Beach FL, during the unseasonably cold spell at the end of January. It was actually the last significant snow lower Georgia and panhandle of Florida had in the last few decades. Just over 1000mi and average temp was about 0°C. In a prefacelift M3 Performance on 3-peak M+S rated all season tires, my average Wh/mi was 380 for that leg of the trip.

[@FrozenTesla]

Added a bit of time on the trip, but still made it hey! Sounds like a cool road trip

[@Sylphin]

My after market level 1 charger pulls 14.2amps and it’s on a thick, heavy duty one-port (can only plug one thing into it on the female end) extension cord. That’s a big difference from the 9-12amps you were probably getting!

[@FrozenTesla]

Probably enough difference to make it usable on an average day, I'd love to try that on a super cold day

[@8ballphilc]

I have done this all this past winter with my '23 M3P, except I have a level 2 Tesla wall charger. Has worked great including a few nights that went down to -39C (-39.4F). Should have my garage doors installed soon so I can take it into my heated garage overnight, but if you have a level 2 charger a garage is definitely not required. I am north of you in PA, Sask.

[@FrozenTesla]

Oh yeah, level 2 will handle any cold, the difference is night and day. Yup PA gets all the cold too! Cool to hear your experience

[@interpol007]

I can’t wait for you to test parking in the garage with a level 1 charger. That’s what I’d be doing for the most part if I was to get a Tesla

[@FrozenTesla]

2 weeks!! Doing a "How long can I make it on level 1 in a cold week" type of test. Pretty cool result

[@thegzak]

Fwiw I lived off of nothing but supercharging for years, and the battery was totally fine. So, if you have access to a SC, not all hope is lost!

[@meandmyEV]

I have a Bolt and I've been charging occasionally at SuperChargers when I am on a road trip or just can't get through a day of running errands without fast charging. While using those superchargers, I am guessing that a lot of the Tesla drivers I see are doing a weekly "fill up" because they don't have home charging. Most of them do not give off road trip vibes. They don't run in to the store to use the bathroom or have their cars full of luggage etc. I have always wanted an electric car so I think I'd probably own one even if I couldn't charge at home.

[@FrozenTesla]

Yes easy access to supercharger would be great! Just cost a lot more time in the cold here

[@kerbyzimmerman5662]

Glad you are doing real world tests rather than the rosy ones I typically see. I think you came to the same conclusion I did - if you have a garage, and if you have a level 2 charger, then its plausible to run an electric in the winter. If not - don't. If you really want to see bad numbers, do one where you do not plug it in and leave outside in -20C or lower - if this was your daily routine and you could only use pay for use charging, would be a terrible experience for a whole winter - I'm thinking of people who live in an apartment. Per your long distance road trip, curious what you get. I did 5800 km from Calgary to LV/LA over xmas, ran into some -15 to -18C. Note the total trip exclusively on Superchargers - $813. My worst was from Great Falls to Milk River - 213km which took from 98% to 10% battery (model Y LR - was just the next leg of the trip so batteries were warm). I would NOT recommend taking a road trip of any real length in anything colder than -20 given the distances between Superchargers in the north.

[@FrozenTesla]

I did a -36c overnight outside unplugged test in my last vid, check that out! Shocking results lol. As for that road trip, wow, that sounds pricey.

[@aw7425]

Super recap, thanks from CO

[@simonthebroken9691]

Thank you

[@FrozenTesla]

Thanks for watching!

[@donavenwilkie-tr2zt]

Do a road trip in summer and show how the charging infrastructure is up here

[@FrozenTesla]

Will do!! I would love to do winter road trip too

[@JDawg411411]

I've run into this issue before with my Tesla running off an extension cord. You need a 10gauge cord and then the issue goes away,

[@FrozenTesla]

Yeah, lesson learned, was trying to be very basic and do what an average person might do. Will get a better cord or plug direct to outlet if possible for a v2 test!

[@dogscats6489]

Thanks , great review. We are just south of Calgary and have a M3 standard range. My wife commutes 200km to work and back. Garaged overnight, full charge 425km ( level 2) in the morning yesterday temp was -32 (feels like). Garaged at work heated underground for 8 hrs. She arrived home with 80 km left in the battery.

