Charging in the winter

[Halodde]

Good morning! Does anyone have a good solution to cover the end of the charging cable and charging port when charging outside overnight in the winter? My charge port door was frozen open this morning because of the snow and ice that fell overnight last night.

It wasn't too bad and I was able to clear the blockage with my hands in a few minutes. But there was not a lot of precipitation last night. I can see this being a more significant problem in heavier snow and ice.

 

[Halodde]

Guess I should have just googled it first. There's options online. So now I guess my question is does anyone have a specific recommendation for one they have used?

 

[segbrk]

I have the Lucid outdoor cover since I don't have a garage. It has a velcro flap which lifts up to give you access to the charge port, while also covering it. I don't put it on every night, but I try to put it on any time there's severe weather (especially heavy wind or snow/ice) in the forecast. It is difficult to keep that thing clean on the inside to avoid scratches though - takes two people to shake it out and I haven't found a great way to dry it off after hosing it down.

 

[Halodde]

I have the Lucid outdoor cover since I don't have a garage. It has a velcro flap which lifts up to give you access to the charge port, while also covering it. I don't put it on every night, but I try to put it on any time there's severe weather (especially heavy wind or snow/ice) in the forecast. It is difficult to keep that thing clean on the inside to avoid scratches though - takes two people to shake it out and I haven't found a great way to dry it off after hosing it down.

Are you able to use remote climate to warm up the car with the cover on? If so, does any of the snow melt off the cover before you remove it?

 

[segbrk]

Yes you can turn on the heat with the cover on. I believe all the airflow is on the bottom of the car.

I haven't gotten an appreciable amount of snow yet to say for sure, but I doubt you'd get much snow melting like that considering I can't even melt a light frost on the body by blasting defrost. The glass heats up, the rest of the body stays frigid. The upside is, in theory, you can just roll the cover back off the car taking the snow with it. Or brush snow off the cover without worrying about paint scratches.

 

[borski]

Yes you can turn on the heat with the cover on. I believe all the airflow is on the bottom of the car.

I haven't gotten an appreciable amount of snow yet to say for sure, but I doubt you'd get much snow melting like that considering I can't even melt a light frost on the body by blasting defrost. The glass heats up, the rest of the body stays frigid. The upside is, in theory, you can just roll the cover back off the car taking the snow with it. Or brush snow off the cover without worrying about paint scratches.

Just to be clear: are you using defrost mode?

 

[segbrk]

Just to be clear: are you using defrost mode?

Yes. Defrost won't warm up the hood much at all, for example, just the windows. Nothing surprising there for an EV without an inefficient dinosaur juice explosion chamber hiding in the frunk.