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Published on January 27, 2019 | by Paul Fosse
January 27, 2019 by Paul Fosse
In this article, I will discuss handling the Tesla 3 (and other cars) in slippery conditions. I will not cover the frozen door handles or the reduced range in winter. These may be questions you may want to research and I encourage you to do so. They are just not part of this article.
Now, who knows someone living in Florida on ice driving and on snow? I am so glad you asked! If you are not interested in my story of growing up in the north, skip the section titled "My love story with the snow". But I warn you, you will miss the story where I hit a tree and it was the fault of the tree!
Photo of Paul Fosse in Nashua, Iowa. Due to a family emergency, I had the chance to return to my home town this weekend.
Photo of Paul Fosse in Nashua, Iowa.
Photo of Paul Fosse in Nashua, Iowa.
My story of love with the snow
That's the big circle I'm talking about in the article. On the left of the photo is the "Guilty Tree".
I grew up in North Iowa, then moved to Minnesota to go to university and later to take a job at IBM. I've always loved the snow and would use it to make forts, make snowmen, start snowball fights, ski and of course drive there whenever possible. . I remember that my first experience of oversteer took place at the age of 5 when my father decided to have fun and show how he could slide his 1964 Ford Mustang on snowy roads. We went into a deep rural ditch and had to travel a short distance to ask a local farmer to take our car out (no cell phone in the 60s). I recently told this story to my 91 year old mother and she was a little upset by the fact that my father never told him that (she is strong enough to remember it).
I had a 1977 VW Scirocco as the first car. As a front-wheel drive car, it tended to understeer. I could not have that, so I installed a front stabilizer bar that made handling more neutral. One of my favorite things to do after school was to take the car to a big park with a big circle. That's because if you traveled the circle at about 15 miles an hour when it was slippery (or 30 in good conditions), you could drift with the car, right on the edge of oversteer and understeer. My clbadmates loved it too. I learned to manage a car in very slippery conditions and I had a lot of fun doing it! (This was well before the electronic stability control and anti-lock brakes.)
I almost forgot to tell you about the tree that hit me! On the first day, my mother received a new Volkswagen Rabbit 1.5L from 1978 (not a powerful engine). I took her to the park to test the car, but my favorite circle was closed due to heavy snow. I had to turn around in a small cul-de-sac. In the middle of the cul-de-sac, someone had placed a small tree (about an inch in diameter and about 5 feet tall). I hit the tree with the left fender of my mother's new car and it did not do any damage. But this is not the end of the story.
There was also a steel pole holding the tree and I hit it too. It did damage and my mother was not happy. I told him that I would learn to repair it myself and I did it. Unfortunately, I did a very bad job. In fact, it was one of the worst examples of bodywork I've seen in my life. Fortunately, my mother is very indulgent. As fate would have it, my second cousin (while he was playing well – drinking and curling, but mostly drinking – at Iowa's only curling rink) hit the same defense a year later and paid to have it repaired by a professional.
Photo of the traces made by my rental car. You can see that I used the parking brake to slide the back to park perfectly in the space.
That's what I did, but I know a little better about the car:
How do different Tesla models behave on snowy and icy roads
If you have 10 minutes, this video is well worth your time! If that's not the case, that's why I'm here – summarize the points in minutes instead of 11 minutes.
The examiners test an X model, a model 3 and an S model. The first test is to climb a very steep slope of 30 degrees with a band of ice on one side. They first disabled the traction control – on an X model, only possible by Tesla, we can not do it (without hacking hardware or software). All Teslas have an open differential that lets all the power go on one side. This means that the car can not climb the hill. That's how most cars were 15 years ago, before the advent of electronic traction control. 40 or 50 years ago, they had a mechanical fix called limited slip differential that helped, but that was not very sophisticated.
Once the reviewers have reactivated the software, they apply a braking force to the spinning wheel so that the other wheel can get power and the car has no trouble climbing the hill. This feature is by no means exclusive to Tesla, but the Tesla version works very well.
At the next test, they try to change the emergency lane at 65 mph on slippery roads with the software disabled. About half of the time, the driver goes around in circles and about half the time, he manages perfectly and keeps control. With the software enabled, the lane change is boring. The stability control software cuts power and applies individual wheel brakes incredibly quickly (much faster than humans) to maintain control.
The third test is a 3 Performance model on a giant skid pad. With normal software enabled, the rear will come out a bit while keeping control of the car. If you activate the track mode, it allows you to accelerate faster and allow you to move much laterally. The software always saves you if you are really wrong, but it allows you to have more fun! Starting at around 8 minutes, it performs all the tricks of the Model S, but it also transfers the power from the back to the front and back to the rear to get you out instantly of the situation.
Tesla enjoys excellent maneuverability to sell more cars
I have recently been invited to participate in a contest with a friend in Finland to drive on the frozen sea in a Model 3 and Model S. If you wish to have the chance to participate, click on this link.
The other thing I could do is rent a model 3 performance in a northern climate in Turo. Then I would have a whole day to play with the treatment. Even if it involves some risk on public roads, I am ready to accept the consequences.[[[[Editor's Note: This should not be shared publicly.]
Conclusion
Whether you like snow or slippery conditions, Tesla offers you choices to make your driving experience safer – and for Model 3 Performance, more fun than ever!
If this article about driving on slippery roads helps you decide to order a Tesla, take advantage of my Tesla referral link to get up to 9 months of free boost (6 months if you have tested a car with Tesla) on a Model S, Model X or Model 3. Here is the code: https://ts.la/paul92237. Hurry, because the program ends on February 1st.
Keywords: Tesla, Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model 3 Handling, Tesla Model 3 Long Term Test, Tesla Model 3 Reviews, Snow Tesla Model 3
About the author
Paul Fosse Software Engineer for more than 30 years, I first worked on EDI software and more recently, developed data warehouse systems in the telecommunications sector and the health. Along the way, I've also had the opportunity to help create a software consulting firm and manage the portfolio of multiple investment trusts. In 2010, I became interested in electric cars because gasoline became expensive. In 2015, I started reading CleanTechnica and interested in solar energy, mainly because it threatened my oil and gas investments in my investment trusts. Tesla Investor. Tesla referral code: https://ts.la/paul92237
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