[@FrozenTesla]

Nice!! 200km on a standard in that cold is quite a good result, with enough to spare. As long as you don't rely on the car in the evening you're set!

[@dennislyon5412]

@@FrozenTesla- or not able to get to the underground at work!

[@dogscats6489]

@dennislyon5412 There is always an option to supercharge in Calgary before heading home. Good point though.

[@jebes909090]

So it loses 51% of its range in the cold? That kinda sucks

[@dogscats6489]

@jebes909090 at -30 that's ok with us, it gets wife to work and home again. The few days a year that we have -30, it's well worth the cost savings.

[@Defianthuman]

One thing to add is what about 16amp level 1? Some people may have access to that, and that extra 480watts could make a difference especially when heating.

[@FrozenTesla]

Great call, I plan to check into that this summer to see if I have access to upgrade to that. Would make for great testing, likely way more efficient

[@Mladjasmilic]

Tesla mobile connector adapters only set current limit (Amps) and do not care about tension (voltage). So, you can use 1.5mm² (better 2.5mm²) extension cable in North America and use a custom adapter to plug it in 240V outlet. Just make sure it passes thought only live and ground, no neutral. 12A at 240V is about 3kW.

[@richardC101]

I love your channel, and I've watched almost all your videos so far, but I'm still wondering how you'll call your channel during the summer. SummerTesla, HeatedTesla, HotTesla 😅

[@FrozenTesla]

Oh boy we'll figure that out when we get there! I'm sure I'll leave the name and channel brand alone, I'll be making a lot of comparison to my winter results videos! Also I really appreciate the kind words!

[@richardC101]

@@FrozenTesla Yes, of course, I'm here to see how it goes :)

[@Must_Hunt]

Test it with short trips, like 3 miles, let sit few hours, again 2 miles to mall(15 min), and back home some miles, preheat ofcourse, or keep it on short times, thats my daily routine.

[@FrozenTesla]

Good idea I'd like to test in that way!

[@Snerdles]

The drone quote thing is neat, but I much prefer the AAA car cost estimator. It includes things like insurance, depreciation, and maintenance and then spits out a cost per mile to show an average estimate per vehicle and state which seems like a much better comparison than just gas. Especially in the case of the civic vs model 3, since depreciation destroys the M3 it ends up costing over 70 cents per mile where a civic is more like high 50's.

[@FrozenTesla]

Interesting stuff! I'm going to keep track of costs and do long-term breakdowns on what it compares to my 2010 civic

[@Bonjurro]

There was a company that sold battery insulation for Tesla that I think was just foam panels you attach underneath the car to help retain heat. I was searching for it but can’t find it anymore. If there is another company doing something like that maybe you could make a video with them. If you are handy maybe you could make your own lol

[@FrozenTesla]

I think I saw you found it in another comment! EvInsulate!

[@Time782]

I'm driving from Toronto to Calgary in March. I'm now a bit worried about parking overnight at my hotel in Regina.

[@FrozenTesla]

Regina has superchargers! Charge it right up before you go to the hotel and you'll begin the day with a full battery, and then EASILY make it 115km or so to the Davidson superchargers. No worries for you!! Especially in March, it'll be warmer, I'd have 0 worries

[@paulinquebec]

@@FrozenTesla Just curious... Cause i used to live in Calgary as a kid. Why would you go to Davidson and not to Moosejaw or Swift Current chargers if going to Calgary from Regina?

[@keehandowd]

I'm an EV owner in Edmonton and have done several trips to Winnipeg all EV. There are plenty of chargers along the route, but you need to plan it out in advance especially where chargers thin out a bit (identifying alternate chargers in a charging emergency for example). Taking hwy 1 gets really thin in parts west of Moose Jaw (really, I guess you could say anywhere west of Winnipeg). Hwy 16 has better options, but will of course add time to the trip. I've changed my hotel habits now to look for hotels with L2 chargers as well and try to always wake up to a full battery where possible.

[@Time782]

Thanks for the advice. I'm following the advice of Dr. Dahn and try to never charge above 75% and go below 30%. Running over 300 Wh/km might force me to charge high and run it down low. My hotel is very close to supercharger in Regina. My biggest concern is the stretch between Fargo and Winnipeg.

