Extreme cold weather driving report - 2022 R1T Quad

[zefram47]

2.26 mi/kWh is not "normal" for cold temps by any means when the battery is basically an ice cube. The Gen1 quad-motor trucks at least used to inefficiently drive the motors to generate heat when the battery was below 50F, notable by motor temps going over 200F and sounding different as well as a snowflake showing on the dash. But it seems like this winter some software update must've changed that behavior as the battery can definitely get colder before they turn on that logic/feature...it would drop efficiency significantly while warming the battery, more like 1.0-1.5 mi/kWh. You'll also see this when preconditioning a cold battery into a charging stop...critical to getting the fastest charge.

With temps in the single-digits and running HVAC at 66F even with a warmed up battery I'll get more like 1.5 mi/kWh on the highway at 80 mph. Did that over the holidays in 2023 (2000 miles roundtrip). Couple weeks ago we had temps in the 20s returning from Chicago and I was getting as bad as 1.3 mi/kWh in the morning when the battery was cold, improving to 1.5-1.7 mi/kWh at 75-80 mph. On the outbound leg around 50F the same speeds were more 1.8-2.1 mi/kWh with 20" wheels and Blizzak LT (winter) tires.

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[d15b7]

In my experience the range decreases quite a lot in the first few miles when starting with a cold battery even when I warmed up the cabin prior to leaving with the truck still plugged in my destination charger. Now I force the battery to be warmed by increasing the targeted range so the car prepare the battery pack for charging. This way the expected range is unaffected by the pack temperature other than the expected reduction in cold temperature. Tesla does a better job for that by doing it automatically.

Also, I suspect that the efficiency calculation made by the system (miles/kWh) exclude the kWh used to warm-up the pack...

this statement I think I’d agree with whole heartedly. I use this truck to visit clients and I rarely drive less than 30-50 miles a trip (today’s 93 was a little more than average but not uncommon). So ya if it loses a lot in the first 10 miles but then comes back to near normal in the next 40 miles then my longer trips might be why i see better cold weather efficiency than others might. Plus my speeds are less (on the highway I rarely would go over 70. Too many police around here. Many of the highways are still 55 and the highest speed limit is 65. And on the back roads, I’m usually between 35 and 50 which I’m sure helps.)

 

[iansriv]

About half of my 93 miles today was on I95 and I476. I was going 55 to 70 mph there. The other half was on smaller back roads. I was going 35-50 on those.

Wow! This is great! During normal conditions, I usually get about 2.2 driving around town but closer to 1.9-2 on the highway. This is in a R1S quad with 20". The main difference between us is a condition I have where I can't drive at or below the speed limit. Give me an open highway and I always end up around 10mph over. My hats off to you, sir!

 

[portdirect]

I wonder if the 20AT tires hurt it more in cold weather? My 21s are the original ones and are pretty worn out (low resistance maybe?). I’ve got 4 new 21” ones ready to go on soon but haven’t put them on yet. I keep my pressures up at 50 cold psi. (As the temp has been dropping here I’ve been adding air every week or two to keep them at 50 cold psi)

as I said in spring summer fall this exact trip would have been 2.5-2.6 so I did lose efficiency today. But it just wasn’t a huge loss.

I never got anything like this with our 21"'s on a 2023 Quad R1T in the flat Midwest: I got your winter efficiency during the summer - and around ~1.7-1.9m/kWh in winter for an overall average of ~2.1m/kWh over the 18 months and ~12K miles we had it. The one thing i note is that we kept our tires at the recommended 48psi cold - but i would be surprised to see it make *that* much of a difference?

Our Gen2 Tri on the other hand is averaging around ~1.3-1.5m/kWh on the same commuter route right now (~40 miles each way)...

Photo's of your efficiency stats would be fantastic (and make me more than a little jelly... )!

 

[bfilippo]

I think the longer trips might be to do with it. I also rarely go on a drive that is less than 30 miles round trip with my truck because I live in the middle of nowhere. Unless I go to the one grocery store about 5min away but that is usually tied to another drive further afield.

 

[d15b7]

I never got anything like this with our 21"'s on a 2023 Quad R1T in the flat Midwest: I got your winter efficiency during the summer - and around ~1.7-1.9m/kWh in winter for an overall average of ~2.1m/kWh over the 18 months and ~12K miles we had it. The one thing i note is that we kept our tires at the recommended 48psi cold - but i would be surprised to see it make *that* much of a difference?

Our Gen2 Tri on the other hand is averaging around ~1.3-1.5m/kWh on the same commuter route right now...

Photo's of your efficiency stats would be fantastic (and make me more than a little jelly... )!

I wish I’d thought to take pics!!! I’ll Try to remember and take some tomorrow!

 

[meshugy]

Did 240 mi in my R1S Quad last week, AT20s, massive roof box, 4 passengers plus dog, temps 28-34, 50 mph avg, with lots of elevation including two mountain passes over 4000 ft. Averaged just shy of 1.9m/kwh

 

[d15b7]

Did 240 mi in my R1S Quad last week, AT20s, temps 28-34 with lots of elevation including two mountain passes over 4000 ft. Averaged just shy of 1.9m/kwh

I guess I should add that here where I live (Wilmington DE area) we don’t have big elevation or mountain passes! We are flat with small hills (I doubt my total elevation climb and fall over the 93 miles was more than a few hundred feet)

 

[portdirect]

I suspect a lot of this comes down to speed/acceleration - I'll be totally honest and admit my foot is not the lightest, and our speed not the slowest.

 

[bfilippo]

Yeah I drive like a bit of a grandma lol

 

[Jonger1150]

The key is to run the climate controls in the morning for like 2 cycles. Get the battery up to 70 and it will still be in the 50s by evening. It's 18F at mid day here. Battery is still above 55F or warmer.

 

[Budman]

The OP's numbers are in line with my observations.

BTW: 19F is a mild afternoon high in my part of the country. "Brutal" doesn't come into the conversation until the afternoon highs are -5F...

 

[André]

The key is to run the climate controls in the morning for like 2 cycles. Get the battery up to 70 and it will still be in the 50s by evening. It's 18F at mid day here. Battery is still above 55F or warmer.

Doing that doesn't warm the battery pack in my experience, as all used energy goes to warm-up the cabin. You need to attempt to charge the pack by increasing the targeted range for the truck to warm-up the battery.

 

[Jonger1150]

Doing that doesn't warm the battery pack in my experience, as all used energy goes to warm-up the cabin. You need to attempt to charge the pack by increasing the targeted range for the truck to warm-up the battery.

Not when it's plugged in. Watch the battery temp before and after. The vehicle pushes power through the motors and cycles the coolant through the battery.

 

[André]

Not when it's plugged in. Watch the battery temp before and after. The vehicle pushes power through the motors and cycles the coolant through the battery.

Not in my 2024 R1T... unless the truck is attempting to charge the pack. And consequently the range is going down by more than 10% in the first 10 miles pushing heat to the pack if it's not prepared beforehand. Again I don't think that the efficiency results shown on the screen are taking into account the energy used to heat the pack.

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