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Tesla Handling in the Winter
There was some winter testing done in New Zealand by Tesla in July and there was snow everywhere. One of the questions I often get is how will a Tesla drive in the snow and when it is icey. We have an answer.
Tesla vehicles are built to be able to drive in the winter. Tesla was working on Model Y track mode in the snow and was testing it in the most harsh of conditions. The car was able to drive well even in the snow.
Tesla is working on making winter improvements. Tesla did different manuevers with each of their vehicles to see what the car would do when different driving actions are applied.
Tesla says they want to do things before the customer does so they can prepare the car to handle the situation before the customer does it. Tesla can then make the car respond with over the air updates.
Tesla vehicles are stable even in the winter. They have a battery farm underneath the vehicle which gives it a widely disperesed center of gravity that is heavy. A Tesla vehicle won't slide as much and is a little heavier, making it slide less.
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Tesla Vehicles Efficiency in the Winter
I have a Model 3 RWD and I'm driving it in the heart of winter here in Utah. There's been plenty of snow and ice this winter. My car has handled very well. I've had a couple instances where the car slid on ice, but it was only about a foot and wasn't for very long.
I haven't felt any issues driving the car in the snow or handling. Tesla has clearly spent a lot of time testing their cars in the cold and snow and I feel like it's not much different than driving in regular weather.
As for the efficiency of my Tesla in the winter, I'm getting about 10% to 20% less range in the winter due to using climate controls and not having as much regenerative braking. In fact, there were a couple really cold days that my car started with no regenerative braking at all and I wasn't at 100% charge. As the car warmed up, regenerative braking started to turn on again.
Even with this less range, my Tesla is far superior to any gas car I've owned in the past. Any car that is using regular climate controls is going to get less range, whether an EV or a gas car.
Would you get a Tesla and drive it in cold weather?
For more information, see this video from Tesla:
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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.
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