coldrain85

We took a trip to Santa Monica last week to escape the heat wave that has burnt inland CA to a crisp over the past week+. I knew that it was going to be hot af all the way to the Hollywood Hills so I left the etron at home, and rented instead. We took I-5 from Sacramento, and heading to LA I saw the temperature get as hot as 117 near Avenal. On the way back it was 120 in the same location. In fact, on the way back it was 103 at Tejon Pass. I have never seen it that hot at that altitude so I knew that we were in for some record heat. By the time we descended into the valley it was 113, and it hovered in the 113-120 range until we got to the Los Banos cutoff where you get more of a breeze through the gap in the hills. For those who are not familiar with this stretch of road that's about 200 miles.

I saw a lot of struggling EV's on both legs of the trip. Almost all of the EV's that I saw in the valley were Teslas, about half were going 60mph, and the drivers in some of those looked a bit frantic. It got kind of annoying after a while because 3 or 4 Teslas would group up since they were all driving slow, and it would make it harder to pass them. Has anyone here driven an EV a significant distance in 110+ heat? Asphalt temperature runs about 40-60 degrees hotter than the air temperature in hot weather so the battery compartment is being slow cooked as the car barrels down the highway. That must have a significant impact on battery efficiency.

Oh, and on the way back I also saw a newer VW bug heading south on I-5 with flames and thick smoke coming out the back of it. That didn't look good. There were several other disabled vehicles as well. Most had blown tires, but there were some older vehicles with the hood up. Fortunately, most of them were being assisted by CHP when we passed by. It would suck to get stranded out there. That could be a potentially deadly situation.

A4 Phil

I own a '19 e-tron in MENA and the summer temps are regularly 130+. My EV operates far better than my old ICE. I have never seen hot temp degradation of performance. There is not much high speed charging so I do not have good stats on that. But regular operation is never an issue.

ThomasW

We were in Vegas last year and the car showed 119 degrees. The etron was doing just fine and the other EVs seemed good as well. The EA chargers did not fare as well at that temperature, at least not the ones in Vegas. One only gave us 4 kW. Other EVs had the same issue. We charged enough to make it to Henderson where we at least got 90 kW. Once the range was enough to make it to Baker, we left. In Baker, where it was only moderately cooler, the car charged at over 140 kW with no issues and continued our way to San Diego. Given the oversized thermal management in the etron, I am not too worried about 120-degree weather.

nadrealista

Drove to Philly and back in 100F weather yesterday with no issues. Car charged fast as normal when we got there as well.

skaven81

Back in 2020 I purchased my RV from a dealer in Parumph, NV and towed it back to San Diego. The day I did that tow (towed using my e-tron) it was well over 110 degrees for most of the drive. I didn't have any problem at all with torque or battery capacity. The battery management and cooling system in the e-tron is absolutely bonkers and can deal with heat and cold that other EVs might not be able to.

Techne

102 here today and I noticed how quickly the car cools down inside with the AC compared to ICE cars I have owned. Seems like a more efficient HVAC system on the cooling side.

jmp470

In Texas we regularly have temps over 100, the eTron has no issues with the temps. Now, 10 degrees outside is a different story.

I have not had 120 degree temps, I think the hottest I’ve had was 107 - 113 ish, and that was for 40 days straight.

coldrain85

It gets hot around here as well. We are sitting at 8 straight days of 105-111 with more of the same in the forecast over the next 3-4 days. That's a pretty bad heat wave for around here. Even in weather like that I haven't experienced any temperature related issues in the etron either. But I pretty much only use it for local driving, and driving to work which is less than 10 minutes away. I haven't had the opportunity to put a couple of hundred miles on it in 110+ degree heat, nor am I in a hurry to do so. It sounds like the thermal management system on this car is pretty solid though, so I wouldn't be scared if I had to.

I have driven that stretch of I-5 many many times, and Tesla drivers are usually flying along with everyone else. This time around it wasn't like that. Even the EV's that were going faster were hanging around the 70mph speed limit. I didn't get passed by an EV while I was driving through the valley in both directions. That's unusual. And I was keeping it around 75-80 for the most part when traffic allowed it. I don't think I saw a single etron the entire time. I saw plenty of them in LA and Sacramento, but not in between. Other than Tesla's, I saw a few Kia's, and one of those BMW i3's that makes me laugh every time. Wow, that drive must have been a struggle in that car. Hopefully they weren't going very far. The Kia's were going slow. Of course the i3 was going slow. It had to have been the heat. From the limited reading that I have done, it sounds like these cars are more or less unaffected up to a point due to liquid cooled batteries and other features, but when you get into the 115+ realm it starts to become an issue at least with some of them. Someone in Dubai was commenting that the range on their Tesla is noticeably affected when it's 115+. That's pretty extreme though, and what I experienced on Sunday was also a pretty extreme event. Las Vegas hit 120 that day which broke the previous record by three degrees. Redding set a new record at 119. Death Valley reached 128, and lived up to it's unfortunate name by claiming a life. Heat like this isn't something that the vast majority of the country has to worry about. I just thought it was interesting watching these cars get tested in unusually harsh conditions. I think it's also important to point out that I didn't see any EV's on the side of the freeway. I did see some broken down ICE vehicles, but no EV's.

Ryanthegreat1

It's been about 100 here the last few days. The etrons seem to love it. Incredible efficiency over my regular drives at the regular speeds I travel.

Battery happy spot I guess?

Not going to complain, cabin stays completely comfortable as always. Zero loss in performance from the drivetrain. Not something I am used to with ICE vehicles. AC sucking down the power and the high intake temperature makes for some pathetic performance in the hot.

Ze Germans did not skimp on the cooling performance.

RXSF

Problem was maybe not the EVs having issues, but maybe the charging stations and speed of battery usage from the AC? It also happened to be the 4th holiday weekend, so im guessing those superchargers were pretty full, and if heat had any impact on them, most likely they were not fast charging. Maybe the Teslas were driving slower to drive more efficiently and save energy.