[@FrozenTesla]

If you're allowing for 300wh/km you're heavily over compensating and will be more than fine! Even on the worst days ever I do better than that, and that's with letting my battery cold soak midday at work

[@teardowndan5364]

If you don't have a sheltered space, 1.4kW in the cold is barely enough to prevent the battery from freezing so you won't have to pre-condition the battery as much before reaching a fast-charger. If you want to actually charge, you need something beefier.

[@FrozenTesla]

Yup agreed especially in this cold

[@eb1888.]

Length of cord impacts loss. For longer lengths you need a lower gauge. You could use a 10g cord for 100ft. of length. Yours appeared a common 14g. You can also charge 16A on a 20A outlet if you use an industrial grade receptacle. The standard receptacle is only rated for intermittent use. For your parked location the shortest possible cord may have allowed 14g to work. 12A on a 15A circuit was correct because your in wall wiring is then likely 14g, not 12g. There are level 1 chargers that output 16A. One of those is what a person charging outside away from a house would choose.

[@eb1888.]

You mentioned having an existing possibly 240 outlet. That should be upgraded to an industrial level continuous use grade. Hubbell or Bryant are two. They use a clamp for the wire to receptacle connection instead of a screw down. 75 inch pounds of torque. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZnbXmBnqZWNaq8

[@FrozenTesla]

Thank you for all the details! Appreciate that. Learning lots from this channel!

[@ronkemperful]

Yes, a great revealing test of Level One. I have heard that Level One charging below 0 degrees is abysmal with most of the energy used just to keep the battery warm. Concerning extension cords, your Tesla will auto sense if it is getting a substandard voltage, and it will automatically default to a lower charging rate to prevent a fire. I would probably use the lowest gauge you can afford for an extension cord, like a 12 gauge, 20 amp rated extension cord. The higher the gauge, the smaller the wire and the more heat and energy that is wasted. If I get a Tesla (Musk may deter me!) I will unfortunately have to use Level One, using a 20 amp circuit in my garage (I have a minimal 125 amp main service) and I would get the 20 amp plug adapter for the Mobile charger - that will allow the Tesla to charge at a 16 amp rate. My garage only gets down to about 0 degrees Celsius even when it's much colder outside.

[@kokal_121]

Just a small correction on the 114 km/h (kph), for Nort America probably this is the max speed limit, but for Europe in most countries is 130km/h and for Bulgaria is 140. You can check the Supercharged BG chanel www.youtube.com/@superchargedBG, If you are interested in tests with this kind of speeds. He makes tests of cars with 140 km/h here in Bulgaria and he have a subtitles in the videos because he talks in Bulgarian.

[@FrozenTesla]

Wow, I wish we had speed limits like that! We have loooong stretches of highways (500km) with basically no turns, and limits never go above 110. I'm gonna check that out

[@TechCOG]

Would love to see the 500km road trip to Edmonton and the level 1 charge in the garage

[@FrozenTesla]

Doing both! Level 1 charge in garage endurance test coming soon :)

[@shou635]

I wouldn’t own an EV if I didn’t have a level 2 charger at home.

[@FrozenTesla]

Personally, same after what I've been learning from tests. Stay tuned for the level 1 garage test

[@vincentrobinette1507]

I agree, that it's probably not worth getting an EV, unless you can charge at home. If you have to rely entirely on public DC fast charging, it will likely cost more per mile (kilometer) to charge an EV, than to put fuel in a good hybrid. A pure hybrid is more fuel efficient, than a "plug-in" hybrid. The cost per mile of DC fast charging will probably still be slightly better, than a pure combustion car.

[@Jaw0lf]

In the UK we have 240v but still a 3 pin UK plug gives around a 2.5 kWh charge. I would definately want a home charger for 7.4kWh if I had your super low temperatures. Your extension lead also looked as if it was not one of the heavy duty ones. I had an issue using some power tools on an extension, bought a heavy duty and all worked, so EV charging will fdefinately need the heavy duty one. It would be interesting to see if that helps on a repeated overnight test at similar temps. A very interesting video, thanks.

