Its cold! How to get the best range from your Tesla? Precondition the battery and slow down!

[@ashc9437]

I was watching my model 3 this week defrosting, from my warm lounge window as my missus was outside scraping her VW T Roc, her face looked slightly grumpy 😂

[@moragkerr9577]

My MG4 isn't as clever as a Tesla, but on Thursday evening I set the car to heat the battery just at the end of the cheap-rate electricity, as well as charging to 100%. Then while I was having breakfast next morning I turned on battery heating again manually and it did another 15-20 minutes before it told me it was back up to temperature. I let the car recover the charge it had used (it takes it from the battery) then asked it to pre-heat the cabin. I saw it go from -1C to +16C in ten minutes. I let the car recover to 100% charge. (Maybe there's an easier way to do this, I don't know, but it was simple to tap the phone while I had breakfast.) I walked out to a toasty-warm ready car, put the luggage in and was off, without even putting a jacket on. I didn't get chilled at all, so I was able to drive the whole way just in a pullover, even though I was looking at an outside temperature reading of -2.5C. My car doesn't even have a heat pump, but the amount of charge I used all day was only a few minutes extra at each of my charging stops. If that. I mean, who could possibly prefer going out to an ICE-box of a car, scrape the windows (unless it's been in the garage), get into the ICE-box and drive for 10 miles before the heat starts to come through, by which time you're thoroughly chilled? Been there, done that, and yes my petrol car had heated seats, they're not a patch on instant heat that fills the car the minute you get into it, or (usually) even before you got into it.

[@DanielHarrisCodes]

@@moragkerr9577to be fair my Jag had a pre heat feature, but it’s better on my Model 3 for sure. Jag had to run the engine but also wouldn’t turn on the heated seats until they were sat in

[@moragkerr9577]

@@DanielHarrisCodes I'm not sure about the legalities of these ICE pre-heat features nowadays, when they have to run the engine. Also, the implications if the car was remote-started while inside a garage could be quite scary. If you did garage your car you'd have to go and move it outside, which kind of defeats the purpose.

[@DanielHarrisCodes]

@@moragkerr9577 Yeah those are the downsides, in theory you aren't supposed to pre-heat on a public road in the UK, but people do. Mercedes have had remote start features as an option for about 10-15 years but it was obviously more rare back then - My Tesla pre-heats in minutes, can't beat it

[@Lawrence7of9]

Not often discussed Tesla feature is when you turn off suggested charging stops & car suggests if you stay below eg 65mph (as did with me recently) you will reach destination without needing to stop to charge. Works brilliantly, even a 5minute top up charge is best part of 15minutes (like detouring to petrol pump) once navigated off route. It was faster/easier for me to slow to 65mph than push 70mph & need a charge. Brilliant!

[@justgetatesla]

Watch part 2 next week. I turn a -7% prediction to a +5% reality…

[@calvinwalker4654]

Wait, are you talking about turning off charging stops in navigation? How would that work for a longer trip? You still have to stop for charging but then you’re going to be on your own trying to figure out where they’re at. Am I misunderstanding what you’re meaning?

[@justgetatesla]

Usually the car is right. Sometimes it isn’t. Removing charging stops and then adding them later can be the right strategy. As it is with me in part 2…

[@Lawrence7of9]

@ probably worth stressing unless key knowledge trust the Tesla.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

@@calvinwalker4654they are presumably meaning if the final stop is somewhere they can charge such as home, hotel with chargers etc

[@PJWey]

Living in Dorset this experience is already included in our local infrastructure

[@TeslaAdventurer]

ive been preconditioning just to stay nice and toasty in the mornings this week hehe. no defrosting or scraping and no cold hands. great vid as usual 🙂

[@MartinBarlow-n2p]

Nice video, I’m familiar with the Gretna going south parts. My feeling is avoiding hills will better than avoiding motorways.

[@billcaulway9910]

This content is my favorite that you produce. Interesting in every way. Keep up the great work.

[@justgetatesla]

Thanks, will do!

[@gordonmcmillan4709]

I noticed if I didn't warm up my Model Y the battery would not accept regen till it warmed up too. First sub-zero night of the year and the tyre warning light comes on, as usual. The pressures had dropped to 39 or 38 psi when they were cold which is enough to trigger the light. Five or ten miles running increases the pressure by a couple of psi.

