Teslas and the Snow
By Oludare Richards
Do you own a Tesla? Does it snow in your geographical region? Do you wonder you how your Tesla would fair in low degrees? I do and I looked into it.
A friend had acquired snow chains for his Model S just before heading out on a road trip and ironically through the worst snowstorm in several years. He was lined up in one of the last cars up the road before it was closed to traffic.
He testified the Model S was an absolute champion.The Air suspension allowed lifting of the car above the snow, and the all wheel drive tracked through ice conditions that left other vehicles hopelessly parked on the side of the road.
The blowing snow blinded the autopilot cameras, so while he still had radar and ultrasonics, the vehicle couldn’t reliably determine where the lane markers were, which left it up to he and his friend on the trip to handle the steering for the most part.
But because the traction control and all-wheel-drive were still active, the end result was a much less stressful drive through freshly blowing snow at 3am than he ever had in any other 4 wheel drive vehicle.
Even without the snow chains, they were driving over hard packed ice up near Yosemite on a different trip, and the low center of gravity and torque control kept them firmly on the road, even without snow tires or chains.
"The AWD Model S with air suspension really was a joy to drive in the snow," Sloane said.
According to a review by Trucks.com, even if your Tesla is all-wheel drive, winter tires will add a layer of security for snowy and mountainous driving.
The vehicle tested was the Model X P100D “Performance” version equipped with winter tires. Its grip and traction were excellent even on off-road trails covered with several inches of snow.
Tflcar.com however recommends good tires.pWhen it comes to driving in winter conditions, there’s three things drivers need to consider. Acceleration, steering and braking are all important, and modern cars all have stability and traction control systems to keep the driver in control on slick surfaces.
In the Tesla Model X on its stock Continental CrossContact LX Sport tires, those systems are always limited by the mechanical grip that comes from the tires actually biting into the snow. If you don’t have the grip, those systems can only do so much and you become a passenger when you do lose traction in winter weather.