[@FrozenTesla]

Yup I'm gathering that I really should have invested in a better cord for this test, I plan to do so in an upcoming video!

[@pauld6967]

If you were to try this again and the cord is long enough, keep the extension cord inside the garage and only the Tesla EVSE unit outside the garage. That might prevent the 12 amps to 9 amps drop since the extension cord will be warm. Sure it's not a true outdoor test but then this one wasn't either. Only by pluggjng into an outlet on the exterior of the house or garage would qualify since the entire length of the power cord(s) are outside.

[@FrozenTesla]

Going to upgrade my equipment and try this test again soon!

[@mike168168]

That extension cord looks way too skinny for the charger. Get a heavy duty 10 gauge to eliminate the voltage drop / overheating problem.

[@FrozenTesla]

Gonna try that!

[@chrisbryden8102]

We haven’t exactly had a shortage of cold weather for testing!

[@FrozenTesla]

Sask always delivers on the cold weather for content LOL

[@bobchamp3159]

Be nice to see the same test with only level 3 charging at the end of your day😅

[@FrozenTesla]

I think I'd like to do it too, ice cold battery might take ages to charge

[@Mladjasmilic]

You threw all the extension cord on 1 spot. This is fine in the cold, but ideally you want your cable not touching itself when fully loaded. You should lay it down in zig-zag pattern. Main source of fire is not the battery, but overheated cables.

[@FrozenTesla]

Hmmmm interesting I'm looking into that

[@milesj6064]

This is another awesome video, cool to see the difference to level 1 to level 2. With your extension cord, to have less loss in the cord, if you had a 16 gauge or 14 gauge extension cord would not loose as much energy as a 18 gauge cord. I was curious now that you have been using FSD for a bit, does it slow down on the rough streets, or does it try to do the speed limit even on rutted roads or slippery intersections? Can you adjust the speed it maintains below the speed limit if say the roads are bad enough to not be driving full speed on the ruts. I love the testing you are doing. I am really amazed by that heat pump in this cold weather. You are really giving me more confidence in the Tesla since you and I live in the same place, so gives me good data to decide for my next vehicle.

[@FrozenTesla]

Oh it definitely goes slower on rough streets, it's quite smart, it doesn't try to ride the limit unless it is good visibility and smooth. It's quite intelligent with that stuff, almost too conservative at times still but I guess that's good lol

[@MadawaskaObservatory]

there is a guy in montreal that left his emini cooper for 10 days at -15c. the car was at 65% in the beginning at the end of 10 days it dropped to 35%. so he lost almost 50% capacity in those 10 days.

[@mystrael9879]

the double extension was really not helping this test

[@FrozenTesla]

Nope but it's a realistic requirement for some! I might try a similar test with no extension

[@1sheinz]

When the weather is that cold even a ICE Vehicle would have the block heater plugged in. They are 600-1500 watts. That will help the ice vehicle get better fuel mileage forva half hr after startup, but still will be 50% less than driving at 20c. CHEERS

[@dmunro9076]

That extension is not up to the task! I guess you can't plug the charger directly into the outlet? I would try to upgrade the outlet to a NEMA 5-20 (16a/120v Continuous).

[@FrozenTesla]

Upgrading to 16a would be such a good idea - a happy compromise for a lot of people. Writing that one down!!

[@DivineDart]

I wonder how it would do with a 20amp plug.

[@FrozenTesla]

I think a LOT better. Don't know if I could do 20a though. Might be able to upgrade mine to 16a. And I'm about to setup a wall charger, I know I can customize and limit the amperage so I could try that too!

[@DivineDart]

@@FrozenTesla I know a lot of garages might not have 220v circuits but a lot have the 20amp circuits in north america. I figure it could handle the heating and a slow charge which would make all the difference in such cold weather. I enjoy this content! I'm in the northeast and interested in EV's so getting as much knowledge about how they charge and the behaviors before getting one is very helpful

[@FrozenTesla]

Hmmmmmmm I think a summer project I'll take on is figuring out what I all have for plugs and maybe figuring out a 16a solution for next winter testing! I'll continue to put out good winter testing as long as people watch 🫡

[@user--PM]

Lvl 1 is rough trying to keep the battery warm and putting in a charge. Also, ideally a 12 awg extension cord would be used for ev charging, but at least a 14 awg one should be used, using a 16 or 18 awg wire risks overheating.

