You can find the defrost button in the climate menu
Like most vehicles, dealing with snow and ice on your Tesla can be challenging, especially during the colder months. Here are some essential winter tips and techniques to defrost your car and ensure your vehicle is ready for a safe drive.
Defrost From The Tesla App
One of the best parts of owning an EV is preheating the cabin before you get in
Before you even get to your vehicle, it's a great idea to preheat the cabin and turn on the defroster. Your Tesla's cabin will warm up extremely quickly thanks to a dedicated heater. Unlike internal combustion vehicles, the engine doesn't need to warm up before the vehicle starts producing heat. Teslas will start warming up immediately and it often only takes a few minutes to warm up the cabin to a comfortable temperature.
To start the climate system from the Tesla app, just tap the Fan icon directly underneath the vehicle. Those icons can be customized as well (see more below). Alternatively, you can scroll down to the Climate section and activate the climate system from there.
To start defrosting your vehicle, you can also add the Defrost icon to the quick actions icons underneath the vehicle model, or you can go into the Climate section.
Simply slide up the panel at the bottom of the screen to reveal additional options, which include Defrost Car, Bioweapon Defense Mode (if equipped), Camp Mode, and Dog Mode.
Tesla Defrost Button
Finding the defrost buttons in the vehicle is a little less obvious, and an area that Tesla can improve. However, it's crucial to use them if snow is building up on your windshield while driving.
To activate the front windshield defroster tap on the climate temperature at the bottom of the screen, then tap on the curved "Defrost" icon twice. The icon is placed to the right of the 'Auto' button on the climate screen.
Tapping the button once will activate the 'Defog' function and turn the icon blue. You'll want to tap it again so that it turns red and the vehicle starts aiming heat toward the windshield.
To start the rear defroster, tap on the rectangular defrost icon next to the AC icon. Unlike the front defroster, the rear defroster only has a heat option.
Differences Between Defrost Button In the App and the Car
The defrost button in the app works slightly differently than the button in the vehicle. When activating the defrost option in the app, the vehicle will turn on the front and rear defrosters, as well as set the cabin temperature to the max, whereas in the vehicle, the front defrost button will only turn on the front defroster.
There is currently no way to turn on the front defogger from the app, but you can manually activate the climate system with a lower temperature to help defog the vehicle.
Turn On Heated Mirrors
All Tesla models include heated mirrors, but there isn't a separate button to activate them. Instead, to turn on your heated mirrors, you'll want to activate the rear defroster, which will automatically activate both the rear defrost and your heated mirrors.
Defrost Charge Port
The charge port heater is also activated when you turn on the rear defrost button in the vehicle or when you activate defrost from the Tesla app.
Customize Vehicle's App Icons
Tap and hold any icon to customize the bottom row of apps
For quicker access to the vehicle's defrost buttons, you can add them to the row of icons at the bottom of the screen.
To customize the apps that appear along the bottom, simply tap and hold one of the icons until the 'All Apps' menu shows up with all available apps.
You can then drag the defrost button or any others to the bottom bar. Tap 'Done' above the apps menu to exit the customization mode.
Customize Tesla App Quick Actions
You can add a fifth favorite icon to the Tesla app
Similar to adding the Defrost icon to your vehicle's bottom bar, you can tap and hold any of the icons underneath your vehicle's 3D model to customize which options you want to have quick access to.
After tapping and holding any of the icons, you'll be presented with a table of available options. You can then drag any items to the quick access area.
Although Tesla defaults to only showing four favorite actions, you can squeeze in a fifth icon. Just follow our steps in 'How to Add a Fifth App Icon.'
Clearing Snow & Ice
If you preheated your vehicle, snow should be fairly easy to remove from the top of your vehicle. Thanks to the glass roof in most Teslas, the vehicle may have melted most of the snow off the top of the vehicle for you.
Use a soft brush or snow scraper to gently remove any remaining snow from the windshield, rear window, side mirrors, and lights. Avoid using hot water, as it can crack your windows.
