2/3 of Regen breaking lost... How to get it back? (during winter)

[Gus-MX]

Took delivery of my MX 100D 3 weeks ago. I live in Maryland so temp hover around 32 F these past few weeks.
I have the dotted yellow line at the regen braking ever since delivery I can't find the way to warm/precondition the battery enough to make it go away. With this new update (50.2) and new app I tried the whole plug the car/turn on climate for an hour but nothing seems different in the app or the car and the dotted line wont go away. My commute is about 20 min and doesn't seem to make the dots go away either.
I would love to find the way during the winter to drive with most of the regen braking working properly.

Help..

Thanks.

 

[MGMDaware]

Northern VA here. Same issue. There is nothing you can do. "Preconditioning" will not help the battery warm up, at least in my experience. I'm on my second Tesla, and both have had the same issues in cold weather. You will absolutely lose 20% (give or take) range in the frigid cold. I assume the massive loss is due in part to 1) loss of regen and 2) decreased battery warming efficiency. The cold also decreases performance a bit, but not enough that I really notice. The good news . . . the heat works and preconditioning from the app means you will nice and toasty the second you get into the car . . . even when it's 13 degrees (like this morning).

 

[MacGreiner]

'Tis true. With the cold this morning the new battery precondition icon came up. Still had only about 50 kw of regen.

 

[boaterva]

Today should definitely be a good test for the ‘new’ preconditioning. (11 degrees F in NoVa here)

Are you saying your car was outside so the pack is definitely below 46 (the threshold for heating we think it’s set to) and you saw the snowflake showing pack heating was on for an hour with little results? Could be that an hour isn’t enough in those temps. I would have thought automatic heating would have come on though if the pack got cold enough overnight.

 

[AdamHLG]

Same issue here. I'm in Baltimore also. And based on the latest peek of the next 10 days it's not going away any time soon. Brrrrr.

The good news? It's normal. The cabin preheating is the best feature of the winter so far.

 

[LMichel]

Good Luck!
I have 50.1 and 3.2.3 of the app.. Still have never seen the button for preconditioning where others have shown it on their apps.
Yesterday was 7F here. I drove 45 minutes, parked for 10 minutes while in Lowes and drove 45 minutes back. Pulled back into the garage and never had full regen. I still like my "Dedicated Battery for Regen" Idea. It totally should be an option.

 

[BerTX]

1) If you have Range Mode turned on, battery preheat may be limited.

2) It only heats the battery until it is above a certain temperature. Ambient temperature is not the deciding factor. It does not heat it fully up to the point where you get full regen. That usually only occurs after driving.

3) Charging also warms the battery. Try timing your charge such that it finishes or is still charging when you are ready to depart.

Disclaimer: These are only things I have read on TMC. I don't do cold.

 

[Xtek]

Sorry to be that guy...

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_x_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

Page 57

EDIT: People have noted the some of the best ways to get it back. I've found wide open throttle acceleration blasts can get it back pretty quickly too. As long as you aren't too dependent on range.

 

[Xtek]

Good Luck!
I have 50.1 and 3.2.3 of the app.. Still have never seen the button for preconditioning where others have shown it on their apps.
Yesterday was 7F here. I drove 45 minutes, parked for 10 minutes while in Lowes and drove 45 minutes back. Pulled back into the garage and never had full regen. I still like my "Dedicated Battery for Regen" Idea. It totally should be an option.

I started a thread about this in the Model S forum. You can't force preconditioning of your battery and the icon will only show up under the following conditions.

1. You are not in the car (this is because the icon only shows up when pre-conditioning, when you get in the car climate is just on at that point)
2. Your battery pack is cold enough
3. You are pre conditioning the car remotely

The icon is just information and is not something you can click.

 

[Dax279]

I actually prefer the partial regen when things get slippery. It seems some have thought that full regen braking in harsh conditions may have contributed to them getting into an accident. I’d just rather not take any chances.

