RegGuheert said:
As stated previously, I agree with this sentiment. Having to drag out the portsble cord in 10F weather will not endear people to EVs, IMO.
This should not be a requirement, merely a recommendation. It's not an everyday scenario that someone is attempting a long-distance trip in bitterly cold weather. Extreme situations and weather could require additional considerations. Much like putting on snow chains when needed. That said, I think most of us are in agreement that today's generation of lithium-ion batteries is quite temperature sensitive, there is just no way around it. Perhaps a sufficient number of early adopters will be willing to put up with such an idiosyncrasy, until something better is available.
RegGuheert said:
It does seem like the electrical resistance of the battery in the Model S increases faster with cold temperatures than that in the LEAF. But it also seems that just getting in and driving resolves that issue quickly due to TMS. The question is how was the author supposed to know this if Tesla wouldn't tell him when he called them for support?
I was told that there was a problem with sleep mode, and some of the electronics stayed on. This is likely similar to the already familiar scenario of leaving a LEAF plugged in when going out of town. The results can be both unpleasant and unexpected.
While Tesla has not said much about this publicly, I found the recommendation to condition the battery surprising. I'm not sure if anyone in their right mind would expect to double or triple the available range by warming the battery by 40 degrees or so. From its own power, I might add. To me, this is was the wrong piece of advice given the situation.
I've monitored some of the related threads on TMC since before Christmas, and don't believe that this particular question has been conclusively answered. We still don't know why the Model S is losing significant amount of range when parked unplugged in wintry conditions overnight. AFAIK this is not the case with the Roadster.
I believe that the LEAF has the potential to use up between
1 and 2 kWh in a similar scenario, but only when it's below -4F. This means that the average US driver will be rarely, if ever, confronted with this situation. They will, however, need to deal with the consequences of diminished battery capacity due to cold weather.
If memory serves, Tony's range chart pegs capacity reduction at 1% for each 4F below room temperature. Although each cell is a bit different, if you assumed that the Model S behaved he same way for the moment, we could expect approximately 15% less range from a battery, which has cooled to about 10F. Not 72%, which is what John Broder reportedly observed.