By now, most of you have heard about the winter storm in Virginia that caused a huge traffic jam along Interstate 95 that stranded some people for 24 hours. There were people who claimed that such an event would cause problems for people who drive electric cars such as our Teslas.
Virginia traffic jam
NPR
There's a guy in Michigan who owns two Teslas, a Model X with the old-fashioned electric resistance heating and a Model Y with the newer heat pump heating. He calls himself Dirty Tesla because he lives on a dirt road, and he doesn't wash his cars much. He decided to do an experiment to see how his cars would fare in a traffic jam in cold weather.
Michigan has more than its share of cold weather. He picked a night where the temperature was predicted to vary between twelve and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. Both cars were charged to 90% at the beginning of the test, and he left them out in his yard overnight, unplugged. He set the cabin temperature of both cars to 70 degrees, and he engaged the driver's seat warmer to level 3, the warmest level.
After 12 hours, both cars were fine. The Model X had used more electricity, but both were capable of going another 12 hours of simulated traffic jam without running out of juice. The car wouldn't last as long if the traffic jam happened when the car was at a lower state of charge, but that same thing would be the case in a gas car if it were stuck in a traffic jam with less than a full tank of gas.
Some of his commenters mentioned that if there were a winter storm that cut off electric power, then electric cars couldn't charge their batteries, but, he pointed out, gas pumps work using electricity. You can't fill your gas tank if the gas station doesn't have electricity.
He mentioned that keeping the car at a lower temperature than 70 degrees would prolong the availability of battery power. He suggested 60 degrees as a reasonable temperature. That's not an issue with a gasoline powered car. Since heat is just a waste product of keeping the engine idling, you can keep the interior of the car as warm as you'd like without using extra gas. One of the things he neglected to mention is that if a gas-powered car is stopped for a long period of time with its engine running, even if it's outside, there's a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. There's no such danger with an electric car.
Here's some wintertime advice that's appropriate for both an electric car and a gasoline powered car.
He suggested keeping a blanket in the car during the winter. I thought that was such a good idea that I ordered some emergency space blankets to keep in my and my wife's cars. You might also want to keep some food that won't spoil, such as unsalted nuts. Keeping water in the car when you're not in the car is problematic since it could freeze and crack the container, but if you're going on a wintertime trip on a limited-access highway, you should bring some water with you.
Tesla stuck in Virginia traffic
Dan Kanninen, who used to work for the EPA drives a Tesla Model 3. He was caught in the traffic jam for 14 hours. He recently wrote about his experience in Teslarati.
Mr. Kanninen watched Netflix on his touchscreen while waiting for the traffic jam to end. He was comfortable in his car. At the end of the traffic jam, his car, the lowest range Tesla M3, still had 18% charge in it's battery. His car directed him to a supercharger. On the way to the supercharger, he saw long lines of cars waiting for gas stations to fill them up.
He made the point that EV owners who charge at home start each day with their programmed state of charge. That's usually 80% or more. Drivers of gasoline powered cars often start out with less than half a tank.
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest Tesla news, upcoming features and software updates.
Tesla software update 2024.44.3 has started rolling out to customers in larger waves recently and it brings several new features - including Actually Smart Summon to Europe and the Middle East, as well as improvements to Autopark. But that’s not all, it also adds a new Blind Spot Monitoring feature to the new Model 3, and potentially the Cybertruck, but that’s still to be determined.
We previously covered the Blind Spot Warning While Parked as part of our preview notes for update 2024.44, but now that it's going out to customers, it's time to see it in action.
If the vehicle’s door open button is pressed, and a vehicle or object is near or incoming, the vehicle’s Blind Spot Warning Light (2024 Model 3 and Cybertruck) will illuminate, an audible tone will ring and the door won’t open. A message will also be displayed on the center displaying, letting driver’s know why the door didn’t open.
Pressing the button a second time will allow you to override the warning and open the door normally, providing a way to get out in case you just parked close to a nearby vehicle or obstacle.
The object detection for this new feature includes cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and other objects - like things including traffic cones, bollards, strollers, and other large obstacles that FSD and vision-based Autopark detect during normal operation. Of note - this only works for the front two doors. Thanks to X user Max, who did some testing for us, It does not work for the rear passenger doors.
