I went to work in my M3 on Monday when it was -14F and my normal commute consumes 18% of battery in summer and the Monday commute took 25%. So efficiency was impacted. But I left my commute with 80% like every other day so no big deal.

You are 100% right! I live in NWI & I do home charge my 2023 M3p. I have never did a road trip over 100 miles one way so I never super charged. I drove around in our -12º and yes the cold will use up the battery just like using the air conditioning or heater does. The thermo management intelligent in the battery require the battery to be able to be charged so this does use energy. One other point is THE CHARGER IN BUILT IN THE TESLA CARS so the technically the wall charge and super chargers are only power cords. What about all the teslas in Canada and Norway? Great job!!

The media here in the UK, never shy of a Tesla-bashing story, have picked this up too. I was hoping you'd do a video on this, as I'm a long-term follower of your and know you live in Chicago. If any of my friends bring the FUD up, I'll be able to play them your rebuttal. So thanks for uploading this.

John, thanks for trying to keep it real. Eventually, I hope in my lifetime, most people will understand the pros and cons of owning an EV. Today, most people are coming from a perspective of ICE cars, which is unfortunate. We have been spoiled by living in a non-sustainable manner and trashing the planet in the process. EVs are part of a sustainable path forward and I find it amazing that in such a short time, for many many people, the pros far outweigh the cons.

@ericelfner

5 ай бұрын

Make that Jon, ...

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

Thanks Eric. Upon review, this was most certainly a problem, I just don’t think it deserved the national attention that it received, and I also believe the news outlets could have done a better job at taking a more balanced approach to discussing it by comparing it to ICE vehicles’ issues, for example. Perhaps what disappoints me the most is how difficult it has been for owners to contact Tesla and to receive feedback / information related to the issue and the steps that Tesla is taking or will be taking to make improvements. I believe Tesla can do a much better job here.

@triage2962

5 ай бұрын

EVs are not a solution for saving the planet you just shift the pollution to the power grid. If you dont own a home with a garage and home charging there is no benefit to own a EV.

Thanks for pointing out the FUD about the effects of cold temperatures on EVs. That sort of anti-EV FUD annoys me so I thought I would look at the data provided by my Tessie app to see what my energy consumption has been as a function of the outside temperature for the period from December 16, 2023 thru January 16, 2024. Here are some notes and thoughts about this simple analysis: The data was taken from a 2022 Model Y Performance and from a 2022 Model Y Long Range. It should be noted that for short trips (less than a few miles) the Wh/Mile is not reliably calculated so I sorted the data by Distance and removed trips less than 3.5 miles. I then sorted the remaining data by Average Outside Temperature and made a scatter graph that contains plots for each car. From those plots there is a trendline that demonstrates the relationship between temperature and energy usage. Bottom line is that from 52°F down to -3°F it takes about 30% more energy to operate either Model Y. I would also like to note that I have NEVER had any problems at Tesla Superchargers regardless of temperature.

I do know that our Tesla M3 has battery thermal management and the Tesla Supercharger network is the most reliable network on the planet! Great video BTW!!

Good points. I have a 2023 BOLT which doesn't have Tesla's preconditioning. It has the feature, but the driver has no control over when it activates. Despite that, I managed ok so far. The only downside is loss of range. The car predicts 155 miles at 85% state of charge. If a person drives well under this distance, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM. Lots of noise and fake info about the subject. But mostly, lots of NOISE and Hysteria and politicization.

Thank you, TechGeek Tesla. It’s good to hear a Tesla owner input on this subject.

I live in the Chicago area and the news media make out like it is the end of the world for Tesla owners. Note: I charge my model Y only at home and the Vehicle ran fine in the very cold weather. Yes, the weather does decrease the battery range quite a bit, but drivers should plan for that to happen. Just be sure to precondition the Tesla before departing or going to charge. I do this each an every time I go somewhere if the vehicle that has sat in the cold for a while. The only problem I see with electric vehicles using public charging stations, the Tesla stations sit out in the extreme cold, no shelter or protection and some ports could become defective or freeze up. Also the colder it gets the longer it takes to recharge am EV. So other vehicles have to sit and wait for an vacant charging port. Just make sure you have plenty of battery charge if it looks like you have to wait for a long time. Drivers have to plan better when it comes to very frigid weather. If they do that, there should be no problems. But things do happen, but it still is not the end of the world. Also I get a big chuckle when all the EV-Haters come out of the woodworks and bash how bad EV vehicles are. I always say, If you don't like EV's, Don't get one. No one is forcing you to buy one. End of Story.

That's all nice and fine if you have a heated garage or can park your EV in your nice warm living room with a home charging station. There seems to be a lot of EV owners that do not have that luxury and that is what is showing up in the news. I do not have that luxury and feel I have the freedom (atm} to not have to own an EV. I am happy I have the choice for now.

