How Much Do Extreme Low Temperatures Affect Tesla Model 3 Range?

This YouTuber drove his car in very cold conditions (-10°F or -24°C) to see how much the range dropped.

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Feb 25, 2021 at 7:37am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Outside temperature has a major impact on EVs’ range, and the lower the temperature gets, the lower the range gets. Even in a Tesla, whose range is good regardless of version, you can’t escape it, as this YouTuber demonstrated by driving his Model 3 in Michigan with temperatures as low as -10°F or -24°C.

Dirty Tesla took his Model 3 on a stretch of highway to see exactly how much the car’s energy consumption went up, negatively affecting the range. While being driven at 79 mph, the car was averaging 408 Wh/mile (Tesla quotes 235 Wh/mile for a Standard Range+) and with around 75 percent left in the battery, it only predicted a range of around 140 miles. That’s essentially half of what it could have achieved in milder conditions.

What do you think?

View

Comments

The video also points out that if you are caught in such low temperatures and you weren’t expecting it, the only thing you can really do do increase efficiency and range is to reduce speed. The uploader points out that while HVAC does drop the range noticeably, if you turn on the heated seat, that saps a lot less power and its negative impact on range is far lower, so if you can bare it, you may also want to drive without the heater blowing hot air.

Recently I also noticed this sharp drop in range when the climate functions are enabled when I drove the Mazda MX-30 and performed a range test in it; range dropped by as much as 20 km with HVAC turned on.