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As a former driver of many Audi quattros and a Canadian who lives on top of a hill with a AWD Tesla 3 I can say it's the best handling car in snow that I've dri

As a former driver of many Audi quattros and a Canadian who lives on top of a hill with a AWD Tesla 3 I can say it's the best handling car in snow that I've driven (given clearance limits of a sedan). The instant reaction speed of its electric traction control to slippage will vastly outperform any manual transmission. You can drive like an idiot with the pedal to the floor and the car sorts itself out.

olivermarks 4y ago
Interesting. I have fanatical Tesla fanboy friends in Denver Colorado who don't drive their teslas much in winter because they handle poorly in the snow on steep inclines and declines. The door lock issues and cold weather battery energy life and charging issues were their other problems
- poutine 4y ago
  The RWD is a bit of a different beast than the AWD. It's much easier to get stuck on that one due to its weight when reversing up a hill.
  - olivermarks 4y ago
    ah that explains it, thanks!
davewritescode 4y ago
The real problem with electric cars and modern cars in general in the snow is the sheer weight of the vehicles makes it harder to stop in an emergency. Most of the crummy AWD systems they throw in the majority of cars these days can get you unstuck or up a hill so that’s not a major advantage. Also, car makers tend to throw on low friction tires on electric cars to increase range which invites another set of problems.
- poutine 4y ago
  With proper winter or all-weather tires you'll actually get better stopping for a heavier vehicle (the tires will have more friction as a function of the weight so less chance of slip even though you have more to stop).
LorenPechtel 4y ago
I haven't encountered snow since my last manual died but that's my understanding of electronic traction control--give the job to the computer that can do a far better job than any human. When the computer can outperform a human let the computer do it! Only give control of things where at least some drivers can outperform the computer. And, while not relevant to driving, if there's a grey area let the operator hit an override to use it. (Boeing--the plane does what you tell it even if you go outside the envelope. Airbus--the plane stays in the envelope no matter what you tell it to do. The first makes for broken birds, the second means the pilot in trouble can't decide to risk breaking the bird if that's what's needed. If you need 4g to clear terrain you do it even if the bird is only rated for 3g.)
- robryk 4y ago
  If the human is doing the traction control job, they know how far from the edge of the envelope they are (because the difficulty changes). If it's a computer doing that, it's hard to communicate that to the human (iiuc we don't even try). Unless this is improved, this means that sometimes it's better to leave a human in control of both strategy and tactics even if the computer would outperform on tactics.

olivermarks 4y ago

Interesting. I have fanatical Tesla fanboy friends in Denver Colorado who don't drive their teslas much in winter because they handle poorly in the snow on steep inclines and declines. The door lock issues and cold weather battery energy life and charging issues were their other problems

poutine 4y ago
The RWD is a bit of a different beast than the AWD. It's much easier to get stuck on that one due to its weight when reversing up a hill.
- olivermarks 4y ago
  ah that explains it, thanks!

davewritescode 4y ago

The real problem with electric cars and modern cars in general in the snow is the sheer weight of the vehicles makes it harder to stop in an emergency. Most of the crummy AWD systems they throw in the majority of cars these days can get you unstuck or up a hill so that’s not a major advantage. Also, car makers tend to throw on low friction tires on electric cars to increase range which invites another set of problems.

poutine 4y ago
With proper winter or all-weather tires you'll actually get better stopping for a heavier vehicle (the tires will have more friction as a function of the weight so less chance of slip even though you have more to stop).

LorenPechtel 4y ago

I haven't encountered snow since my last manual died but that's my understanding of electronic traction control--give the job to the computer that can do a far better job than any human. When the computer can outperform a human let the computer do it! Only give control of things where at least some drivers can outperform the computer. And, while not relevant to driving, if there's a grey area let the operator hit an override to use it. (Boeing--the plane does what you tell it even if you go outside the envelope. Airbus--the plane stays in the envelope no matter what you tell it to do. The first makes for broken birds, the second means the pilot in trouble can't decide to risk breaking the bird if that's what's needed. If you need 4g to clear terrain you do it even if the bird is only rated for 3g.)

robryk 4y ago
If the human is doing the traction control job, they know how far from the edge of the envelope they are (because the difficulty changes). If it's a computer doing that, it's hard to communicate that to the human (iiuc we don't even try). Unless this is improved, this means that sometimes it's better to leave a human in control of both strategy and tactics even if the computer would outperform on tactics.