[@DaveG7920]

I don't own an EV as my current ICE car doesn't need replacing, but I want my next one to be an EV (If I want new it may have to be an EV) Tesla is my number one choice. Never having driven an EV I try and watch KZbin and get experiences of users, oddly, watching your channel I'm becoming more convinced an EV is just going to be a pain in the arse. I'm hoping it's not the case and that for my normal local driving it will be as easy as my current car, although probably not much cheaper as EV's pay a distance charge/tax here in NZ. For now, my ICE car remains the easiest/cheapest option. I'll keep watching👍

[@15bit62]

Being upfront here: I am a 4 year Tesla owner living in central Norway, and we travel as a family (with dog) around europe every summer on vacation (>6k km in 3.5 weeks). So in short, yes an EV can be a pain in the arse. But it doesn't need to be. The magic trick is to maximise the major advantage of the EV (unattended "refuelling") whilst minimising the major weaknesses (range and slow "refuelling"). You absolutely want to have home charging, and if you don't then you want workplace charging. That way your car can charge whilst you are doing something else that you need to do anyway (so no extra inconvenience). Without one of those options, the ownership experience is for sure less convenient than an ICE. As we have home charging the only inconvenience we suffer is charging when we are on vacation. Not fast charging on the road, cos the European fast charging network is excellent now, but destination charging where we stay on vacation. So i do need to plan a little when booking holiday destinations to ensure that charging won't be a problem. Otherwise, no real problems. Range is for sure impacted in the cold, and when i am doing short journeys in the Norwegian winter (-10 to -15 degrees), huge amounts of energy get used to heat the car and my overall consumption is horrific. But if i just get in and drive a long distance (which only needs to heat the car once) it's not so bad at all. Plus, the traction control is incredible and the car is superb in slippery conditions.

[@calvinwalker4654]

Why do you think an EV would be a pain? I suspect you’re not driving more than 300 kilometers for your daily commute to work and stopping at the market. For your daily driving, it’s going to be significantly less of a pain because you will never have to stop for gas. When you wake up your car has a full tank of gas. If you’re constantly going on 1500 kilometer road trips then perhaps it will be less than ideal depending on your charging infrastructure. I absolutely love my Model 3. I don’t know how your country is, but in the USA the Tesla charging infrastructure is great but other charging infrastructures are pretty poor. They are so bad that car manufacturers are getting Tesla to let them use their chargers.

[@polla2256]

I just got my first EV, a Tesla model 3 LR dual motor. I do a combination of local (school runs etc) and 400 mile round trips. The only issue I have is relying on public chargers on the big journeys, however I have started to appreciate a 30 min coffee stop and minor D tour. For bigger journeys you need to plan and be prepared to set new habits. You'll soon learn the best places and sometimes take a little 30 min adventure somewhere else. One difference is you don't need to fill the battery, just stop long enough to get range.

[@greghudson9717]

Tomorrow morning I'm going on a 3600km round trip from Melbourne Vic to Surfers Paradise Qld. I have done it at least 6 times, and it ain't a pain in the arse, if anything it is easy.

[@DaveG7920]

@@greghudson9717 Good, it should be at least as easy as in an ICE car otherwise we are going backwards.

[@cliveharrington1553]

I'm interested in results but wind direction will play a big part in that. Also I never have preconditioned but I don't know anyone with more efficient figures, 3.7 years , 202 whm AVE Tesla 3lr ,so interested...

[@VeganRod]

I love seeing the beautiful scenery.

[@alwaysallblacks]

Scarred from 2022 when I was stuck in the dead of winter for over 3 hours waiting on a charger at Tebay. Looks like they've moved the chargers about and added in some more?

[@alwaysallblacks]

You answered my question 30 seconds later lol

[@justgetatesla]

3 hours? Didn’t Tebay have the other chargers in the other part of the car park?

[@michaelking8573]

I did a 190 mile round trip from Telford to Oldham and back on Wednesday 20th in 2C weather in my model Y long range and I still got an average of 254wh/mile. In summer, its close to 200wh/mile. I must have a very light foot.

