Hauling a fridge in cold temps…beware!

[Patriot]

This is another one of those situations where people that have been driving EVs for a while just know that cold temperatures and aerodynamic drag significantly reduce range in an EV. It's not something people coming from ICE have had to deal with before. It would be great if the technology could tell us exactly how much range we have given our speed, load, and driving conditions, but there are just too many variables. The truck has no way of knowing if you are hauling your wind-sail of a fridge the entire way, dropping it off on the way, or hauling empty. Are you going to drive 80 the entire way, or are you going to run into some traffic congestion and construction and average closer to 50? For now, just remember to leave some buffer between chargers and if you notice your range is decreasing faster than planned, slow down and conserve energy. The range estimates in cold weather are getting better, but it's still just an estimate assuming "normal" conditions.

Sponsored

 

[Cybermo]

Vs the others that love the truck and its master class of engineering..not apples to apples comparison. People will post gripes more than post praise. It's just the nature of modern man.

Regardless, if your plan is to haul refrigerators in sub zero temps regularly, this may not be the truck for you.

The more I read about others experiences the more I think this truck blows balls. I’m slowly tiring into a hater

 

[BeFamousVideo]

On a recent trip near zero degree temperatures I was losing up to 10% of arrival state of charge between stops. In good weather, you can essentially follow the trip guidance, when it says ready to go. In cold weather, I always go 10%+ over when it says you can leave, the trip meter doesn't seem to calculate for energy loss in very cold weather.

I had a Ford Lightning before this and it did the same thing in cold temps, was always underestimating energy usage. I wonder if there are any EVs that read the outside temperature and accurately scale back the energy usage on a trip?

Yes. And here's another reason to add a battery buffer after computer says ready to resume trip. Even without extreme temps. I find it's always cutting range estimate too close for comfort. On a recent 400 mi. one way trip. The new feature, % battery remaining at arrival is important to set and to get it right. In my trip FSD skipped a supercharger highway offramp and had me down to 3% battery at charging station. That's outside of my comfort zone.
So as the Caption of the space ship, I now require 10% or more at arrival.
I wish I knew how to trick the supercharger to not slow down once battery reaches resume trip level.

 

[BeFamousVideo]

This is another one of those situations where people that have been driving EVs for a while just know that cold temperatures and aerodynamic drag significantly reduce range in an EV. It's not something people coming from ICE have had to deal with before. It would be great if the technology could tell us exactly how much range we have given our speed, load, and driving conditions, but there are just too many variables. The truck has no way of knowing if you are hauling your wind-sail of a fridge the entire way, dropping it off on the way, or hauling empty. Are you going to drive 80 the entire way, or are you going to run into some traffic congestion and construction and average closer to 50? For now, just remember to leave some buffer between chargers and if you notice your range is decreasing faster than planned, slow down and conserve energy. The range estimates in cold weather are getting better, but it's still just an estimate assuming "normal" conditions.

You inspired me to ask Grok onboard. If nothing else than to get a 2nd opinion. A feature I should start using more. Grok is damn smart. I use it on PC a ton.

 

[CyberGus]

I wish I knew how to trick the supercharger to not slow down once battery reaches resume trip level.

Does it? There's little benefit to Tesla by keeping you there longer, blocking the stall. It's probably just the standard charge curve, and the "resume trip level" is designed with that in mind.

 

[ted46]

Easily solved by laying the appliance down, and thus not creating a massive aerodynamics problem. Are you new to pickups and hauling?

Generally recommended to haul refrigerator/freezers upright.

 

[CyberGus]

PRO-TIP: don't haul a Sub-Zero in sub-zero

 

[BeFamousVideo]

Does it? There's little benefit to Tesla by keeping you there longer, blocking the stall. It's probably just the standard charge curve, and the "resume trip level" is designed with that in mind.

Yes, on this last trip of 800 miles. Charging speeds were up to 589kw then would drop to 220. The curve definitely pushed me to depart rather than wait for a bigger battery buffer.

 

[Tallgeese179]

Does it? There's little benefit to Tesla by keeping you there longer, blocking the stall. It's probably just the standard charge curve, and the "resume trip level" is designed with that in mind.

Agree on this one, the charge curve is what it is to some extent. The speed of charging is wildly fast when the battery is pre-conditioned and at a very low state. That's why most of the competitive challenges that YouTubers do always have the battery down to almost 0%. After 80% (and even leading up to it) it has to charge slower.

From reading around here, someone mentioned crunching numbers and saying that it's always going to be faster to just charge more times than it is to hyper-mile up to something like 90 MPH. I'm sure this blanket statement can't be perfect every time, but it does seem like unless you're limited on charge stop options or could make it with no-stops, it's better to just go 10-80%, go at a reasonable speed, and just charge when you need to.

There's also probably a divide between folks with kids and without. There is NO SHOT I can go more than 2 hours straight and not stop for at least 30 mins, which means EV and ICE doesn't make a difference for speed of travel

 

[CyberGus]

Yes, on this last trip of 800 miles. Charging speeds were up to 589kw then would drop to 220. The curve definitely pushed me to depart rather than wait for a bigger battery buffer.

Right, that sounds like the standard charge curve. The pack cannot maintain 200kW+ beyond about 30% SoC (and I didn't even know that almost 600kW was possible lol)

 

[kdn]

So back to the fridge. Those things that contain refrigerant need to be stored upright or in original usage condition. The oil in the compressor will move around and make it not a good sit. One could lay it on the side, and wait some time, but the problem might be the bed length.

Funny how some individuals don't know that you shouldn't lay a refrigerator down.

 

[CyberGus]

Funny how some individuals don't know that you shouldn't lay a refrigerator down.

More of a guideline than a rule

 

[Outdoors]

More of a guideline than a rule

Yeah. Like believing all the Tesla battery's love here. Most do it, but it isn't a rule.

 

[Kengineer]

I went to key west from Huntsville AL last December of 2024. What I noticed was that it usually under estimated the range. I had more percentage left than estimated for each stop. I drove FSD for most of the trip.

 

[Outdoors]

I went to key west from Huntsville AL last December of 2024. What I noticed was that it usually under estimated the range. I had more percentage left than estimated for each stop. I drove FSD for most of the trip.

Thanks for the timely update.

Sponsored