Man deep froze his Tesla Model 3 Performance then immediately plugged it into a Supercharger to see what would happen
- This man wanted to see if a frozen Tesla would charge properly
- Surprisingly, the results were quite different from the expectations
- The car took a significantly long time to start charging
Published on Dec 17, 2024 at 5:14 PM (UTC+4)
by Nalin Rawat
Last updated on Dec 18, 2024 at 5:01 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
A man deep froze his Tesla Model 3 Performance to test if it would charge or not when plugged into a Supercharger.
His experiment led to some interesting results.
You might not know that batteries don’t like to charge when they are deep-frozen.
But what happens to an EV when it faces a similar situation?
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Charging a frozen Tesla Model 3
Kyle Conner from Out of Spec Reviews conducted an experiment showing exactly what happens when a Tesla is plugged into a Supercharger while being frozen.
Conner left his EV car at a Supercharger station for two days with temperatures dropping from -14°F to -21°F.
When he returned to the car and connected it to the charger it appeared to do absolutely nothing for 45 minutes.
Although the Tesla Model 3 Performance charges very quickly that wasn’t the case here.
The reason for that is cars use clever thermal management to make sure the battery always has the right temperature.
EV cars use battery pre-conditioning to raise the battery temperature even if it means dropping a few percentages.
Although Teslas do come with a battery heater, they do take a while to get running in extreme temperatures.
Pre-conditioning the battery
So Conner’s Tesla Model 3 was using all the energy drawn from the charger to warm up the battery.
Of course, there’s also a trick you can use to shorten your charge time.
If you use the voice command function to find a Supercharger and navigate towards it, your Tesla will start preconditioning your battery.
However, having to wait for a long time in the cold for your car to charge seems a little extreme.
That’s why most EV owners would charge their cars at home.
Plus, if you drive to a Supercharger simply inputting the destination into the car’s navigation system would trigger the battery pre-conditioning system.
So it will be quite rare for anyone to encounter a similar situation.
Nalin started his career by working with various national newspapers in India. He has also worked as a writer/editor for many popular websites, while still pursuing his journalism and mass communication degree. Working as a digital nomad has allowed him to inform and educate through his work. When he is not writing, you can find him playing video games or travelling the mountains on his bike.
