What do you need a garage for ? Are you worried about rust ? Are you worried about hooligans damaging it ? That maybe your tush might not be warm enough ? What Are You Worried About ? Check out the videos of the Cybertruck driving in Alaska (yes), Norway, etc. As long as you have reasonable access to electricity, you should be just fine in cold weather. Just do the research. Several S3s in nearest small city (pop. ca. 70,000, w/chargers), and nothing but good reports. (This is from a little old lady (5'2", 70 yo) who's tired of nonsense vehicles, and looking forward to a vehicle to keep up with my northern British Columbia lifestyle.)
From Aron in Saskatchewan, in a thread on this site specifically asking about the Cybertruck in cold conditions: "All electric cars lose range with temperature but so do ICE cars. It is only temporary and will be better again when warm. Battery size and charge speed is the best way to overcome this issue. The bigger the battery the more capacity it has to run the thermal management and warm the batteries which lets you go further in the cold. Faster charging let’s you get back on the road faster and not cool down to much. Right now you will loose 1/4 to 1/3 range around -20C. The colder batteries are only one aspect of this reduced range. The denser air has a lot to do with it. My current ICE vehicle goes between 500-600km on a tank depending on wind in the summer. In the winter I get between 400-450km per tank. So an ICE vehicle loses 1/4-1/3 range in winter too. Drag coefficient and efficiency of electric are better than ICE cars so that helps. You can change your heating in an EV and get more range. I have a heated hoodie that I will use to help me get more range by reducing the heat output if I need. Can’t do that in an ICE vehicle."
I Spent 28 years In Anchorage. Retired and moved south in 2016. I really miss the summers, but not so much the winters. I think the cybertruck will do well in Alaska.
I've seen some homes that had "tandem" garages, which is twice as long on one side, so even a CT w/trailer could fit. Would be cool if you could build one like that...
Not really. Air at -20°C is only 16% denser than air at + 20 °C. Yes, that's significant but I wouldn't, given that drag is only one of several loads, say that's a lot. I'll suggest, based on observation, that stuff on the roadbed is the biggest factor. Even rain can increase the consumption of a BEV by 35 - 40% so I'm guessing that snow, sand etc. would have a similar or worse effect. Also keep in mind that the hypoid oil in the differentials is going to be thicker in cold weather, at least for the early part of a drive.
Heating usually gets the majority of the blame and some of that is deserved. But note that the Y has, and we can be sure that the CT's will too, a heat pump. This isn't going to do much at -10 °C and below but will do a lot to reduce the amount of battery energy required to heat at more modest temperatures. Also Tesla's are equipped with seat heaters. I didn't believe it until I tried it but you really can be comfortable at lower cabin temperature is your back an bum are warm.
As a golfer I can tell you in addition to the increase in friction of rain on the tires, rain has a huge effect on how far a golfball goes in the air. So you are talking about drag created by lower temperature, higher humidity and depending on how hard it's raining, water having a much higher density, causing a lot more aerodynamic drag. Of course I drive a golf ball a lot faster than I drive my vehicles.
