Tesla MODEL 3 2012 - Cold Weather Best Practices

To ensure that Model 3 provides you with the
best ownership experience possible in harsh
cold weather conditions, follow these best
practices.
Before Driving
When snow and ice accumulate on your
vehicle, moving parts, such as the door
handles, windows, mirrors, and wipers can
freeze in place. To achieve maximum range
and performance, it is helpful to warm the
cabin and Battery before you leave. There are
several ways to do so:
•
Touch Schedule, available on both the
charging and climate control screens, to
set a time when you want your vehicle to
be ready to drive (see
Scheduled
Charging and Scheduled Departure on
page 192).
•
On the mobile app, navigate to Climate to
customize the temperature at which you
want to heat the cabin. This also warms
the high voltage Battery as needed.
•
On the mobile app, navigate to Climate >
Defrost Car to melt snow, ice, and frost on
the windshield, windows, and mirrors. This
also warms the high voltage Battery as
needed.
NOTE: Tesla recommends activating
climate settings at least 30-45 minutes
before departure (see
Climate Controls on
page 146). Preconditioning times depend
on outside temperature and other factors.
The Mobile App will notify you once your
vehicle has reached the desired
preconditioning temperature.
•
In extremely cold weather or icy
conditions, it is possible that your charge
port latch may freeze in place.
Some
vehicles are equipped with a charge port
inlet heater that turns on when you turn
on the rear defrost in cold weather
conditions. You can also thaw ice on the
charge port latch by enabling Defrost Car
on the mobile app.
• Warming the Battery using Scheduled
Departure or the mobile app before
driving can also reduce charging time at a
Supercharger or third party fast charger,
especially if the Supercharger or third
party fast charger is close enough that
Trip Planner (if available in your market
region) does not have
sucient time to
precondition the Battery (see
Warming
the Battery Before Supercharging on
page 91).
Removing Ice From Door Handle
In severe winter conditions, ice buildup within
the door handle can prevent the door handle
from opening. The process for freeing a
Model 3 door handle is slightly dierent than
other door handles; you can usually remove
the ice with a few forceful bumps to the door
handle using the bottom of your fist.
CAUTION: Remove any jewelry or
objects that can damage the paint
prior to performing the procedure,
and do not attempt to use tools or
excessive force.
NOTE: Preemptively applying WD-40 to the
door handle pivot pins can help prevent ice
buildup inside your door handle.
Perform the following to remove ice from the
door handle:
1.
If your vehicle is equipped with black
door handles, press the frontmost part of
the door handle to initially try release
light or moderate ice buildup.
2.
Forcefully press the rear-most part of the
door handle to try to open the door
handle.
3. Working in a circular pattern around the
perimeter of the door handle, use the
bottom of your
fist to forcefully bump the
door handle to break and release the ice
buildup.
Cold Weather Best Practices
88 MODEL 3 Owner's Manual