[@FrozenTesla]

Agree, I just used a decent one that I had. Might try to re-make this with a good cable one day soon, or no cable at all

[@cryptovegy8256]

Helpful video, thanks! One day will do until I learn all specs to go EV😂 dream, GD!

[@charlesb4267]

So if I understand correctly, the day prior to this test you had driven the vehicle which would have self warmed the battery while it was driven and then you plugged it into a 120 volt outlet overnight. Yet even with the battery having been warmed prior to the overnight plugging in on the level 1 outlet, the battery barely gained any percentage of charge. If that is correct and the full power was being drawn from the 120 volt outlet, that means power went in ( that you paid for ) but with little to show for it come morning. An example with an ICE vehicle would be to pull up to a fuel pump but then spill most of the gas you were pumping/paying for on the ground and only a small portion ended up in the fuel tank ?. It would seem that electric vehicle batteries efficiency or wasted electricity becomes a huge factor in a cold climate when one does not have a warmer spot to park the vehicle when its not in use and being charged. Also I have a question in regards to these batteries holding their charge, can they sit idle for weeks or months at a time in cold weather with an initial charge and hold that charge for an extended period of non use ? By the way not far from where I am in Alberta was the coldest recorded spot this morning in all of Canada at - 43.7 ... just a lovely balmy morning in Canada !

[@FrozenTesla]

When it's this cold, the car spends 80% of the time making sure the battery is warm enough to accept a charge, then charges for a few minutes and immediately has to warm it back up again with how fast it cools off in this weather! Level 1 charging is NOT cost effective without a heated garage. Also, lol, -43.7 is just hilarious. Would make an interesting video though!!

[@diesela3]

Having the extension cord coiled up may have hurt performance.

[@FrozenTesla]

It did, I need a higher quality one too. Lesson learned for a v2 test!

[@EVMANVSGAS]

Do the same test with a level 2 charger at 40A or 48A and see the difference. See if it is a lot more efficient charging since it can warm the battery a lot faster and should use a lot more of the energy charging the battery instead of heating the battery. Also, if you set your car to do it's charging later in the night so it is almost finished charging when it's time for you to leave for work, the battery will be much warmer than if you charge early in the evening then let the car sit all night without charging. You will be more efficient with full charging just ending or still going when you unplug in the morning and leave. Should have full regen to begin with.

[@FrozenTesla]

Great ideas and noting down! Yeah my 32a charger would easily keep up in the cold, I have a lot of confidence in saying that

[@ryankassel5691]

Cool video!

[@FrozenTesla]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bobcarpenter1551]

I'm looking at your video at 3:28, and the screenshot is lowering the power to 9/12A as well, as it's only 112V. You're likely using a medium (poor) grade extension cord. Use a better gauge cord and preferably as short as possible for your outdoor experiments. Or worse, your plug or wiring needs fixing. I usually get 126V at 12A, giving me about 1512W, You're only getting about 1008W. 1/3 less or 50% more, depending on which way you choose to look at it. a 240V circuit will be a big upgrade for you if you can get one.

[@FrozenTesla]

I agree, cable was a bottleneck at some point. I want re-do it with a good cable, or none at all if I can make it reach

[@heliacalevt89]

240v would reduce the heat over 120v as it’s more efficient. 😉

[@whatsay8406]

Yeah, level 1 charging is inefficient to start with. Adding an extension cord makes it worse. My level one is only 60% efficient on average in a warm garage. Out of 1kw input the car only gets 600-700 watts.

[@FrozenTesla]

60% sure beats 7% lol. Testing this very soon while parked in garage and using level 1, stay tuned for that!

[@whatsay8406]

@ No doubt. Keep up the good work.

