Cold Weather Best Practices - Tesla MODEL Y 2012 Owner's Manual

To ensure that Model Y 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
Charging and Scheduled Departure on page
• 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
Controls on page 124). 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
sufficient time to precondition the Battery (see
Warming the Battery Before Supercharging on page
79).
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 Y door handle is slightly
different 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.
Driving

Cold Weather Best Practices

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. Press the frontmost part of the door handle to
initially try release light or moderate ice buildup.
Scheduled
165).
Climate
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.
4. Aiming for the rearmost end of the wide part of the
door handle, use the bottom of your fist to forcefully
bump the door handle. Increase the intensity of the
bumps as necessary, repeating steps 1 through 3 until
the ice is removed and the door handle can be
opened.
CAUTION: Never bump the vehicle so hard as
to cause a dent; the force used should be
similar to knocking on your neighbor's front
door.
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