This is awesome. I'm particularly happy about the on-route battery warming.
Since I can't charge at my apartment, I tend to charge my car in the morning. If it is around freezing temperatures, it will charge at a rate of 0 miles per hour.
Can you speak more to this? Similar situation. Interested in a Tesla but live in an apartment without a station but during winter have well below freezing and sub zero temps. Seems difficult.
I've gotten used to it and do just fine not being able to charge at home. I have chargers at my work but still choose to mostly use the nearby supercharger.
When I would use the supercharger on cold mornings, it would charge at 0mph for 10-15 minutes and then slowly increase. The worst I saw was it stayed at a rate of 25mph for over an hour before I finally had to leave. However, using a regular wall socket has consistently given me 4-5mph even in subfreezing temperatures. For comparison, a supercharger on a warm day gives >300mph.
If you can drive for a bit before charging then it charges much faster. That is why I'm excited about the on-route battery warming!
I just read a trip report of a couple that did a 4,600 mile road trip in their Model 3 in cold temps (between 0 and 7 F) and their trick was to always charge at the end of a day so the battery was warm.
Yes, for the cabin. That doesn’t necessarily warm the battery as well, though now it’s supposed to do at least some battery warming on very cold days. From the supercharger announcement, I gather that the temp to accept 250kW is significantly higher than the temp to support typical driving demands.
You can make it work if one of the following is true for you:
- You can charge at work (at least 6kW aka Level 2)
- You drive less than 35 miles a day and have a 110v outlet where you plan to park it overnight
- You have a nearby mall or similar with a quality level 2 charger, and you don't drive too far every day
In any case I suggest checking out the PlugShare app which has the widest collection of charging stations including estimated kW, ratings, and reviews. Select your car model and it'll automatically filter the supported charging types.
On a side note: I don't recommend relying 100% on superchargers. You can obviously combine any of the above solutions, including supercharging, but superchargers get too crowded if people keep using them as the only source.
I have a Model 3 in Brooklyn. Thankfully I have a garage where I can charge. Winter definitely makes it harder to charge and to keep charge. I spend about $1 per day to maintain charge level in winter. It’s about 30 cents in Summer.
Since I can't charge at my apartment, I tend to charge my car in the morning. If it is around freezing temperatures, it will charge at a rate of 0 miles per hour.