Sub-Zero Extreme Cold Drive – R1T’s Range Hit Pretty Hard

[Pixelshot]

Minus 13 degrees (f) here in Denver - I thought it was a good excuse to go out for a very cold drive. I actually let the truck sit outside of the garage overnight to get the coldest battery possible. When I started it was 13 below and the truck was very cold. Over time, the range did start to climb but it took a while. PLUS, I had some mechanical issues! Anyway, I suffered for science. Hope you find this helpful.

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[Count Orlok]

My R1S sucked range in -11 today. I should have made a video.

 

[Thedude]

Mine was in turtle mode and super power limited after sitting outside the last two days. I plugged it into 120v for about 30-40 minutes while I stopped at work and it warmed up the battery enough to be good to go when I came back out.

 

[crashmtb]

Mine was in turtle mode and super power limited after sitting outside the last two days. I plugged it into 120v for about 30-40 minutes while I stopped at work and it warmed up the battery enough to be good to go when I came back out.

I wonder if a block heater outlet on a timer would be ok with the charger?(lots of places I go cycle the block heater plugs to save $$$)

 

[Thedude]

I wonder if a block heater outlet on a timer would be ok with the charger?(lots of places I go cycle the block heater plugs to save $$$)

I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. All my block heater timers were simple on/off, the charger and truck should just see that the same as if you plugged in or unplugged the charger itself.

 

[EVTrukHog]

minus 13 degrees (f) here in Denver - I thought it was a good excuse to go out for a very cold drive. I actually let the truck sit outside of the garage overnight to get the coldest battery possible. When I started it was 13 below and the truck was very cold. Over time, the range did start to climb but it took a while. PLUS, I had some mechanical issues! Anyway, I suffered for science. Hope you find this helpful.

I had exact same problem today in 5F temps…except I started in snow mode (from warm garage). After parked in cold for 4 hours, it wouldn’t shift out of snow mode (stuck in low position) and got the same sensor and suspension warnings. After 2 hard reboots and continuing to drive as it warmed up, it started behaving normally and warnings disappeared. Like you, I was wondering if it was due to extreme cold or software update hangover.

 

[Underwhirled]

I started from the garage this morning and warmed the cab prior to departure. I expected the range hit as it was bout 5 degrees out, but I didn’t expect not to be able keep the interior warm.

The climate system simply couldn’t overcome the cold outside. It was blowing warm air at best. I had pretty cold legs and knees, but the seats and steering wheel were nicely heated.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to face the ice forming on the bottom of the windshield today as the precipitation was over with.

How can one confirm that the heat strip is working at the bottom of the windshield?

 

[DTown3011]

I drove to the airport in my Model 3 yesterday, typically about 10% battery (20% total) either way. Yesterday I used 35% battery in -10* temps!

 

[RWerksman]

I'm visiting in-laws right now and have my R1T plugged in to 110 outside. So far today, with the dropping temperatures, we've moved backward. A few hours ago we were at 164. We're now at 158.

Oof

 

[joshtish]

I'm visiting in-laws right now and have my R1T plugged in to 110 outside. So far today, with the dropping temperatures, we've moved backward. A few hours ago we were at 164. We're now at 158.

Oof

Keep in mind that this is probably in part due to the physical temperature of the battery pack itself. The colder the battery, the lower the voltage it will report. The voltage is what’s measured for state of charge.

But I do suspect that almost all of the 1400 watts the 110 charger can draw is going towards battery conditioning instead of battery charging in this weather.

 

[formula22]

Plugged in to 110 sub zero and we lost about 20% in a day. Unplugged now and suspect this large drain will stop as i agree with the above comment.
”But I do suspect that almost all of the 1400 watts the 110 charger can draw is going towards battery conditioning instead of battery charging in this weather”

good to learn the limits…

 

[Tejkalra]

Well range I understand. What I m worried about is going to some cold place like mountains with cold Temps like 10F and snow and now you want to use snow mode and you find out snow mode is not working because it's too cold. WTF. Well that's disappointing. I hope his snow mode was not working because of some single rare problem. Not wide spread software and hardware problem. Hardware means, your suspension are frozen and are not capable to handle that temperature. Than that will be a big issue for rivian. I don't care about snow mode as I live in CA. But what happen if some day I decide to go to big bear mountain on snow day or take it to some other resort area.

 

[Thedude]

Well range I understand. What I m worried about is going to some cold place like mountains with cold Temps like 10F and snow and now you want to use snow mode and you find out snow mode is not working because it's too cold. WTF. Well that's disappointing. I hope his snow mode was not working because of some single rare problem. Not wide spread software and hardware problem. Hardware means, your suspension are frozen and are not capable to handle that temperature. Than that will be a big issue for rivian. I don't care about snow mode as I live in CA. But what happen if some day I decide to go to big bear mountain on snow day or take it to some other resort area.

I switched my drive modes around a number of times at sub-zero temps the last couple of days with no problems. Just this morning after a nice long -20° cold soak I went from all purpose standard height to sport lowest (makes hitching the trailer easier) then dropped the 7000lb trailer on and reset the suspension to towing standard height. All with no issues at all.

 

[brancky3]

I drove to the airport in my Model 3 yesterday, typically about 10% battery (20% total) either way. Yesterday I used 35% battery in -10* temps!

Ours (Model 3LR) used 80% yesterday to drive 160 miles to Atlanta. Normally that would have been like 45%. This was in about 15 to 20 degrees temps.

 

[RivianNowPlz]

While I feel bad for most new EV adopters, and I hate to be this guy, but damn it does kind of give me a shit grin to hear the very minor to more egregious inconveniences being discussed. Having had Teslas in many winters in cold Minnesota I’ve shared my experiences that have fallen of so many deaf ears or people who just refused to believe how these vehicles operate in cold weather, and not even about range but about inconveniences of keeping the cabin warm, condensation, general operability et al. I love my EVs…. But it’s challenging new technology for people in cold climates, and I’m not talking even about Colorado that gets snow that melts because they experience one cold day followed by 30s. I’m talking the Midwest where it’s multiple days in a row of negative degree weather with no sun. It’s different out here. Prepare wisely and realize EVs while my favorite vehicles on the road, I enjoy my EVs more than my Raptor but it’s hard to have only EV in our states.

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