Also, I find partial regen slows the car down very nicely and more controlled than a ICE in many situations.

 

[AdamHLG]

As a snow lover, this is good advice for when it actually precipitates when it's cold. However, for us here in the Mid Atlantic it's just bone chilling cold. No snow. And you know what's great about ice cold conditions outside when there is no snow? Nothing.

 

[DarkMatter]

I look at the percentage when I get going and adjust the schedule charging start time so it's still charging when I leave. In the absence of a feature to do that automatically it works pretty well.

 

[Panchratan]

I actually prefer the partial regen when things get slippery. It seems some have thought that full regen braking in harsh conditions may have contributed to them getting into an accident. I’d just rather not take any chances.

Also, I find partial regen slows the car down very nicely and more controlled than a ICE in many situations.

Do you mean "low" when you say "partial" regen braking?

 

[BerTX]

I look at the percentage when I get going and adjust the schedule charging start time so it's still charging when I leave. In the absence of a feature to do that automatically it works pretty well.

Dashboard for Tesla has the Smart Charging feature that will allow setting a time to be finished and will start the charging at the appropriate time.

 

[DarkMatter]

It's pretty quick to do anyway. I leave at 7, so I look at the 'kW since last charge', divide by ten, and set it to start that many hours in advance. I suppose I might have to finally buy that app, though, because it is full of neat features.

 

[Dax279]

Do you mean "low" when you say "partial" regen braking?

I guess I do, but to be specific I am saying that I’m slick conditions I prefer not to have full regen braking (if this is more accurately described as low, then this is what I mean). I can’t remember what they call it when you can choose something less than full regen in the settings screen.

 

[Gus-MX]

So last night I had 50 more miles to go for a full 100 % charge on my model X and I scheduled a charge at 5 am so the car will be at 100% around 6-615 am (72 amp, car is inside an attached garage at around 40 F) (I am heading out of town for a long trip today) and sure enough the last few miles trickled in right before I got in the car at 620. However, I still had more than half of the regen breaking area with dotted lines... Those who have tried this maneuver to have their batteries nice and warm, can I expect all yellow dots to go away? Did I do something wrong? Is charging only for about 1 hour not enough time?...
Thanks.

 

[jjh1234]

So last night I had 50 more miles to go for a full 100 % charge on my model X and I scheduled a charge at 5 am so the car will be at 100% around 6-615 am (72 amp, car is inside an attached garage at around 40 F) (I am heading out of town for a long trip today) and sure enough the last few miles trickled in right before I got in the car at 620. However, I still had more than half of the regen breaking area with dotted lines... Those who have tried this maneuver to have their batteries nice and warm, can I expect all yellow dots to go away? Did I do something wrong? Is charging only for about 1 hour not enough time?...
Thanks.

My guess is that last 10% charge is at such a low amperage, it didn’t really heat the battery much. Probably better to charge up to 90% from some lower charge at the last minute.

 

[DarkMatter]

At 100% regen will always be restricted so that it does not overfill the battery. You have to target no more than 95% for the trick to work.

 

[David29]

There is another, older thread on this topic that I saw yesterday (see link below) which pointed out that heating the battery is not an efficient way to gain range, and that Tesla only heats it just enough to keep it safe. The post also pointed out the large mass of the battery and had some calculations of the energy required to warm it enough to eliminate all regen braking limits -- it would take a considerable amount of energy and time, so it is not practical or economical.
I can't easily reproduce all the figures. Suffice it to say, the post convinced me that it is not practical to expect all the regen limits to be eliminated by the preconditioning process, so we have to live with it.

This is probably one of the more difficult EV topics for people to understand and cope with. I suspect Tesla and other EV manufacturers will have to work hard to make this characteristic more understandable and less intimidating for the hordes of pending new owners, most of whom will probably want to "just drive" and not have to learn lots of "tricks" to manage their battery-powered cars.

Link to older thread on this: Understanding the battery heater