[@justgetatesla]

Very VERY light foot! 🫡

[@johnbaker5533]

Tesla announced yesterday on X/twitter that the next update the stall calculation will be better for calculating availability with non-teslas charging. They know the type of car charging, it's charge port location and the stall it chargers at and the layout of the stalls. So they are going to better estimate what is available. Also planning many more V4 upgrades for longer cables from the 10% of V4s worldwide to 50%+ in the next 18 months.

[@justgetatesla]

Yes I read about that. A needed improvement!

[@greghudson9717]

We could use a few thousand of the 'old' SuperChargers here in Australia, in particular the Outback, where there are NONE !!!

[@Thebrainymonkey]

I'm not sure if the slow road's more efficient. It's usually the more interesting.

[@michaelarcher6278]

I blame all the social media for Tebay being so popular now, I've been going there since the late eighties and it was never that busy, although just as good. The hotel on the northbound side is great.

[@justgetatesla]

The food is brilliant! I eat there if I can

[@pixie706]

I remember Tebay when it was little more than a roadside cafe an fuel stop.

[@moragkerr9577]

I've stayed in that hotel but always used to favour Killington Lake for my southbound stops. Except it takes about two hours to charge an EV there, so that's off the menu until they sort out something better. At least Tebay having chargers now means my peregrinations around Penrith trying to get a charger on the Saturday before Christmas won't have to be repeated this year.

[@chapmandu2]

Since you were heading to a supercharger on the first leg isn't the reduced efficiency in the first part of the journey because the car is using energy to heat up the battery as well as drive the car? So it's not so much that the battery is cold that you're getting reduced efficiency, it's because the battery is being heated up and energy is required to do this. It's a bit of a zero sum game though because if you don' pre-heat the battery prior to arriving at the SC then energy will still be required to heat it to optimum temperature but that energy will come from the supercharger rather than the battery and your charge will take longer. One way or another the battery will be heated up. It also depends on your total journey, if you're doing a very long journey then you need to rapid charge multiple times and want this to be as quick as possible, so pre-heating is essential. On a shorter journey where only a top up is needed it might be best to avoid pre-heating and accept a slower, partial charge. You might even get there in one go if you can avoid spending energy on battery heating, as I find when driving the 200 miles to my parents house in a Tesla Model 3 SR - I charge when I get there on a 2kW granny rather than SC on the way.

[@justgetatesla]

Preheating the battery for supercharging burns a bit of power - but not that much. The low efficiency at the start is because the battery is so cold. After the first stop the efficiency was better - briefly - until it started heating again. After the Tebay stop? Fantastic efficiency despite the hills and the cold air temperature

[@gallienus172]

I'm looking forward to part 2

[@jamesgladstone886]

Great video. Could I please ask how much battery it would take to heat the battery to optimum temperature (when ambient is at those low figures). I ask as I will be parking at an airport car park regularly, so pre heating the battery will be while not plugged in. All the best.

[@justgetatesla]

A few percent!

[@jamesgladstone886]

@@justgetatesla thank you so much for the reply! 😁

[@vxnova1]

OUTOFSPEC YT channel did a test last year, parked their car beside a supercharger for 2 days in -19f temp at 35% soc, When they plugged in the car it took 45 mins and 4kw of power to heat the battery before the battery started to take a charge, They charged up to 90%.

[@ftb2772]

Do you have cross climates fitted too?

[@justgetatesla]

Yes sir!

[@moragkerr9577]

Does anybody know how long the battery takes to cool down after it's been heated? My instinct is to set it to heat starting 3.30 am, which should give it enough time to heat up then to recharge from the mains while the cheap tariff is still on, but will it just have cooled down before morning?

[@Jaw0lf]

Great vid, the part 2 looks interesting!!

[@raymitchell3757]

Hi Ian, interesting video. What would the total battery percentage used be if you set off from home and did the same journey at the same temperature and speed if a) you get in the car cold so inefficient battery warming on the journey and b) precondition the car using battery power to warm it up pre journey. Would the total energy used at the destination be the same? Another video?

