2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds conducts a Long-Term Test of the 2013 Tesla Model S and reports on its characteristics in cold weather.

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gslippy

In the sub-zero weather lately in western PA, my Leaf has also had limited to no regen. This is a protection feature for the lithium ion battery. To my surprise, it actually accelerated downhill in cruise control just as some ICEs with an automatic might do. The limited regen, plus poor lithium ion chemistry in the cold, plus the use of climate control, all conspire to dramatically reduce range in the Leaf, and presumably, in the Tesla.

stovt001_

This remains one of the biggest concerns I have with electric cars (and to a lesser extent, hybrids). Hopefully advances in battery technology make them less susceptible to cold weather.

greenpony

I've seen a total of three Tesla Model S's driving around this past week in sub-zero temps in and around the north Chicago suburbs. And zero Focus ST's.

fordson1

Hmmm...so this regen cutoff represents still another wild card along with seat heat, cabin heat, defrosters, more lights due to longer hours of darkness, etc. that conspire to prohibit a really accurate DTE snapshot and to give a more rapid erosion in DTE than you might expect, in cold weather. In any car, the DTE is a moving, realtime item, but in ICE cars, with their quick and ubiquitous refueling ability, plus 400+ mile range, it's not an issue. Plus, for some reason, even though ICEs generally don't have a regenerative-braking-enhanced range ability, hills seem to take less of a bite out of their DTE than with EVs.

gslippy

@fordson1: When ICEs achieve 100+ mpg like EVs do, you'll start to see more complaints about variations in fuel economy. We're already seeing some complaints (Hyundai lawsuit) as cars are claiming the 40-mpg threshold. With 80% of the energy of gasoline

fordson1

All very true, gslippy, and you're right that the huge variable represented by cabin heat is tough (impossible?) to factor in accurately. It becomes more than an academic exercise on a cold winter night on a lonely road when you are a long way from the nearest charge source...and you don't have an accurate idea of how many miles you have because you're trying to do a three-variable equation in your head using distance, temperature and topography while watching the DTE display.

greenpony

Didn't Tesla just update their DTE algorithm?

fordson1

Yeah, and this car was updated. But it's still saying that a 1.4 mile cold-start trip costs 3-4 miles. Seems we're trading in all of the ICE cold-start inefficiencies for a raft of EV cold-start inefficiencies.