Fun in the Snow with a Tesla

[Jim Koepke]

Interesting videos of snow days with a Tesla:

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/03/tesla-vehicles-work-snow/

A Tesla pulling a stuck tractor trailer rig out of a snow bank is impressive.

jtk

[Jerome Stanek]

Interesting videos of snow days with a Tesla:

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/03/tesla-vehicles-work-snow/

A Tesla pulling a stuck tractor trailer rig out of a snow bank is impressive.

jtk

It almost looks like the semi is under his own power and the Tesla can barely move up hill with it going side to side

[Bob Turkovich]

Snow bank???? That's a snow bank???

Jim, you need to get up into your nearby mountains a little more often:)

BTW, the rated towing capacity of that specific vehicle is 4980 lbs.

[Jim Koepke]

It almost looks like the semi is under his own power and the Tesla can barely move up hill with it going side to side

Well, when someone is pulling you out of a sticky spot you don't have your foot on the brake. The semi is definitely adding to the motive force.


Snow bank???? That's a snow bank???

Jim, you need to get up into your nearby mountains a little more often:)

BTW, the rated towing capacity of that specific vehicle is 4980 lbs.

Okay, my error it wasn't a snow bank it was stuck in a snow covered area.

Sometimes all it takes is a little help from a friend, especially a friend with all wheels driving.

jtk

[Art Mann]

BTW, the rated towing capacity of that specific vehicle is 4980 lbs.

The specifications probably don't note this but I saw a Youtube video in which the Tesla was used to tow the maximum rated weight. It lasted for less than 60 miles before the battery went flat. That is not useful towing ability.

[Bill Dufour]

Being designed in California I would assume it would be designed for deep snow, much deeper then Michigan ever gets. Detroit only averages 33 inches of snow. INCHEs not feet!
Bill D

[Yathin Krishnappa]

The specifications probably don't note this but I saw a Youtube video in which the Tesla was used to tow the maximum rated weight. It lasted for less than 60 miles before the battery went flat. That is not useful towing ability.

As someone with a Model X and having towed with it, I agree that its towing ability is almost useless. It has all the power in the world, but the range is non-existent and you'll have to unhook the trailer at charging stations (as seen in the picture below). So, best uses of its towing abilities are for making YouTube videos or being extremely pigheaded about using a Tesla for everything. ;-)


419544

[Bob Turkovich]

Being designed in California I would assume it would be designed for deep snow, much deeper then Michigan ever gets. Detroit only averages 33 inches of snow. INCHEs not feet!
Bill D

Marquette, MI (off of Lake Superior) gets an average of 149 inches (i.e., 12+ feet ) of snow placing it 3rd in the contiguous US (per the NOAA).

A quick google search (plus my personal experience) shows the following locations for cold weather testing per manufacturer).

Honda - northern Minnesota
Toyota - Japan (+ northern Ontario)
GM - northern Ontario
FCA - northern Ontario, northern Manitoba and a closed AF base in the U.P. off of Lake Superior
Subaru - northern Minnesota?
Ford - Florida!!! (indoors at Eglin AF base) They used to test in northern Manitoba (and may still do so).

Tesla - south of Fairbanks, Alaska

Hmmm. No mention of California.;)

[Yathin Krishnappa]

Tesla - south of Fairbanks, Alaska


Whoa. I didn't know that. Now I understand why handling in snow is so good.

[Dan Friedrichs]

The specifications probably don't note this but I saw a Youtube video in which the Tesla was used to tow the maximum rated weight. It lasted for less than 60 miles before the battery went flat. That is not useful towing ability.

If you regularly need to tow such a heavy load for >60 miles, a luxury sedan is probably not the right vehicle :)

[Steve Demuth]

It almost looks like the semi is under his own power and the Tesla can barely move up hill with it going side to side

Wouldn't expect anything different. It's an all wheel drive Tesla X. They have very good all wheel traction control, and so are going to be shifting rotation and torque around the vehicle aggressively. The truck is hold the Tesla back. Tether the tail of any vehicle on ice and switch the motive power from side, and it's going to weave back and forth.

Interesting to compare to my Toyota Prius though. A Prius won't spin it's drive wheels for more than a couple of rotations, and if it senses that neither drive wheel is getting any traction, it just removes torques from them both. Head up a slippery hill with one, and it's perfectly possible it will just stop partway up as both front wheels lose bite on the road. It's a funny feeling for someone like me who is at heart a manual transmission guy - foot on the gas, dead stop, no detectable engine effort at all.