[@justgetatesla]

Good question, and good idea 😏

[@greghudson9717]

No, the energy used would be LESS, because the preconditioning uses grid power before you even start. And because the battery is already warm, it doesn't use the energy stored in the battery to heat itself up to the temp it likes (around 40c).

[@kensmith8701]

Although the Tesla charge network is very good and Tesla vehicles are among the most efficient, other EV's do exist and are as capable as a Tesla. The none Tesla charge network are also far better then they use to be. On Saturday I did a 600 mile round trip. The inbuilt intelligent charging sat nav, set my charging stops, how long I needed to charge to reach the next stop. It will also amend those stops depending on my energy use. I used 3 different charge networks all linked to the same payment method and all at the same rate. I do have the Tesla app. My route would have had to include some diversions if I waa to navigate to the open to all Tesla chargers. At the times I charged there was little difference in cost, with the none Tesla network just coming in slightly cheaper. However at Tesla membership rates, Tesla charging would have been cheaper. One point I would make, is that there are hot spots that require more provision of chargers to cater for peak times. If Tesla ticks your boxes then great, if they do not, then there are real workable alternatives. With plenty of charging infrastructure.

[@justgetatesla]

I’m currently in a rental Polestar for 2 days, enjoying non-Tesla chargers. Slow and expensive so far…

[@chapmandu2]

@@justgetatesla I regularly use non-Tesla chargers despite having a Tesla on trips to France as Tesla chargers are often inconveniently located. They mostly work fine, the only issue is getting the car to pre-condition the battery as the Tesla software doesn't always do this for 3rd party chargers even when it knows it's a charger. Whether the Polestar works as well as the Tesla is another matter...

[@kensmith8701]

I understand, more expensive, at least in the uk, but slow! Slow would not be my experience.

[@tonykelpie]

It’s very easy to stick to steady 60 mph on motorway- lorries have to do so.

[@reggiebuffat]

@@tonykelpie and efficiency is further improved by slightly drafting said lorries.

[@VictorGoesElectric]

Hi Ian.Just a wee correction to your statement about Tesla chargers v other chargers . You said they are cheaper (which I do agree), faster (they are only max 250kW, other ones can be max 350kW), better (not the case in UK anymore). Tesla cars charging curve is pretty poor compared to Hyundai, Kia, Porshe, and many more. Your car peeks at 250kW for a minute or so and than drops down very fast. Would be nice if you mention all that while talking about Tesla charging speeds, so less informed viewers have better understanding of EVs. I don’t like when people say “car is charging 20% to 80% in 20min”, that doesn’t tell much. I would rather hear how many kWh is delivered in said 20min. More accurate information will, in my opinion, convince more people to going EV. Keep up the good work.

[@justgetatesla]

I’m sat filming that segment at Tebay, where the opposition units do 104kW max. I’m on 75% SOC sucking 62kW. I don’t care if the charging curve is a little better than Tesla, it still drops. I’m still getting a good proportion of the maximum at 75%. - it’s significantly quicker

[@mikee6114]

Tesla's are the best in terms of miles range gained per minute of charging. Efficiency beats KWh added, especially as most UK chargers don't get much above 150kw, whatever is advertised.

[@VictorGoesElectric]

“ Efficiency beats KWh added” - tell that to the new Porshe Tycan. There is plenty of 350kW chargers and more being installed. I’m not against Tesla, I do appreciate what they did to car industry. My point is, Ian should be and is educating people via his channel, so talking about changing curve is very important.

[@vxnova1]

Did you see OUTOFSPEC motoring i90 challenge, where they drove 3000 miles from Seattle to Boston, with 9 ev’s and an ice, Tesla model 3 rwd long range finished 2nd ahead of the Hyundai, and just behind the Taycan

[@VictorGoesElectric]

Yes, I did watch it, and it was a real pleasure. Did you watch after race OOS video with Teala team? They clearly stated that big part in Ioniq6 finishing 15 min behind Tesla was due to positioning of chargers. And please remember USofA is years behind Europe if it comes to nonTesla charging. In UK every service station is right off the motorway and has plentiful of high powered chargers. Just saying, gather all the data and present to viewers in the manner that educates us all.