[@user-cu2xi6mz7y]

can you try again at 230V charging outside

[@FrozenTesla]

I sure can

[@user-cu2xi6mz7y]

@FrozenTesla It will help people with no garage decide with proof, because see the energy is consumed to heat up the garage and then the car sits in the heated garage, so keeping that in mind you can experiment for comparison for a future video whether to heat up the garage (or people with no garages) and then put the car in it vs it staying outside plugged in and then see how much % range is lost in preheating which would consume overall less power heating the garage and keeping it in or plugged in charge limited outside Thanks in advance

[@Jackson-p7u]

Do the same test with a level 2 charger

[@FrozenTesla]

I'll try - good idea

[@Random-k8i1l]

Did you do a comparison between preheating the Tesla vs not preheating (both plugged in and not plugged?) I’m curious to know if the extra wattage the car pulls to heat the battery is cheaper than just driving without preheating. Because either way I plug it back in when I’m home.

[@FrozenTesla]

I like this idea a lot! Noting it down as one to do before winter ends. Stay tuned!

[@Random-k8i1l]

@ yeah exactly! And then you can run the test again in the hotter months to compare

[@voldar70]

I did the test and without preheating the battery vs preheating the battery is day and night. We are talking about 30%+ efficiency loss when cold battery.

[@FrozenTesla]

Wow!! That's massive! I definitely need to film a test of that

[@FrozenTesla]

Keep the good ideas for summer coming!

[@michaelcharach]

One thing you are not considering here is that it isn't free to heat your garage.

[@FrozenTesla]

Mine isn't heated, just insulated. Somewhat looking into heated though!

[@cathol1c778]

TLDW… yes. It can. Inconvenient? Yes. But they can.

[@beri232]

Lmao…. This is EXACTLY what I wanted to know! These cars are pointless to own in frigid temps. Most people have 120 Volt outlets outside.

[@bytemark6508]

In Europe? There is generally no "Level 1" charging in Europe because the standard household electricity voltage is 230 volts (actually 220, but rating up to 230). In fact Tesla can charge at 30kW in Europe (tri phase). I personally own a M3 and MY in Canada and the max charge is 8 kw. No wonder EVs are more popular in Europe.

[@FrozenTesla]

Yep my regular 32A charger is 7-8kw. Crazy how fast people can get home chargers in EU. However 7-8kw is more than enough anyway for day to day use, assuming you sleep at night lol

[@jkoonce4244]

gas is 2.35 here in the great state of texas in the greatest country in the world

[@therealagamer5329]

Intrresting results. Would love to do same test here in Finland, but the winter has been extremely warm and I don't recall any -30 C days from this winter. I have owned 2019 Model 3 for almost a year now and I have done all of my charging with level 1 charger. Our mains voltage should be 230V, but the car always reports 234-237V, but I think it is just normal variance. My maximum charging power is ~230V * 11 A = ~2.5kW, but I think the fuse could do 12A especially, if it is -30C outside, so then it would be ~2.8kW.

[@FrozenTesla]

Wow! That's a cast level one! Here a level 1 is 1.1kW.... Barely enough to heat the battery. The exyta to get up to 2.5kW would probably be enough to get the job done! And obviously it's enough for you

[@BlueAlgon]

Thanks for the info. Alternately, when parked outside, preheat your battery with a little fire beneath the car 🤡

[@FrozenTesla]

Wrong channel to test that out :P

[@tamasstrezi]

Looks like a non liveable setup. II wish you could try this with an 11kW home charger installed!

[@FrozenTesla]

Will be testing with plenty of different setups!

[@3vlogs487]

Even with my good extension cord my car decides to drop the current sometimes.

[@FrozenTesla]

Maybe it's your plug?

[@3vlogs487]

@ it’s far from my breaker panel, it’s quite likely. I need to get a better setup for how much I drive, I have 17k miles in 7 months on a model y.

[@FrozenTesla]

WOW that's a ton of miles!!

[@3vlogs487]

@@FrozenTesla We have even managed to have 62% of the charging at home and 10% at free level 2 chargers.

[@FrozenTesla]

Gotta love free charging! I get that at work too, on level 1, enough to keep my battery warm lol and gain a couple % even on really cold days!