@allieflounder5764

5 ай бұрын

How many times has your gas car had its battery die in the cold? Happens all the time

@Folkboat11

5 ай бұрын

@@allieflounder5764 Never, When it is under -15c I plug my block heater in for 1 hour and I am good to go in the morning. Lunch time at work I will run it for half an hour and still good to go at the end of the day. If the battery did go dead a 2 second boost would start it. Not a tow to a warm garage and hours to warm it up and charge it. Now,,,what is your point?

The media made a bigger deal than it should be? They only concentrate on the negativity of something? NEVER! The media doesn’t do that 🤣 love this video and really wish people wouldn’t talk or criticize about things they don’t understand or know a lot about.

Also good idea to get the S3xy buttons or S3xy Knob from Enhance auto that allows you to precondition the model 3/y just by pressing a button.

Read the manual! So much dum drivers! Best winter car ever! We dont have that issue in Finland. With -30C degrees!

Thumbnail wasn't too much of a cliffhanger from a channel called TechGeek Tesla. I do love my Traxxis btw.

Well said Jon! So much FUD.

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

We need to combat all of the FUD first and foremost. A lot of people are going to walk away validating their decision to not purchase an EV and remember this issue. I think that’s crazy when it only applies to a small percentage of owners across 1-2% of the entire year.

Nicely done.

A good video sir. Thanks for telling the truth.

For those who are not able to install a home charger, and live in cold area, and daily commute will consume 70% available range, EV is not for you at this moment. Wait till battery technology make a big improvement

Well that was to be expected. Yes you can precondition the battery but the thing is, that is going to be deducted from you range. So when you see people writing "it's easy, you can preheat your car and precondition the battery. But all of that is coming from your battery, the only thing in the car that has to do it all. That is coming from your range so instead of the 300km range, you're left with maybe half of that. Some people don;t have a garage or have a home charger, how are they going to do that? And yes i know situations that even gaspumps were not working because of the cold. But the thing is, a ICE car burns fuel true. But everything is used and so is the heat from the engine. And the only reason why you shouldn't run your car on full empty was because of the fuel lines. Summer or winter that isn't the problem. Running your fuel lines dry takes a lot of time to refill that, but you can run your car to full empty. Starting her up will take a little more time but it will start, try that with an EV. Cold isn't good for any battery and even the 12v battery in the Tesla can't hold it that long and i think you know what happens when the 12 volts die out. For who doesn't know that, it's difficult to get the 12V out of aTesla and it is bricked when that 12 volts die out. And that is the thing with Tesla and all EV drivers, they are so happy with it and it's all working amazingly but the sad thing is, i know even more people who want to get rid of the EV as soon as possible and even regrets buying the car. Charging, prices of charging, insurance going up in price. The little dent that cost more than a second hand from 2020 and we're not talking about the ICE cars from the 50's and 60's that still run around with almost no problems at all.

So you agree that it takes longer to charge, it goes to shorter distance. Keeping your vehicle parked in extreme cold permanently reduces the range. And battery ages with time Great we have a concesor

This was not a problem with the cars themselves. this was a problem with the chargers. My understanding is that the charger could not be plugged into the car because of the buildup of ice around the edge of the charger. It sounds like this is due to the fact that the cables are so stiff when people are hanging up the charger after charging that the cable is falling out And unto the snow. This is causing a buildup of snow around the edge of the charging cable and making it, so you cannot plug the cable into your car. It sounds like if you were able to warm up the charge cable end, Then it was working fine. Maybe Tesla needs to change the way the cable is plugged back on the charger to better hold the charging cable and not let it fall into the snow. At 1:07 in your video. You say the problem may be false. I disagree with you. I think there is a problem. I think it's very rare that this happens, but it did happen and it needs to be acknowledged. Is this problem fixable? I've always thought that the cables should Lock back into the charger so we can't fall out so easily, so yes this is a fixable problem

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

Great points! After investigating this issue some more, I agree this was a real issue. I’m not sure if it garnered the national attention that it did, but I have been hearing owners on social media with direct experiences related to this. Many older Teslas have free supercharging for life, so those owners are relying on the Superchargers. (I hadn’t thought of those owners, but they are out there!) When the Superchargers go down (for a couple days out of the year, and not at all of the locations), and those owners were so used to having them operable and functioning 99% of the time, then this is certainly a real problem. I also agree Tesla should use this situation to make improvements to their infrastructure since I’ve seen these charging cables falling out of their holders and lying on the ground. In my opinion, the design for the holder is not very good, and it warrants a completely separate investigation / video all on its own! Thanks for your comments.