Understanding how to defrost your Tesla and customize its settings ensures a safe and comfortable drive during some of the most crucial drives. Being able to remotely defrost or warm up your vehicle, even if it's in an enclosed area is easily one of the best parts of owning an EV. Take advantage of it and stay warm!
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Electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive has announced that it will open up its Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) chargers to Teslas and other EVs later this year.
The Rivian Adventure Network is a comprehensive network of fast-charging sites very similar to Tesla’s own Superchargers. According to Rivian, the Rivian Adventure Network is powered by 100% renewable energy.
New Rivian Chargers
In a post on X, Rivian added that it would introduce new chargers with a tap-to-pay experience to support “a wide range of EVs across a variety of battery voltages.”
Expanding RAN chargers and introducing new tap-to-pay chargers is a clear indication that Rivian is trying to increase customer convenience while ratcheting up its brand value.
All Rivian vehicles and most other EVs still use the CCS connector until they transition to NACS in the next few years. These new chargers will likely include a combination of NACS and CCS connectors to support Rivian’s current and future vehicles that will come equipped with an NACS port.
Charging a Tesla at a Rivian Charge
With over 50,000 Supercharger stalls, Tesla operates the biggest fast-charging network in the world. And 25,000 of these are located in the United States alone. The simplicity of charging at a Supercharger is part of the appeal. Tesla takes care of everything from initiating charging to billing. It ends up being no different than charging at home.
Tesla’s Supercharger network has a stellar reputation, mostly due to its high charging speed and reliability, which Tesla closely monitors in real-time. Major electric vehicle makers will start switching to NACS in the next few years and considering that the Supercharger network is highly trusted, one can see more non-Tesla EVs lining up at Superchargers soon. Giving Tesla owners more choice of where to charge may be crucial to combat congestion.
Rivian currently has over 400 charging stalls across 22 states but plans to expand to more than 600 chargers.
Making Rivian Chargers Just as Simple
While Rivian plans to add a tap-to-pay terminal to its new chargers, it’ll be difficult to beat the convenience of Superchargers for Tesla owners. After Rivian opens up its chargers to other EVs, Tesla owners would need to buy and use CCS to NACS adapters to charge at these networks, although not every Tesla supports the adapter. You can check if your vehicle supports the Tesla adapter.
To simplify the process for Tesla owners, Tesla would also need to interface with Rivian’s chargers to make billing as seamless as it is on its own Supercharger network.
Rivians Charging at Superchargers
Rivian has already begun shipping its customers NACS-to-CCS adapters to charge their vehicles at Tesla Supercharger.
Rivian officially got access to Tesla’s Supercharger network in March 2024. For now, only two companies–Ford and Rivian–have received access to charge at more than 15,000 Tesla Supercharger stalls. More companies like GM, Polestar, and Volvo will get access the following spring.
But Rivian is not stopping at NACS-to-CCS connectors. The Tesla rival plans to switch completely to the NACS port in 2025, at which point they’ll provide their owners a CCS to NACS adapter.
During Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, Tesla talked about its plan for its upcoming robotaxi network and even showed off a design for the app that would allow customers to request vehicles, much like Uber and Lyft.
While Tesla plans to unveil the robotaxi, officially now called CyberCab this August, a true autonomous taxi is at the very least, a couple of years away. So why is Tesla so eager to show off an app and start offering a Tesla taxi service?
in 2023 Uber had a revenue of 37.28 billion, while Lyft had a much smaller revenue of 4.4 billion. For comparison, Tesla’s revenue last year was 96.77 billion. A taxi service, even one operated by humans can be incredibly lucrative. While Tesla’s ultimate goal may be an automated taxi service, they may be itching to get into the space.
Tesla’s robotaxi was initially supposed to be a taxi service owners would lend their vehicles to. While that’s still the plan, Tesla wants their own vehicles to be a part of the service as well.
Will the Robotaxi Service Start With Tesla Drivers?