[@Lawrence7of9]

⁠It’s on a route I do often & have preferred chargers, also the navigation will understandably err on the side of caution & I will override to reach a destination without a topup charge - 3-5minutes! - so just slowing & stopping needless battery pre-heating. Eg mentioned i arrived home with 11%, rather charge cheaply at home & not stop enroute. But in this edge case was useful knowledge/learning.

[@Bfranklyn731]

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

[@greghudson9717]

Sure, as long as the road isn't on a knife edge.

[@Bfranklyn731]

@greghudson9717 🤔😁

[@antoniopalmero4063]

Lovin my model 3 long range 😊

[@DeHerman64]

It is actually quite funny when it’s cold. Driving faster means that the battery is warmer and turns out that efficiency is better compared to driving slower and the battery cools down more than heating up!

[@timoliver8940]

I don’t Just Own A Tesla but another smaller EV more suited to my needs (rarely driving more than 60 miles on round trips and not having any access to superchargers here in West Scotland removes the main advantage of a Tesla) and in really enjoy this channel - it’s way more informative generally than a certain Dave who is a TiTon who is turning into a shouty ranter and hardly informative about EV’s in general. I had to unsubscribe from his channel and rarely watch his output now because it is becoming an evangelical Tesla channel of little interest to owners of other marques of EV.

[@lharris828]

Do I get a bonus mark every time you say *basically'?

[@justgetatesla]

Basically edited quite a lot more basically out. What was wrong with me on that trip???

[@lharris828]

[Not too seriously 😁]

[@papah5552]

Good and interesting video Ian. Were you running the cabin heating/air con during your trip or just "bum heaters" ? 😂

[@justgetatesla]

I only have heating set on 19 - I genuinely think it gets too hot otherwise!

[@colinnich]

@@justgetatesla Coming from a non-heat pump Model 3 to a heat-pump Model Y, I find it gets a lot warmer. I ran the Model 3 and 20-21 degrees, but the Y at 19.

[@julianguffogg]

Why do you charge to 80%

[@justgetatesla]

Because sitting at the supercharger beyond 80% is very slow. Only the MacMaster sits at a charger to 100% so that he can clickbait his audience with complaints about how long it takes to charge an EV 😁

[@twostate7822]

Besides charging speed, lithium ion batteries have more degradation charging past 80% so maximum range will decrease faster.

[@julianguffogg]

@@twostate7822 its not a problem with LFP batteries. Personally I have found it only slow down a little bit, and Im usually too busy drinking coffee to worry!

[@twostate7822]

@@julianguffogg That's why I noted lithium ion batteries.

[@greghudson9717]

@@twostate7822 Both of your statements are incorrect. LFP (Lithium Ferrous Phosphate) batteries (which can and should be charged to 100% frequently) don't have the 80% issue that NCM batteries have. BOTH types are Lithium, but they are VERY different in almost all other ways.

[@RWBHere]

If you avoid motorways in warmer weather, efficiency should rise. It makes the difference between ~240 and 300+ miles of Summer range for our Zoe ZE50. In cold weather, the range only rises from ~215 to ~250 miles. Yes, we really do see 300+ miles on long mixed road runs in Summer, carrying luggage, by using Eco mode and steady, but safe, acceleration.

[@glenwillson5073]

It's freezing cold, it's blazing hot - my diesel Hilux Ute just doesn't care. Why does the Tesla then? What could be the problem, do you think?

[@colinnich]

People like you, generally

[@glenwillson5073]

@colinnich Congrats! You win the prize for the most irrational, meaningless statement of the week. Is your intellectual prowess indicative of all EV supporters?

[@justgetatesla]

Your diesel doesn’t care? Of course it does! Fuel economy is affected on mechanical engines just as much as it is on an EV.

[@glenwillson5073]

@justgetatesla That may be technically correct, but in 19 years, I've yet to experience any noticeable practical range reduction whatsoever. Hot or cold conditions, it's just not a thing. So there's that. But the same cannot be said for EVs. That's why it's a topic re EVs.

[@mikeypc3592]

​@@glenwillson5073you're so happy with your diesel but you're still here trolling an EV channel😅

[@pppscooby]

Wouldn’t it be better to just drive slower on the motorway if you are looking for more efficiency, it would be a boring video but probably more practical.

[@justgetatesla]

That’s part 2…