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Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

money.cnn.com

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Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#4

Post by kylec »

It's been significantly warmer the last few days than it supposedly was when the first trip was done. Given that temperature has a big effect on the car's energy, both the battery capacity and use of the heater, I'd say CNN's results don't disprove the NYT article.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#6

Post by potatolicious »

Not really a surprise - I don't think there was really any doubt about the performance of the Tesla in normal weather. The NYC area right now is well above freezing, approaching +10C in the daytime, nowhere near the deep freeze that occurred during the NYT drive.

This still doesn't put to rest the expected (but somehow controversial) concerns about lithium battery performance in cold weather. This concern IMO needs to be put to rest if electrics want to break into the mainstream market. Early adopters may be willing to plan judiciously around range and expected weather, but I doubt mainstream consumers will be so forgiving.

Having a car of (somewhat) limited range lose a large chunk of its battery just sitting overnight in a parking lot, in weather that is cold but hardly unusual for the region, is a problem. That both on-board software and human advisers seem poorly prepared to compensate for this is hardly a nail in Tesla's coffin, but does need to be sorted out.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#7

Post by Shank »

It's worth pointing out that they're staying at the Milford SuperCharger quite a lot longer than Elon's data showed NY times did. They're charging it a lot more - and would even if it was too chilly out for the batteries to operate at optimal discharge rate, they'd still be in the clear as a result.

This is more of a PR move - of course if you calculate it out it's possible - the NY Times driver wasn't staying at SuperChargers long at all and missed mark by 30mi.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#8

Post by ck2 »

potatolicious wrote: post #6

Not really a surprise - I don't think there was really any doubt about the performance of the Tesla in normal weather. The NYC area right now is well above freezing, approaching +10C in the daytime, nowhere near the deep freeze that occurred during the NYT drive. This still doesn't put to rest the expected (but somehow controversial) concerns about lithium battery performance in cold weather. This concern IMO needs t…

Is it possible and would it help to warm the batteries ala glow plugs for diesel?

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#9

Post by NamTaf »

ck2 wrote: post #8
potatolicious wrote: post #6

Not really a surprise - I don't think there was really any doubt about the performance of the Tesla in normal weather. The NYC area right now is well above freezing, approaching +10C in the daytime, nowhere near the deep freeze that occurred during the NYT drive. This still doesn't put to rest the expected (but somehow controversial) concerns about lithium battery performance in cold weather. This concern IMO needs t…

Is it possible and would it help to warm the batteries ala glow plugs for diesel?

I believe it presently does. In fact, I believe that's the reason why the battery charge level dropped overnight in Musk's presentation of data and why, according to some folk, plugging it in to a normal power socket isn't enough to actually charge it as the battery pack draws more power than the socket can supply simply keeping the thing warm.

Such a process will of course drain the battery which still achieves the end result of 'can travel less distance on a full charge'.

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