Stranded In -35°F: Here’s How Long A Tesla Model 3 Can Keep You Warm

A 2024 Tesla Model 3 was left outside in one of the world’s coldest places. It still kept the interior temperature comfortable.

2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive

Photo by: FrozenTesla / YouTube

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Feb 12, at 7:56am ET

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The owner of a 2024 Tesla Model 3 chose one of the coldest days in Canada to do an experiment.
He left his EV outside while temperatures dropped to -35°F, but kept the car on.
The goal was to see how much time an EV would keep occupants warm in an emergency situation.

Winter is still in full swing in some parts of the world, and with freezing temperatures not going anywhere anytime soon, one Tesla owner wanted to put his EV to the test. Canadian YouTuber FrozenTesla chose one of the coldest days this winter to do an experiment: how long can a 2024 Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive keep its passengers warm if they were to get stranded in temperatures as low as -35°F (-37°C)?

The idea was to see how much energy his EV would use to keep the cabin warm, and how much money it would cost to charge the car after everything was said and done. So, he parked the car outside for 12 hours and noted the results.

The cold soaking began at roughly 11 p.m., when the battery’s state of charge was 80%. The car was put into Camping Mode, which keeps the climate control operational, and the HVAC was set to 60°F (15.5°C). That’s not exactly toasty, but it should be enough to keep occupants safe from harm during a freezing night on the side of the road.

After nine hours, the car had chewed through 30% of its battery. When the test ended after 12 hours, the battery’s state of charge was down to 40%, which means the car used 40% of its battery to keep the cabin warm. The owner also checked to see if everything was still working as intended, and there were no issues whatsoever. The power trunk opened normally, the windows worked fine, and the charge port door didn’t get stuck due to the extreme cold.

The 2024 Tesla Model 3 was then parked inside a garage and charged back up to 80%. A total of 36 kilowatt-hours of energy went into the high-voltage battery, which would equate to 3 kWh per hour and a cost of $6.8, considering the U.S. average cost of electricity is $0.189/kWh.

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Getting back to the experiment, this particular EV used 3.33% of its battery each hour to keep the interior warm, so if you happen to get stranded with 30% state of charge, it should be enough for a maximum of nine hours, but after that, there wouldn’t be any energy left to start moving, so keeping the car on for six to seven hours would ensure that there’s some charge left to get to a charger or even home.

The best part of all of this is that an EV doesn’t burn any fuel to keep the interior warm and the occupants safe.

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