How can you winter-proof your Tesla so you don’t become like these TikTok influencers?

Online influencers are vital to the success of many products on the market today, none more so than Tesla. Online creators love to showcase the car and features that helped Elon Musk stand out as our first influencer CEO. But now that it’s winter, some influencers are realizing that their Tesla isn’t doing all that well in icy conditions.

One of the first things people notice about electric cars is how quiet they are due to the lack of an internal combustion engine. But in a TikTok trend titled “Things I hate about my Tesla,” user Tesla Flex shared How difficult is it to clear the ice in front of the car, since there is no heat energy coming from under the hood.

Another Tesla influencer passing by Jay Fay On TikTok, he also expressed his disappointment at cleaning the hood and headlights, as well as the wheel arches that form ice from the lack of heat energy.

Frameless windows on cars like some Subarus and BMWs can stick more easily in the winter as many of them have to be retracted when opening – and it’s no different on a Tesla.

Tesla phenomenon Kristen Netten, published a time lapse Video on Twitter on how preconditioning the car from the app can take away some of the cleaning stress. Unfortunately, the same feature doesn’t help freeze the recessed doorknobs of all Tesla models. showed By Tesla Lord on TikTok.

Cars that aren’t equipped for the winter may have trouble climbing snowy hills, and on TikTok, HolaSeattle shared how the Model Y did. fail to compensate a steep street. It is not clear whether the car is equipped with winter tires, but this would certainly be a prerequisite for making it such a road.

In the first two years I owned the Model 3, I didn’t have any issues with the cold – but that was because my apartment had underground parking. After that, I learned a thing or two about how to treat a Tesla in the cold.

Here are some tips to lessen the pain of owning a Tesla in places not called California:

Set your mirrors not to auto-fold when locked. I like that the car folds up the side view mirrors when parked by default. It makes it safer from getting hit by people and also provides a good indication that the vehicle is locked. The problem in winter is that it can freeze and this requires some risky ice breaking with a scraper. The mirrors themselves have heaters, but it would be nice if they also had joints. So disable the “auto-fold when locked” setting.

Photograph by Umar Shakir / Moyens I/O

Periodically sweep the headlights and hood during snowfall. There’s no thermal heat wasting the engine, but that means the hood and headlights will just become a layer of ice, affecting vision in the dark and blocking access to the trunk. Avoid this by periodically brushing the headlights and hood. And please avoid using a metal shovel.

Get a set of winter tires. Having winter tires on a rear-wheel drive Tesla like mine gives you better control in the snow than an all-wheel drive Tesla without winter tires. It’s easier to have two sets of wheels with summer and special winter tires (like a Michelin X-Ice or Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3) pre-mounted and balanced so you can change the wheels yourself when the seasons change.

Depending on your needs, you can also choose all-season tires. Some may be fine for summer temperatures, such as the Michelin Pilot Sport AS, and some may be fine for mild winter conditions, such as the Continental ExtremeContact. I personally have Michelin CrossClimate 2s mounted on original 18 inch Aero wheels right now. But keep in mind that many outlets like Costco no longer charge Teslas due to the speed rating change. (Please do your own research before going this route as your tire warranty may be void.)

By the way, if you have a performance Model 3 or Model Y, they may have summer tires on them. Please change if you are in a cold climate (though apperantly Tesla now ships them with all-season tires).

Before it snows, put the wipers in service mode. It’s common practice to flip your wipers before it snows, but it’s easy to forget about the wipers on a Tesla because they hide in the hood.

Keep car plugged in and program precondition/charge. When Teslas are plugged in and charged, use AC power to preheat the car and battery – this can melt snow on the window, precondition the engine and give you better range with a warmer battery. If you plan both the departure time and the charging time (via the Tesla app), you can automatically preheat the car before leaving, and also set the time for the plug to run at the tail end so that it is warmer and less likely to freeze. at the port.

Be patient when opening and closing doors. After you precondition your car (and the app will let you know it’s at the desired temperature), the windows should no longer stick to the door’s rubber seals and should be safe to open as they need to be pulled back a bit. The handles are not heated, so carefully remove the ice on the ice and press it with your thumbs against the axis of the handle until it pops out. Try to clean the crevices of the handle so it doesn’t get stuck again right away.

Use Summon to get your Tesla out of a snow castle. I added this because I did it recently: I had a lot of snow off my Tesla after shoveling my driveway and wanted to clear it up. The handles and doors were still frozen, so I summoned the car to drive over the snow castle… More snow fell on the move.

And last, but certainly not least: Set the right expectations about range because a cold battery is likely to lose some of its charge. Yes, it’s best to do the math (calculating the car’s average of how many watt-hours per mile and dividing that by your battery pack size) but the car does that for you on the fly. The problem is that the car won’t immediately know at the start of the ride how many highway miles it will take in temperatures below freezing. Even if you see a range close to or above 300 miles in your car, expect it to be like 240 miles (in my experience) when driving above 65mph.

It gets worse as the weather gets colder: On a 700-mile trip from Baltimore to Chicago in December 2018, my Model 3 averaged 450 Wh per mile in the cold 15 degrees Fahrenheit (-9.4 degrees Celsius) stretching all the way to just outside Pittsburgh. was working. It has an effective range of 167 miles (75kWh battery on my 2018 Model 3 Long Range), adding an extra charging stop to the journey.

As more people realize the benefits and share their experiences online, electric cars are finally leaving the niche vehicle market. Influencers love to introduce their trendy lifestyles and purchases to millions of people, so it was only a matter of time before they chose electric cars like Teslas. Hopefully these tips will save current and future owners – and influencers – from new car freezes as they go all-electric.