Traffic jams and your battery
An electric car in a traffic jam uses very little energy. There's no engine idling: the car only uses power for the screen, lights and, mainly, heating or air conditioning.
How long can you sit with the heating on?
Heating or cooling a cabin usually takes a few kilowatts at first, then less once the cabin is at temperature. With a reasonable amount of charge, a Tesla can keep you warm for many hours in a stationary queue. That's often longer than a petrol car on a low tank.
In a long closure
- Turn on Camp Mode if you'll be stopped for a long time. It keeps the climate and screen running steadily. See Camp Mode.
- Use seat heaters and a lower cabin temperature to save energy.
- Keep an eye on the battery and the distance to the next charger.
- Follow police and National Highways instructions.
Crawling traffic
Stop-start traffic is efficient in an electric car because regenerative braking recovers energy. You may find range goes further in slow traffic than at 70 mph.