Cold spell, 27 F and 20-25 mph wind, really chilled the car. This slows charging as it first has to warm up the battery. Even then, charging rate is reduced because the warmed up battery is still cool. So the local, CCS-1 DC charging went from ~48 kW to initially 9 kW with heater off. The cabin heater added 2-3 kW load. What would normally be about 30 min grew to an hour. The extra charging cost negates savings from a lower motel rate. The best approach on the road is to stay at a motel with free charging even if others are cheaper. Use motel grid charging to warm up the battery and car. This gives near warm performance. Bob Wilson
Yes. Apparently if you navigate to a supercharger it will precondition the battery as you drive there. But AFAIK there is no manual way to tell it to condition the battery to prep for a L2 chargepoint or non Tesla charger. Bob how do you research hotels that have free charging?
Plugshare first looking for Tesla distribution chargers. Highlight each to see what property they are on. If nothing attractive, same thing with J1772 (or with the Tesla charger.) Click on each charger icon to see where they are. Then survey the fast DC chargers, SuperChargers and CCS-1. Use the map on highest resolution to see what might be next door. Some hotels have SuperChargers in their lot. In all cases, scan the check-in notes for problems or tricks. Bob Wilson