@flyboypat

5 ай бұрын

@techgeektesla1854 this should be a simple problem to fix. Tesla might even consider heating the plug or where the cable plugs into the charger, just for when we get these extreme cold snaps. Tesla is good at seeing a problem and fixing it. They just need to be made aware of it. EVgo, Charge point and Electrify America need to make sure they don't have this same issue going forward

@eucryan

5 ай бұрын

Would be a good idea for Tesla to design a better attachment. Seems like the older superchargers plastic is wearing out where the ends hang on. I randomly seem one on the ground.

Your 100% correct

Yes, the cold does affect them. Who wants to live their life based around where they can charge their car? It's just stupid.

perfectly said and explained

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

Thank you 🙏

Hi from Russia! At least now Tesla m3 has problems with stability via high recuperation on icy roads. I mean when you drop your foot from the accelerator pedal.

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

Hi to Russia! I agree that pressing the accelerator on icy roads is not a generally a good idea. 😂

@alexmaz5323

5 ай бұрын

@@techgeektesla sorry for my English, but I wrote about removing the foot from the accelerator pedal. But you wright too ))

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

@@alexmaz5323 oh! Make sure to turn on the following setting: “Apply Brakes When Regenerative Braking Is Limited”. Also, make sure you remove your foot early so that you have a lot of space to come to a complete stop.

Could you maybe make a „wintertest“ video for FSD? Like some scenarios testing the benaiviour from FSD

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

Great suggestion!

The cheque's in the mail. Elon.

_Is EV Charging Really Bad In Winter?_ Isn't the real issue the significant loss of *range* in cold weather? And the reason you don't hear about cars running out of gas is because you call AAA and they bring you a gallon of gasoline and you can drive away.

What about the zapping of range when the temp gets freezing, thays if you get goin` !

EVs are so great they are going to have to force everyone to buy them.

The resale value of the EVs you buy now are a joke. A joke. It's a subsidized green hell.

I did not believe it was a Tesla ad till I watched most of it. My fault.

Look on the bright side, dead battery on ev can only mean less chance of it catching fire.

@cblue3581

5 ай бұрын

It's funny because less than 1% of fires are EV vehicles.

comparing the gas station outage isn't at all fair. Nearly every gas station has multiple competing stations within a very short distance. It's like saying a single traffic light being out in Chicago doesn't make news....yeah it won't make news because of the amount of lights. Your journalistic opinion should have been backed up with facts and acknowledging the criticism of the lack of charging infrastructure and perhaps shown a map where this outage was. But no, you were lazy and clearly bias. Thumbs Down.

Motorists who find EV range confusing should buy a bus pass.

I drank the Tesla Kool-Aid too and glad I woke up. I get you're a liberal and misdirecting as usual. You didn't explain the mass depreciation of EV. The best one is losing 4%/hr of battery power below 5°...

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

These issues are real, however, I feel that they are temporary and they only apply to a small percentage of owners across a small percentage of the year. That is not to downplay the issue, but rather to put things into perspective because most non-EV owners are going to see these stories and justify their fears with owning an EV. I think the news could have taken a more balanced approach to explaining the context of the issue and how it can and will be improved. Tesla did not help by not replying to people, and that’s probably my biggest issue with this. I hope they can release some statements on this, if they haven’t already.

@ginog5037

5 ай бұрын

@techgeektesla1854 Even Elon years ago said this generation of EV is not the future. I'm assuming he was talking about solid-state batteries, but who knows. Many people today are not willing to change their lifestyles. Spending extra hours on the road charging or all proprietary parts and service, I know I'm not...

@eucryan

5 ай бұрын

Tesla is not big on releasing statements. I'm not sure what they could say that we don't already know. We know there is not enough infrastructure to support all these uber/lyft drivers. There is already not enough infrastructure for normal driving. Majority of rural towns don't have a supercharger, CCS, or even a J1772. We know you have to navigate to a supercharger to activate precondition the battery which is not always helpful. Tesla needs to have the ability to just push a button to precondition the battery so can use CCS or J1772 in emergencies. Every tesla driver should purchase the CCS adapter. We know that the model 3/y needs a 100 kwh battery pack. 75 kwh is just not enough for extreme cold or highway driving. @@techgeektesla

@100madmic

5 ай бұрын

​@ginog5037 well straight Ev cars wouldn't work for my family. One we like long road trips in their super expensive in only going up in price. And I don't think the grid could handle it. It barley handle the weather temperature.

@AlexRo2016

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, unlike gas car which does NOT depreciate 😂

Who is the bald dude yammering away in the inset, not in sync with anything???

@techgeektesla

5 ай бұрын

Sorry; that’s footage of myself from previous winters,,, 🥶