Range impact of cold

[jimboski93]

I live in Parker, CO and take my Tesla Model Y LR skiing on weekends (typically Breck, Vail, and Keystone).
Looking at an R1S w/large battery that has the same EPA range as my MY LR.
For my MY, I can get to Vail and back without charging, but sometimes it gets real close - the stated mileage on a full charge is plenty versus the actual miles driven, but the cold temps and the climb up to the mountains really hurts range.

Looking to see if anyone could talk to the impact of the cold temps and elevation on the actual range they achieve. The R1S is more boxy / less efficient on kWh or W/mile (or so I've read), so a bit concerned that the 329 miles in the R1S in the cold won't get me to the mountains and back in the same way the MY does.

In other words, anyone with an R1S w/large battery that does a similar trip and can confirm whether they can make a similar trip there and back? (or even better, a former MY owner that can directly compare).

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[sherold]

Search. Tons of info on this site and others on this topic.

15% drop in efficiency is a good starting point for "cold weather" driving though so, start at 280mi in your case. Cold is relative, you need to be specific with temp ranges to help guesstimate efficiency loss. Starting vehicle temps, wind, weather, and non-powertrain energy usage all are going to play into that equation.

 

[BigSkies]

To help with your comparison, I live in Denver and have both a Model Y and an R1T.

We typically head to Keystone or the Breckenridge area instead of Vail.

While I haven't done any precise measurements, I will say that the behavior is comparable in the cold. I can't tell the difference between the two cars from a range/battery standpoint. I'm sure precise measuring would turn up some difference though.

Denver to Keystone is ~40% of the battery on a cold morning, and coming home is roughly 20% of the battery. That equation holds across both cars.

You might run into issues if you get home from this trip with less than 20 miles left in the Tesla. But it's probably a non-issue if you get back in the 10%-20% range.

 

[comtns]

I live in the mountains of Colorado. My Model 3 got good mileage, and not so bad even in cold. My R1S gets half the miles per kWh, and only 50% more battery. There haven't been really cold days (like single digit farenheit) since I bought my R1S. The brick in the wind thing is probably the biggest factor, I'd guess. Definitely expect less than the stated range. Like using 75-80 miles of "range" to go 64 miles. My experience. (But I do love the R1S, worth it for me.)

 

[mkhuffman]

I agree. Get the max pack and then you will have more range than in the Y. It's worth the higher cost. Absolutely.

 

[Andystroh]

keep in mind a lot of what you may run across when viewing user experiences will be with the “gen1 large” pack, not the “gen2 large” pack. I am not convinced the gen2 will get the same range as the gen1 large pack despite the improved efficiencies.

anecdotally I’m in Golden with a gen1 large pack and can get to beaver creek and back without worry; I typically don’t go farther than summit for a day trip though so I don’t have a ton of data. Worst case is 60% battery to summit county and back in very cold weather.

i would go with the max pack if you want to guarantee that drive. I typically average 10% worse efficiency through the cold weather than the warm, with snow tires. When I tracked it more closely I considered 100% battery to be 250 miles of range. The max pack would give you a slightly larger battery than the gen1 large, and that would put Parker to Vail as within the winter range.

 

[icculus]

Yes. I live in Parker (ditched the MY) and my R1T Launch (Large) can make it to Vail and back if I leave at 100% and its not ice cold. Its a bit more dependent on how you drive as well. If you smoke everyone up the Eisenhower then it becomes a bit more tough to pull off the no charge. That being said, try to get a chargepoint spot in the garage for extra peace of mind

 

[jimboski93]

Yes. I live in Parker (ditched the MY) and my R1T Launch (Large) can make it to Vail and back if I leave at 100% and its not ice cold. Its a bit more dependent on how you drive as well. If you smoke everyone up the Eisenhower then it becomes a bit more tough to pull off the no charge. That being said, try to get a chargepoint spot in the garage for extra peace of mind

Thanks for the pointers - I ended up getting a Max, so hopefully my range anxiety will go away.

Hope to see you out there and around Parker.

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