Tesla Model 3 in Canadian Winter: Surviving Overnight

Since Teslas are designed by soft Californians, many potential Canadian customers have uncertainties about how the Tesla Model 3 might perform in severe Canadian winter conditions.

It’s well known that EV battery efficiency deteriorates markedly in colder temperatures. However, with the change to a heat pump system in more recent model years, the Tesla Model 3’s winter performance has improved significantly.

But what if you want to do winter camping in a Tesla Model 3? Or, you find yourself involuntarily caught in a blizzard and are forced to camp out in your car overnight, in freezing temperatures?

This article will go over some tips on how to keep warm in a Tesla during winter under both elective and unplanned scenarios.

How much power does the Tesla Model 3 consume in Camp Mode?

Camp Mode is a setting in your Tesla software that, in turn, enables a series of settings including auto temperature, airflow, interior lights, and even music. It disables Sentry Mode but keeps the USB ports powered, which lets you charge your mobile devices. Being in Camp Mode is key to conserving energy use while you’re in the vehicle.

Here’s a YouTube video by Bjørn Nyland from Norway documenting his camping adventure in -26°C. The video contains a number of tips for winter survival in the Tesla Model 3. While it was bitterly cold, it wasn’t in blizzard conditions and he used these special window coverings to insulate the car, which significantly improved the car’s heat retention.

Bjørn Nyland from Norway camped out in -26°C

His peak battery consumption with the Tesla Model 3 (equipped with a heat pump) was 2.4 kWh when camping at overnight low temperatures between -26°C and -24°C. Given a standard Model 3’s usable battery capacity of 50 kWh, that’s about 20 hours assuming you start with a fully charged battery. However, note that there’s a difference between peak battery consumption and average battery consumption. In a real-world emergency (i.e. unplanned) situation, your battery level would be less than full and it would not immediately require 2.4 kWh to maintain temperature. Bjørn’s cabin temperature was set at a relatively comfortable 19.5°C and benefitted from his insulated window coverings.

Checklist for extreme energy conservation in a Tesla Model 3

If you’re hanging out in your car during winter and want to conserve battery power, here is a checklist of the optimal settings in your Tesla Model 3:

High-impact settings

The HVAC system is the principal drain on your battery when your car is not in motion. These settings will have the most impact on preserving your battery life while stationary:

Enable Camp Mode (set your car to park, tap the temperature icon at the bottom of the screen and then tap on Camp).
Turn down the temperature to the lowest tolerable level. This should favour the seat warmers over the cabin-wide forced air system, thus saving further energy.

It’s important to note that Camp Mode switches off if your battery runs below 20%. In that case, ensure your manual settings are as follows:

Enable auto climate
Enable air recirculation
Turn down the cabin temperature to the lowest tolerable level
Turn on the seat warmer

Low-impact settings

If your battery is indeed below 20%, you may also want to take additional actions to preserve your battery. These would address energy consumption outside of the HVAC system. It would be a rare case when these actions might be necessary, as the quantum of such energy savings is only a fraction of the HVAC system’s. Then again, they don’t have any obvious benefits while the car is stationary.

Disable Sentry Mode
Disable Summon Standby
Turn the tablet display brightness down to the lowest level
Power mobile phones from backup battery banks rather than the built-in wireless or USB chargers

Other settings that will ease recovery from freezing conditions

There are a couple of other settings to adjust which don’t directly conserve energy, but better prepare your car for when you’re able to move again:

Put wipers in service mode (this raises the wipers against the windshield so they can defrost when the windshield defrosts)
Disable Auto-Fold Mirrors (ice can prevent your exterior side mirrors from folding or unfolding)

What if your Tesla Model 3 battery runs out during a blizzard?

Even with the above preservation measures, your initial battery level may have been low or you may have had to hang out for an unusually long time. It could transpire that your battery runs out completely. If it does, rest assured that your vehicle is still much safer than venturing outside in a blizzard. You can survive in your car without heating for more than 24 hours even if it’s freezing outside, and being prepared with essential items in an emergency car survival kit (see below) will prolong this much more. Think of it like real winter camping. Stay calm and take measures to preserve your body heat.

Survival strategies in sub-zero temperatures

If you’re involuntarily camping in sub-zero temperatures and blizzard conditions, you can be confident that EVs are generally safer as shelters in such situations than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. This is mainly attributable to an EV’s non-polluting nature. In a real-life blizzard, accumulating snow can quickly block the tailpipe of an ICE car and risk asphyxiating the passengers with carbon monoxide if the car is left running. Moreover, with an EV you have more precise control over energy expenditure (refer to the list of energy conservation actions above).

First things first: if you find yourself stuck in your car in blizzard conditions, be very cautious before venturing outside your car. Your car is an effective shelter and you’re better off staying inside and waiting for conditions to improve and/or emergency services to assist. A blizzard is very dangerous and unpredictable. Frostbite and hypothermia are very real risks if you venture out of your car, as the visibility is extremely low during blizzards and you can easily become disoriented or immobilized. Don’t take chances.

Emergency Winter Kit for Teslas and other EVs

Essential items

Light: headlamp, small USB-powered flashlight or torch
Heat:
- Disposable heating packs (“Hot Hands” or similar products have about a 10-hour lifespan)
- Improvized heater comprising a coffee can with tealights, lighter, and matches. Store the tealights and matches/lighter in separate baggies, and keep them in the coffee can. Each tealight will burn for about 4 hours.
Bottled water, energy bars
Battery bank for recharging your mobile devices
Extra clothing: toque, wool slipper socks, waterproof mittens, waterproof boots
Folding or telescopic snow shovel
Sleeping bag and/or blanket. You could reduce bulk by buying a specialized emergency sleeping bag with a reflective interior, but a proper sleeping bag will be more useful in general.
Sanitation: plastic bottle or baggie for urination, sanitary wipes, plastic bags, hand cleaning gel