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Without sweating it? Probably not. Is it doable? Probably.

Just as pertinent a question is whether there will be a place to charge (not just a 110v) at your sister in law's house - because the car will be almost out and if it's cold outside it'll need to be plugged in the entire time there.

Also once you get into battery degradation in a few years it's likely that in that temperature you couldn't make it after a while.

I am in a similar situation. I live in western WI and
make a trip to Duluth MN a few times a year in sub
Freezing temps. I also couldn't justify the extra $10,000
For the 85kwh, but after test driving the S I decided
I would rather enjoy driving the S for 99%of the time
And just rent a car the few times I would need the
extra range.

Yeah - Rocco - do you not have an ICE car that you can use for the trip? Or are the two of you just driving one car?

Probably not. And even if you can make it now, after a few years' of battery degradation, it may not be that way.

We have a pickup that she could use to make the trip but it's not a good option. So I guess you guys have confirmed my suspicions. I don't want to drop $80k+ on a car that's not much more than a commuter vehicle. I guess it's either an 85 kw or nothing. BTW we would have at least a 30 amp outlet in Hartford. The inlaw's an electrician.

roccosima, Too many naysayers out there. I live in Marion Iowa and I have made a trip to Oxford Wi (NE of Wisconsin Dells) a one way distance of 200 miles several times now. About half the drive is on 65 mph speed limit roads and the other half is on 55 mph roads with several small towns where I have to slow to the town speed limit. The terrain varies from reasonably flat to fairly hilly. I took about 3.75 hours to do the drive this past weekend with temps starting at 25 and ending at 12. I kept the cabin around 66-68 the whole trip. I did a full range mode charge and preheated the cabin prior to departure. When I arrived I had a few miles remaining. I did very little babying of the car during my drive to get these results.

On the return trip temps started at 14 and ended at 34. I also had about 40 miles where I was able to draft behind a semi. I had over 20 miles left when I got home and I was driving much faster from the time I was drafting until I got home. This tells you more about the effect of drafting then it does about temps but I would not be the least bit worried about making this trip if I were you.

Sorry I didn't fully read your status about a 60 kwh battery. Mine is a 85 kwh. So then I would agree that you would have a rough time making it.

roccosima,

We have an 85 kw Model S and use 175 miles as the absolute limit for safe trip planning (with 20% range cushion for contingencies)in 40-50 degree weather here in the mid-atlantic. With the 60 kw, I would reduce that proportionately to 125 miles for planning purposes, and cut it a bit further for the lower temps, perhaps another 20% to be safe, so 100 miles planning range in your situation. That should leave you with 30-50 miles in the tank, but that is only respobsible.

The bottom line is, no, you can't rely on a 60 kw Model S to make a 145-mile trip in cold weather, year in and year out, especially as the battery degrades over time. However, with an 85, this would be NO PROBLEM, and you would be driving one of the greatest peices of technology ever created by mankind, and would have a better feeling in your regular driving about having more reserve any time you want it. The $10K is money well spent in my opinion.

Theresa,

Seriously? You say "I kept the cabin around 66-68 the whole trip. I did a full range mode charge and preheated the cabin prior to departure. When I arrived I had a few miles remaining." and "I also had about 40 miles where I was able to draft behind a semi. I had over 20 miles left when I got home and I was driving much faster from the time I was drafting until I got home."

Way too many compromises and risk in your strategy for my planning. First, you have an 85, not a 60. Second, no responsible person would plan a trip in one of these cars to finish with only a few miles remaining (although I did so once and learned the hard way that real range is 175, not 265). 20-30% (50 miles) is the minimum reserve in my opinion for trip planning. 200 miles in an 85 is pushing it for planning purposes, and in a couple years the car will NOT make it that far due to battery degredation. Like you, I did one trip (240 miles on flat land at 55 and below) where I eneded with only four miles range. I will NEVER again either drive my car with so many compromises (such as reduced cabin comfort), or with that few miles in reserve.

Low cabin temps, pre-heating, full range charges, and drafting trucks are not part of normal driving strategy or techniques and have drawbacks that I am not willing to accept (such as faster battery wear through full charging, no gurantee that a truck will be conveniently going my way and at my speed, etc.).