Optional Feature
The feature is optional - it’ll be enabled by default for safety, but if you need to enable or disable it, you can do so under Controls > Safety. For now, the feature is only available on the 2024 Model 3, but we expect it to roll out to the Cybertruck at least. However, there’s no reason why it can’t be added to other vehicles as well, minus the small red dot. We expect Tesla to eventually add this feature to all Tesla vehicles, but it’s currently not a part of update 2024.44.
Enhauto’s S3XY Buttons & Commander
If that’s not enough safety and vision for you, Enhauto, the makers of the popular S3XY Buttons and Commander recently put out a new software update for the 2024 Model 3, which makes some fantastic use of the ambient lighting.
With Enhauto’s solution, users are able to tie their ambient lights to Autopilot use, turn signals or even if a vehicle is their blind spot. Check out the video below for this awesome implementation, where the ambient lights turn red when another vehicle approaches.
Maybe Tesla will integrate something like this into a future update? We’ve been hoping for more customizability with their ambient lighting - it's an easy safety win and a demonstration of Tesla’s do-more-with-less attitude.
I look forward to @enhauto updates more than Tesla...
Ambient light effects....
I set default color to white. Blinks green on turn signals Turns blue on FSD activation Yellow if someone in blind spot Blinks red if turn signal on and blind spot activity detected.
The feature is now possible thanks to what Wes Morrill, Cybertruck’s lead engineering, points out is a huge rewrite of Tesla’s Trip Planner, which not only makes it much more accurate but will now allow users to choose their arrival charge percentage.
More Accurate Trip Planner
When you navigate to a destination, your Tesla will automatically calculate when, where, and how much you need to charge. While the process seems straightforward, Tesla deserves a lot of credit for creating a simple user experience because a lot goes into accurately determining this information.
Tesla has to calculate many moving pieces in order to accurately predict when and where you should stop. First, it needs to consider your driving efficiency and wind direction, terrain elevation, traffic, vehicle speed, and ambient temperature. It also needs to predict the best Superchargers to stop at, taking into account congestion and charger speed.
This morning, in response to Dan Burkland, Wes shared that Tesla had significantly rewritten the backend portion of Trip Planner. These improvements, made by several engineers, were designed to improve Trip Planner’s accuracy and open the door to future features.
It sounds like these changes are mostly server-side, so thanks to their OTA connection, more accurate predictions should be available to all vehicles—no vehicle update is required.
Arrival State of Charge
Along with Tesla’s improvements to Trip Planner, Wes also stated that these improvements allow for a popular feature request — the ability to select your desired charge level at arrival.
Up until now, Tesla’s Trip Planner tried to get you to your destination as quickly as possible, which usually meant arriving with a low state of charge.
While this was fine if you have a charger at your destination, it’s not great if you don’t, or it could be even worse if there are no chargers nearby.
Max de Zegher said on X that he has heard the requests for a selectable arrival state of charge. Wes later clarified this by saying that these improvements to Tesla’s Trip Planner now allow for additional features to be added, such as “desired arrival charge.”
Actually trip planner got a huge rewrite on the back end. I had a great conversation with one of the engineers working on this over a morning run a few weeks back, it's pretty neat. The rewrite also unlocks additional features, like desired arrival charge.
Given that Max de Zegher’s comments came last night and Wes Morrill commented this morning, this feature request likely won’t arrive with the upcoming Holiday Update. Tesla actually hinted at such a feature being added in their last app update, so it does seem like they’ve already planned for it.
Although ‘Arrival State of Charge’ was on our wishlist for the Holiday Update, it looks like it may arrive soon after the holidays.
![First Look at Tesla’s New 'Blind Spot While Parked' Feature [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/model-3-2024/blind-spot-indicator-monitor.jpg/4cdcb11af7b1c7cf021ba96588fd4f1a/blind-spot-indicator-monitor.jpg)
![Tesla Adds HEPA Filter to New Model 3, Will it Get Bioweapon Defense Mode? [Update: Tesla Edits Post]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/images/news/2023/new-model-3-hepa-filter_300w.jpg)
![Andrej Karpathy considers returning to Tesla to work on Optimus [video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/images/news/2022/karpathy-podcast_300w.jpg)
