Tesla Model Y Snow Tire Range

2023 Tesla Model Y with Winter Tires

Winter is here and we've put snow tires on our new Model Y.  I was curious how this would impact our range, so I collected the data, crunched some numbers, and we'll look at the results. 

We recently installed a roof rack on our Model Y and we did a similar exercise. You can see the roof rack results here. 

Our vehicle: 2023 Tesla Model Y Dual Motor AWD
Options: 5-seater, 19" wheels

2023 Model Y Dual Motor AWD LR 5 Seater with 19" Wheels
	Stock Tires & Wheels	Winter Tires & Wheels
Tires	Continental ProContact RX 255/24 R19	Michelin X-Ice Snow 255 /45 R19 104H XL BSW
Wheels	19’’ Gemini	Vision VIS Cross II 73.10
Efficiency (miles/kWh)	4.2	3.4 (19% lower)
Efficiency (Wh/km)	147.6	183.3 (19% worse)

If you stop reading here, you might assume all of the efficiency decrease is due to the new tires. However, the pre-snow tire drives were in Sept. and early Oct. with temperatures in the mid-70s F (around 24C). The snow tire drives, on the other hand, were in late Oct. and Nov. with temperatures in the 30-50F (0-10C) range.

The colder temps reduce EV range in several small ways: 

• The air is thicker and it takes more energy to move it aside
• With the cold weather we turned on the cabin heater, seat heaters, and defroster 
• Much like humans, battery packs have a temperatures range where they run best. So, in cold weather, battery conditioning turns on and uses energy.
  
  

Range Impacts 

Our vehicle was EPA rated with 330 miles of range.  The colder weather and winter tires reduce this ideal range by 19% bringing it down to 266 miles. 

This is one of the reasons that we purchased a long range EV. The EPA rated ranges are in ideal conditions, real life is often far from ideal. I want to make sure we still have range enough to make traveling easy even if we're traveling over mountains, in winter, with luggage on the roof rack... 

Disclosure: 
Use my referral code for any perks Tesla may be offering https://ts.la/patrick7819
I am long Tesla