Tesla comparing themselves to Airbnb and Uber during their earnings call is intriguing. While Tesla can start producing robotaxis almost whenever they want, it’d likely be smart to wait until autonomy is solved so they’re not limiting themselves to current FSD hardware.
While full autonomy is likely several years away, Tesla seems to be eager to make this push toward a Tesla-owned service. Is Tesla thinking about operating their own Uber-like service? Tesla could be thinking about releasing their future robotaxi app and service in “beta,” letting current Tesla owners operate their own vehicles on the service.
This could result in several benefits for Tesla, not only letting them test their service but also opening up another revenue stream. This would allow Tesla to start operating their robotaxi network as soon as this year, and then slowly replace drivers and owner vehicles with Tesla-owned robotaxis.
Tesla Shows Off Robotaxi App
Tesla showed off it's robotaxi app
At the earnings call, Tesla also showed off a design of their robotaxi app. While it feels early to design an app for a service that could be years away, Tesla appears to be preparing itself for the future and getting customers excited about the prospect.
Tesla showed off five screens of the app, essentially showing how you’d request a robotaxi, how you can view its progress, and control certain features of the vehicle. Through the various screens, you can see most of Tesla’s Autopilot features coming to fruition in terms of autonomy, such as summon, self-driving and eventually Autopark.
Summon - Much like Tesla has re-thought the interior of a car and so many features, you can see the same mechanics applied to the app. To request a vehicle, you simply hold down a summon button and you’ll be presented with an estimate of when a vehicle will arrive.
Set Preferences and Destination - On the second screen, you can see the vehicle’s current location on a 3D map, possibly alluding to future FSD visualizations. It also lets you set your destination and set the climate temperature to your preference.
Trip Progress - While you’re traveling in the vehicle, you’ll be able to view trip information as well as set entertainment options.
Recap
Tesla had a lot to talk about during their earnings call and specifically about the Robotaxi — more information was revealed than ever before.
While there are various things at play to make a service like this come together, we can easily separate them out into separate components.
There’s the robotaxi itself, which Musk recently said would be similar to Tesla’s next-gen vehicle without a steering wheel. However, during this earnings call, he revealed that Tesla will save its new “unboxed” manufacturing process for the robotaxi and use a more traditional method for their next vehicle.
Then there’s FSD itself, while it’s crucial to operating a driverless robotaxi network, it’s not necessary to start a Tesla taxi service.
The last piece is the ride-hailing component itself and how it’s managed, and Tesla was happy to show this off, which makes us believe that it may be closer to reality than many think. While Tesla needs all three of these components to come together to operate a true robotaxi network, they piece them together separately, much like they’ve done with Autopilot. Initially, Tesla only released auto-steer then slowly added on summon, Autopark and city driving.
When we look back at Tesla five years from now, we may very well look back to this earnings call and say this was the pivotal moment when Tesla started transitioning to a services company.
TeslaFi logs your drives and charging sessions, letting you keep a log of your vehice's activity. We highly recommend checking them out if you use your car for business trips and would like to keep track of reimbursements, if you like to see how much you spend on charging or if you just love statistics. Visit their site and see everything they have to offer!
Tesla Android Project enables you to run Android apps in your Tesla. The platform is Open Source and you can deploy it on your own Raspberry Pi 4. Consider supporting the initiative by donating or purchasing the Compute Module 4 Bundle that delivers the best experience. Get $20 off by using the code: NotATeslaApp
The official Tesla app only notifies you if your car is broken into. By installing Sentry Pro on your phone, you will be notified for all Sentry Mode events. Stay connected and avoid potential surprises by receiving notifications. Stop constantly checking the cameras to ensure safety. Check only when necessary, save battery and get peace of mind. Get a 7 day free trial here!
Stay organized, connected, and stylish with Cyberbackpack — the #1 backpack, luggage & travel accessories for Tesla owners. We highly recommend checking them out if you commute or travel and would like a backpack or luggage that is sleek, secure and durable. View their products page and see everything they have to offer!
