Best practices for driving in extreme cold

[mikehmb]

interesting. I didn’t know the seat heaters were more economical. I always told my kids to turn off their butt warmers in the back seat last winter lol. They’ll be happy to know they can use them this year.

IIRC, the cabin warming resistive element is something like 5kW. The G2 has a heat pump, but it's still a compressor and takes a lot of energy to run.

Butt warmers take comparatively very little energy to operate, and they directly toast your tush so it's not dissipated into the air.

Sponsored

 

[HyperionMark]

IIRC, the cabin warming resistive element is something like 5kW. The G2 has a heat pump, but it's still a compressor and takes a lot of energy to run.

Butt warmers take comparatively very little energy to operate, and they directly toast your tush so it's not dissipated into the air.

Average heat pump is 3-4x more efficient than anything with a resistive element.

 

[HyperionMark]

But yes, heating the person instead of heating the air is always best.

 

[Glembi2]

Draft off of the semi's, but duck for any rocks they throw at you.

Drafting off semi’s was the BEST mpg I ever got my old vehicle!

Ya know it’s bad when you start judging large trucks by how close you estimate you would have to be tucked into their slipstream.

 

[C12farmer]

Based on some rudimentary observations of the energy going to the battery while L2 charging, I can see that turning on the drivers seat heater to 3 takes about 100-150W of power.

The Gen 2 heat pump takes around 3kW when running on medium setting. Could be more less if you turn the fan speed up or down.

Point is, seat heaters take significantly less energy than the Gen2 heat pump or Gen1 PTC heater.

When pre-conditioning while still connected to shore power, don't forget to remotely turn on all the seat heaters and steering wheel heater. Nothing makes you feel colder than an icy seat and steering wheel.

 

[mikehmb]

Based on some rudimentary observations of the energy going to the battery while L2 charging, I can see that turning on the drivers seat heater to 3 takes about 100-150W of power.

The Gen 2 heat pump takes around 3kW when running on medium setting. Could be more less if you turn the fan speed up or down.

Point is, seat heaters take significantly less energy than the Gen2 heat pump or Gen1 PTC heater.

When pre-conditioning while still connected to shore power, don't forget to remotely turn on all the seat heaters and steering wheel heater. Nothing makes you feel colder than an icy seat and steering wheel.

That's great data.

IIRC the G1 resistive element is a 5kW unit, not accounting for fans/etc. Jives with what we heard from Rivian earlier about saving "half" the energy to heat the G2 vs. the G1.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

IIRC, the cabin warming resistive element is something like 5kW. The G2 has a heat pump, but it's still a compressor and takes a lot of energy to run.

Butt warmers take comparatively very little energy to operate, and they directly toast your tush so it's not dissipated into the air.

Next time my wife says shes cold when we go to bed, I'll let her know the quickest way to warm her is via her Tushy

 

[C12farmer]

That's great data.

IIRC the G1 resistive element is a 5kW unit, not accounting for fans/etc. Jives with what we heard from Rivian earlier about saving "half" the energy to heat the G2 vs. the G1.

Now that I think about it, the 3kW was also including all the other car loads like the stereo and other background stuff. I even had the volume up to 5 ?. That's usually around 600-1000W.
2.5kW just from the heat pump and fans sounds in line with what you said.

Just wish the heat pump didn't sound and feel like my old lawn mower...

 

[Thedude]

This thread is a perfect example of why many people don’t want an EV yet. “Just put a jacket on and drive in the cold in order to make it” is not a solution most people are willing to deal with.

 

[Rudylake]

This thread is a perfect example of why many people don’t want an EV yet. “Just put a jacket on and drive in the cold in order to make it” is not a solution most people are willing to deal with.

Rivian is offering a free Parka with each winter purchase.

 

[tjrivian]

It really depends.

If it's 10F outside, but you're driving at noon on a non-windy and sunny day with 5 people in the car you'll probably be comfortable wearing short sleeves without heat on. Body heat and sun heat create a lot of warmth.

If it's 10F and windy and you're driving solo at nighttime it's a very different story. In that case you'll need warm jackets, heated seats and the main heater on.

 

[Golfer04]

Yes, when you set up a new scheduled preconditioning time, there is a toggle at the bottom of the configuration page:

Does anybody with a gen 2 (specifically a tri max) have this functionality? My gen 1 R1Ts had it, but now tri max doesn't. Service said it was going to be fixed with this last update, but it wasn't. Btw, this REALLY helps efficiency in cold weather.

 

[gultin]

Plan, plan and then plan some more. Make sure you have 2 options for charging at each stop, one primary and one backup (even if slower). Use Plugshare to find charging locations and plan your route accordingly. Try to stay overnight in hotels that offer EV charging (even if you have to pay for it). Try to never let the charge fall under 20% at any stop, to ensure peace of mind. Try and charge between 20-80% at each stop and move on, unless you have time or you're plugged in overnight at an L2, in which case you could go up to 100%.

I'm not sure where in NM you're heading from, but I don't believe there are any Tesla "superchargers" in the Durango area that you can use. There's a Chargepoint DCFC at the Durango Transit Center that has 2 ports and does around 100kW from memory, but they tend to be in use, so be prepared to wait during peak travel season. That location has a bunch of slower L2 chargers though, if you have a few hours to kill.

Agree with previous comments on preconditioning off the grid whenever you can, and with stopping every 150 miles to charge. I've found that 150 miles (about a 3 hour drive) is when I'd want to take a break anyway. Just need to ensure you plan your charge stops (and backups) on your route accordingly.

Range will be a bit lower in the cold as others have said, but I've learned to just trust the estimate that Rivian provides, which is is typically spot on, or even a bit pessimistic, which is super helpful.

 

[azbill]

Hello all.
I will be driving 500 miles from New Mexico to Telluride Colorado this Saturday. Temperatures are going to be pretty extremely cold. I have an R1 T with a max pack so I basically get 400 miles on the charge. Is there any advice for driving in the cold and performance hits on the battery. I will have my family with me and can’t risk failure. My wife would kill me…
I have my charger stops planned out. It gets a little spotty when I get to Durango because I only have two super chargers.
Any advice appreciated. Thank you.

I used those ChargePoint chargers in Durango several times in September and they work fine. They are power shared and can be busy at times. Even though they are rated at 200kw, the best I got was 180kw with my Hummer (800V).

 

[gultin]

This thread is a perfect example of why many people don’t want an EV yet. “Just put a jacket on and drive in the cold in order to make it” is not a solution most people are willing to deal with.

Agree, but at the same time, such long distance road trip scenarios are only a sliver (<5% in my case) of driving life/miles for most people. For 95% of my driving, EV is still a vastly superior choice. Everyone's usage is different though, which is why we need choices (ICE, EV, Hybrid, RE), and let the market decide what it wants.

Sponsored