[@A2ZofEVs]

Like your content dude but what's a 'graaj'! :)

[@FrozenTesla]

Hahahaha

[@davidbuchan3753]

Hybrid… worst of both worlds…!

[@samp6162]

Yup. Many think it's the best of both worlds 🤣

[@OperatorGhosty]

The way you say garage

[@FrozenTesla]

Lol I'm learning I have a Saskatoon accent in how I say that, never thought about that before!

[@ivorholtskog5506]

Why does it look like a right hand drive?

[@FrozenTesla]

Filmed before I fixed the "Selfie mode mirror" recording.. Future content will all be unflipped and correct!

[@dweeder1453]

Wow I tested the same in -15degC and my efficiency was 40% I used 8 kWh and my battery received 3.5 kWh

[@FrozenTesla]

That might just line up, that's quite a bit warmer! I should redo the test in various temps

[@mitchellapps9865]

Australia has 240v power plugs as standard, how does that work for us, compared to the US/Canada where its 120v. Does that mean we all have level 2 charging as standard???. I have a 5 pin plug at my house could i use that?

[@gregnikoloff5488]

240 volt doubles the energy delivery over the example here so yes you're twice as fast as 110 volt folks charging is apples to apples. However you do need good wiring to your wall socket and any extension cords to maximise this. By design Tesla draws a max of 8 amps from a regular 10amp socket at 240 volt. To avoid over-stressing your wiring or extension cords. So 8 amps x 240 volts is about 2KW charging which is basically level 1 still. To go above that a "5 pin" (high current 3 phase or single phase) socket as you suggest is good. (but even a regular 15amp 240 volt wall socket or a 16amp "caravan" socket - sometimes called a "blue commander" socket) - will get you a 50% improvement to close to 3KW of charging. You can still go higher than that but you need the right charger and setup - a tesla or many other fixed (to the) wall chargers can do 32 Amp which is about 7. 2 KW of charging. But in a pinch a 10 amp socket works fine at 240 volts - I'm using one here to charge my model 3 (performance) at my beach house at 240 volts - it took 17 hours to charge from 30% to 80% overnight. But it's summer down under right now so that's better than usual - in winter performance even down under will be reduced but not where as badly as happened here. Regardless of climate or voltage or whether using level 1, 2 or even superchargers - a good rule of thumb to follow is *always* charge your Tesla back up to 25% charge level as soon as you can/or once end your trip. As that ensures any charging you do later once the battery cools (which you might do if using delayed charging start to use cheaper off peak power rates overnight for the rest of the charging over 25%) A cold battery takes ages and ages to warm up again and continue charging. Of course any EV left parked overnight/cold soaking the battery will warm the battery up as its being driven. So cold battery is really an issue for charging more than driving. But usable amount of charge (and regen) available from any battery is reduced when battery is still cold. But normally that does goes away once you start driving. The long and short is don't fret about it in Australia. It all works well on 240 volt even from regular wall plugs. But you can make it charge pretty fast if you invest in better chargers and better wiring setup.

[@FrozenTesla]

You'd definitely get some killer speeds, but also need to know the Amps from those plugs

[@mitchellapps9865]

@FrozenTesla Standard home plug is 10A and the 5 pin is 32A from what I could figure out.

[@FrozenTesla]

32A is what my garage level 2 gets, 7kw charge rate which is MORE than enough for me in the cold, would be all you'd ever need in Aus

[@mitchellapps9865]

@ Yeah its alot warmer here - High 40s C in the summer and down to -10C ish in the winter

[@Agrafono]

3:35 strange noises!😂

[@heliacalevt89]

Tesla says dont use an extension cord.

[@ProXcaliber]

You can use an extension cord as long as it is properly rated for the load you intend to put on it. Tesla saying not to use one, is more of a safety thing, as most people will just pick up any random extension cord, and it could cause potential issues. So it's basically them covering themselves from liability.

[@heliacalevt89]

You can. But Tesla and the owners manual says not too.

[@ProXcaliber]

@@heliacalevt89 I personally use an extension cord for mine, and it just so happens that I charge at 240v with 24 amps. The cable doesn’t even get warm to the touch. But I use a very thick gauge cable that is often used for camping in an RV. No issues so far in the last year of using it.