Tesla launched a brand new video on its YouTube channel and on X (previously Twitter) final Friday, displaying off some excessive chilly climate testing in a Mannequin X and Mannequin Y. The video takes place at a Tesla facility only a few kilometers under the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway, with a few the automaker’s engineers displaying among the checks they carry out.
Above: A Tesla Mannequin Y (Picture: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).
Within the video, Norwegian area high quality engineers Andreas and Johannes briefly clarify how they carry out excessive chilly climate testing on Tesla’s automobiles. The Mannequin X and Mannequin Y are featured as a result of these electrical SUVs are usually higher fitted to rugged terrains and off-roading.
The temperature at Tesla’s Arctic Circle chilly climate testing website varies between -10 levels Celsius (14 levels Fahrenheit) and -15 levels Celsius (5 levels Fahrenheit). In line with Johannes and Andreas, the temperatures can generally drop all the way down to -27 levels Celsius (-16.6 levels Fahrenheit) on a windy day on the website.
Tesla’s chilly climate testing is completed within the area, and it depends on real-world information. This enables Tesla to measure buyer experiences prematurely, earlier than adjusting its {hardware} and software program accordingly.
“Testing is vital as a result of we are able to predict what the shopper will expertise when they’re truly driving right here,” Andreas explains within the video.
Notably, Tesla area high quality engineers don’t even ignore the small stuff. For instance, Tesla house owners who reside close to the shores in Norway after which drive in the direction of the mountains on the weekends usually expertise frozen water amassed across the wheels and the wipers. Tesla’s automobiles are examined for such a situation, and are later adjusted accordingly as part of the automaker’s steady enchancment philosophy.
Tesla engineers additionally examined the Mannequin Y and Mannequin X automobiles on an icy and slippery highway. Earlier this 12 months, we additionally noticed a Tesla Mannequin Y leveraging the Off-Street Help Mode characteristic to achieve traction on a moist, icy, and slippery floor.
So, Tesla already has options for such cold-weather conditions, although they nonetheless require fixed tweaking. Luckily, Tesla’s automobiles have the potential to obtain over-the-air (OTA) software program updates, additional enhancing the automobiles over time.
“We’re making an attempt to duplicate buyer eventualities and discovering all of the challenges with driving a automotive within the northern Scandinavian elements,” Andreas added.
Tesla even checks how the lights of their automobiles carry out underneath excessive chilly climate circumstances. As we are able to see within the video, a sensor is put in on the taillight of a Mannequin Y to measure humidity, temperature and stress that the inside of the sunshine experiences throughout testing. The acquired information will assist Tesla enhance automobile elements sooner or later.
Tesla’s first cold-weather testing facility is situated someplace in Alaska, in the USA. Now that it’s summer time, Tesla has additionally arrange a cold-weather testing website in Auckland, New Zealand the place it’s at the moment evaluating the Cybertruck. The corporate has additionally carried out hot-weather testing in excessive warmth circumstances.
The automaker by no means disclosed its cold-weather testing facility within the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway. A number of individuals might have identified about it, however it is not talked about fairly often. Since Tesla produces its Mannequin Y at a Gigafactory outdoors of Berlin, Germany, it might even be good to have a testing infrastructure in Europe, for higher localization of its automobiles.
Above: Tesla testing Mannequin Y and Mannequin X electrical SUVs for excessive chilly climate efficiency within the Arctic Circle (Video: Tesla by way of YouTube).
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Supply: TeslaNote: An earlier model of this text was revealed at Tesla Oracle. Writer: Iqtidar Ali.