[Jim Becker]

A Prius won't spin it's drive wheels for more than a couple of rotations, and if it senses that neither drive wheel is getting any traction, it just removes torques from them both. Head up a slippery hill with one, and it's perfectly possible it will just stop partway up as both front wheels lose bite on the road. It's a funny feeling for someone like me who is at heart a manual transmission guy - foot on the gas, dead stop, no detectable engine effort at all.

Our experience with both the 2002 and 2008 Prii that we owned...they were horrible in snow/ice, even with appropriate tires. The Highlander Hybrid Limited I owned was much better in that respect, but it was AWD. (We're a 100% Subaru family now) Tesla with AWD should preform reasonably well with proper tires, but extreme cold is a challenge for any vehicle with current battery technology.

[Mike Kees]

(We're a 100% Subaru family now) Sorry to here that Jim !:D I have a brother that drives Subaru as well. Our driveway has a Nissan pickup,Old Honda Oddessey and a Toyota Corolla. I obviously like Japanese vehicles. One of my brother -in laws just got a Toyota Corolla hybrid, I have not had a chance to check it out yet.For me the hybrid vehicles make more sense than all electric. We live in a rural area and there are no charging stations where we drive the most.

[Jim Becker]

(We're a 100% Subaru family now) Sorry to here that Jim !:D I have a brother that drives Subaru as well. Our driveway has a Nissan pickup,Old Honda Oddessey and a Toyota Corolla. I obviously like Japanese vehicles. One of my brother -in laws just got a Toyota Corolla hybrid, I have not had a chance to check it out yet.For me the hybrid vehicles make more sense than all electric. We live in a rural area and there are no charging stations where we drive the most.

All of our Subarus were manufactured in Indiana by US workers. :) Only the Forester and BRZ are imported, AFAIK. Then again, that's also pretty much the same case with most Toyotas. (Toyota owns a healthy chunk of Subaru, too) I agree that with current infrastructure, hybrid makes a lot of sense for folks who desire many of the benefits of an EV, but have geography or usage patterns that are better suited to have on-board ICE power, too. That will change over time. Having both is not uncommon, too.

[Steve Demuth]

Our experience with both the 2002 and 2008 Prii that we owned...they were horrible in snow/ice, even with appropriate tires. The Highlander Hybrid Limited I owned was much better in that respect, but it was AWD. (We're a 100% Subaru family now) Tesla with AWD should preform reasonably well with proper tires, but extreme cold is a challenge for any vehicle with current battery technology.

So I'm told. We've owned 3 Prius, but all 2010 - 2014 models. We're down to one now. I've driven one as my primary commute vehicle in Minnesota (I live in Iowa, barely, but 90% of my driving is in Minnesota) for years, with ordinary all-season tires. You can't plow snow with them, and there are a day or two every winter when the better part of wisdom is to leave the Prius home and drive the 4WD, but I've never found them an issue overall. Just don't try to go up a slippery hill with them. They won't go.

50mpg year-round average, and barely a single maintenance issue in 300,000 total miles makes up for the occasional need to drive a pickup to work.

[Art Mann]

Hey, Tesla published information on the towing "feature", not me. I just pointed out its lack of relevancy.

If you regularly need to tow such a heavy load for >60 miles, a luxury sedan is probably not the right vehicle :)

[Dan Friedrichs]

Hey, Tesla published information on the towing "feature", not me. I just pointed out its lack of relevancy.

I assume an MPG spec on a gas car is also irrelevant, then, as it will get less MPG when towing? :)

[Edwin Santos]

It will be interesting to see the towing capability of the Tesla pickup truck on the horizon.

EDIT - I'm optimistic that all performance data on the Tesla pickup will be impressive. I've learned not to bet against Tesla or Elon Musk. The fact that the company even exists is nothing short of miraculous.
I just came back from a trip to Vancouver BC and it seemed like Tesla was one of the most popular cars on the road there. Granted the culture in Vancouver is highly tuned into the environment and sustainability which probably plays into it.

Edwin

[Jerome Stanek]

It will be interesting to see the towing capability of the Tesla pickup truck on the horizon.

Or how long the batteries last you lose when you have a fully loaded truck going through the mountains.