As owners, we and Tesla corporate need to be more careful about what we say about these cars so they are not oversold. I over-bought the story, am not unhappy, but cannot use mine for about 100 trips that we make per year (we live 193 miles from the JHU campus where I teach weekly, and expected to use teh S for that trip - no can do) because I actually believed that 250 was a reasonable range plan. It is not. Neither is 200, without serious compomises of time and comfort, and with enough left in the tank. 175 is it and we should say so, and TM should recalibrate its marketing and range software accordingly.

I just did a 182 mile round trip drive with my 60kWh. Outside temps were 38F during the day and <30F for the night drive home. I did loss charge while the car sat for a few hours so I plugged it in for an hours at an RV park before I left for home. I arrived home with 11 rated miles left. I used 62kWh on the trip. I could have made 160 miles no sweet but I wasted about 20 miles showing off the car to the inlaws. I also started my journey with 197 miles of charge because I didn't want to wait for it to complete. I pre-heated the cabin to 68. For the night drive home my wife turned it up to 74. We both used the heated seats on setting 1. I did not use the setting to increase my range. (i forget what it's called) My average watt hour for the trip was 344.

You should have no problems at all making 145 miles without having to charge. I felt no range worry because I plotted out three RV charge spots along my route just in case. You could do the same. Just keep your foot off the floor.

To me all it takes to remove range anxiety is to know where to charge just in case. Remember IF you need any charge at all it will be 15-30 mintues worth. You can spend that time on the forum in the car explain the power losses of your trip :-)

Just remember, on a 10-30 or 14-30 outlet you only get 18 miles per hour of charging, so you'd need a full 12 hours of charging to put a range charge on a 60kwh car to attempt to make the drive home.

But what it comes down to is your wife. If she's not like, really into the car and totally gets how to maximize range and plan to fully charge (and wouldn't be stressed out and feeling awful doing so), then it's doable.

You know her better than we do.

Some people find letting their wife drive extends range remarkably.

From my experience and reading others' cold weather performance, I would budget at least 400 Wh/mile. Since the batteries have a couple of Wh reserve, I wouldn't plan to go much more than 145 miles on an extended charge. You can download my spreadsheets/reference sheets from http://hannelconsulting.com/tesla

@Sudre_, you were able to make a 182 mile roundtrip? That's great news to me. I plan to make a 320 mile trip in the Summer, with a supercharger at 170 miles. And, based on your experience, it should be pretty comfortable to make it.

Also, when you wrote I did not use the setting to increase my range, do you mean range mode vs. standard mode?

~ Prash.

'range mode', yes those are the words I was looking for.

To easy Dave's worries, I did not have to draft trucks :-) It's funny my 60kWh battery goes further than his 85 but I do have to max charge to do it. I guess I don't put my foot to the floor as much.

I think I can go further and can't wait to give it a try. Next trip I will use range mode and not do a max charge and see how far I get. Once I figure out what my winter average long trip watt/mile is I am good to go.

Sudre_;
Have you tried the magic "let your wife drive" range extender?

I wasn't going to let my wife touch the steering wheel but now it's happened. She has decided she likes the car and how it drives and I have to live in fear of her taking it away from me :-(

@Sudre what was your avg speed?

@sudre admits charging along the way. That's not range confirmation. Also, he had only 11 miles left at the end. That's running on empty with no AAA gas can available. I consider less than 25 to be the same as empty and to plan on using it is irresponsible (for me, not making any judgments on others).

I recently did a 160 mile round trip in my 60 kWh with a few hours of 110 charging @~3 miles/hour the weather was roughly freezing. I made the trip with reasonable driving, but most of my efficient driving was done on surface roads. I was consuming too much power on the interstate, and would not have made it if I stayed on the highway.

Even though the surface route is hilly compared to the interstate, I was averaging better than rated range in the 45 mile/hour zones (still driving ~50-53). That route is actually shorter distance, and much more efficient in the model S. 65 mph zones suck the batteries down fast (especially since I find it hard not to go 70 in a 65!), whereas the surface roads like county "highways" in upstate NY seem to be almost ideal range even with cabin heating reasonably.

I do think I will greatly enjoy the nudge this makes toward more interesting driving routes. Especially since I live near the finger lakes which have some beautiful views on these 45 mph zone roads.

Leo;
A fascinating vision. Model S owners avoiding the hispeed zones and exploring the secondary highways, and lovin' it.