4 ms·

As someone who is 6 years in: It's not that bad. Really the only issue is when it's REALLY cold, like single digits F (negative double digits C) where the car

As someone who is 6 years in: It's not that bad. Really the only issue is when it's REALLY cold, like single digits F (negative double digits C) where the car is charging, and the battery is cold, it basically will not charge at home (Supercharger can do it, but takes a very long time). If the charging starts before the battery freezes, it's good.

Yhippa 3y ago
> it basically will not charge at home That actually sounds pretty bad to me, especially if that is my primary charging mechanism.
grecy 3y ago
I read the trick is to charge at the end of a day when the battery is warm rather than first thing in the morning when its cold. Its a mind shift, but totally workable.
zargon 3y ago
Single digit F temps is the baseline winter temperature. What should I expect during the 2 to 3 weeks of -20 F temps each year?
blahedo 3y ago
> like single digits F Wait, so in conditions that wide swaths of North America reliably get every year, the car doesn't charge? How is that not a deal-breaking problem?
foobazgt 3y ago
What vehicle and charging are you referring to? I don't routinely need to charge in very low temps, but I have had the experience of charging at 0F just fine with M3P with home L2 charger.
linsomniac 3y ago
Sorry to the repliers here, I hadn't checked replies in a couple days... The car in question is a Dec 2016 Tesla Model S, location is Northern Colorado, USA. I don't have space in my garage, so the car is outside. My normal trips are 5 miles around town. How is this not a deal breaker? It's happened for maybe 10-15 days of the 7 years I've had it. It's not going to be an issue if you park in a garage. Much further south and it's not going to be a problem. Much further north and you're going to want to have a garage, or... Charge after you drive, so the battery isn't dead cold. Much of my lack of ability to charge has been due to scheduling the charging to start at midnight, so if I drive the car and plug it in, it will sit there for 4-8 hours before it starts trying to charge. When you drive it, the battery warms up enough that you can charge. This means that if you plug it in and it won't charge, unless the battery is nearly dead, you can go drive it for 10-30 minutes and plug it in. Also, if you drive more than I do in a day (10-20 miles a day), if you plug it in after driving and start charging immediately, you'll probably be fine. The more time of the year and the further down you tend to go, I'd expect more issues with charging if your car is outside. But, this is from my perspective. If you live in a dramatically different climate, see if you can find someone in your area with your usage patterns to get their opinion.

Yhippa 3y ago

> it basically will not charge at home That actually sounds pretty bad to me, especially if that is my primary charging mechanism.

grecy 3y ago

I read the trick is to charge at the end of a day when the battery is warm rather than first thing in the morning when its cold. Its a mind shift, but totally workable.

zargon 3y ago

Single digit F temps is the baseline winter temperature. What should I expect during the 2 to 3 weeks of -20 F temps each year?

blahedo 3y ago

> like single digits F Wait, so in conditions that wide swaths of North America reliably get every year, the car doesn't charge? How is that not a deal-breaking problem?

foobazgt 3y ago

What vehicle and charging are you referring to? I don't routinely need to charge in very low temps, but I have had the experience of charging at 0F just fine with M3P with home L2 charger.

linsomniac 3y ago

Sorry to the repliers here, I hadn't checked replies in a couple days... The car in question is a Dec 2016 Tesla Model S, location is Northern Colorado, USA. I don't have space in my garage, so the car is outside. My normal trips are 5 miles around town. How is this not a deal breaker? It's happened for maybe 10-15 days of the 7 years I've had it. It's not going to be an issue if you park in a garage. Much further south and it's not going to be a problem. Much further north and you're going to want to have a garage, or... Charge after you drive, so the battery isn't dead cold. Much of my lack of ability to charge has been due to scheduling the charging to start at midnight, so if I drive the car and plug it in, it will sit there for 4-8 hours before it starts trying to charge. When you drive it, the battery warms up enough that you can charge. This means that if you plug it in and it won't charge, unless the battery is nearly dead, you can go drive it for 10-30 minutes and plug it in. Also, if you drive more than I do in a day (10-20 miles a day), if you plug it in after driving and start charging immediately, you'll probably be fine. The more time of the year and the further down you tend to go, I'd expect more issues with charging if your car is outside. But, this is from my perspective. If you live in a dramatically different climate, see if you can find someone in your area with your usage patterns to get their opinion.