We're finally getting some real winter here which I'm noticing since I live at the highest ski area in Vermont. I love winter driving, but I'm not all that excited about the Tesla having good traction in an inch of snow while navigating a stripmall, I'm more interested in whether it can power through corners like my WRX used to, whether I can make it up to the ski area when the road is peppered with spin-offs and tow trucks, whether I can still drive a bit over the speed limit in severe winter conditions... I'm not worried if the car with slip or slide - I want the car to slide Well!
In playing around with this I'm finding that in 'normal' mode- the car is really stable. Stability control is active, but I can still kick the back end of the car out when I try to accelerate the car aggressively. But stability control always reins it in after a second or two. I have to play around more with 'Slip Start' to see if the Stability Control jumps in a bit more slowly.
You also come to realize that the car is quite heavy. It doesn't have that light tossability of a Honda Fit. Sometimes in really heavy slushy or packed snow the Y is bit more like a Landcruiser.
The other thing is that 'maxrecharge' algorithms go crazy and the system drastically reduces the amount of recharging allowed when it detects Any slipping- obviously to make sure that lifting off the accelerator doesn't lock up the wheels on slippery surfaces. This has actually freaked me out a time or two- driving down a steep snowy road, slip a bit on a turn and then regen disappears- now the car drives like an automatic- like an automatic stuck in Neutral! freewheeling down the side of the mountain and I have to ride the brakes the whole way down [does anyone know how to downshift this thing?]. It's a bummer because of the wasted energy, wear on the brakes, but it's a lot less fun than modulating speed between accel and regen and I actually feel a bit more stable with the more gradual changes in force that regen allows.
What I'm not sure about is does 'Slip Start' actually do anything once you are going 30+ mph? If you do make the car freak out by sliding and drop recharging- is there a way to quickly reset it? Should Tesla's have 'Winter Rally' mode in addition to 'Track Mode'? What are you finding? Northern states, Canadians, northern Europe, 辽宁省 Liáoníng Shěng?
Given the brains in the vehicle, the sensors, the amazing ability to direct force to wheels in a more responsive manner than an ICE- Tesla could build the best snow driver of all - things like throttle adjustment to move weight to front or back wheels depending on whether the car was under or oversteering at the time while in a partial powerslide - could all be done automatically - or at the very least - allowed.
In playing around with this I'm finding that in 'normal' mode- the car is really stable. Stability control is active, but I can still kick the back end of the car out when I try to accelerate the car aggressively. But stability control always reins it in after a second or two. I have to play around more with 'Slip Start' to see if the Stability Control jumps in a bit more slowly.
You also come to realize that the car is quite heavy. It doesn't have that light tossability of a Honda Fit. Sometimes in really heavy slushy or packed snow the Y is bit more like a Landcruiser.
The other thing is that 'maxrecharge' algorithms go crazy and the system drastically reduces the amount of recharging allowed when it detects Any slipping- obviously to make sure that lifting off the accelerator doesn't lock up the wheels on slippery surfaces. This has actually freaked me out a time or two- driving down a steep snowy road, slip a bit on a turn and then regen disappears- now the car drives like an automatic- like an automatic stuck in Neutral! freewheeling down the side of the mountain and I have to ride the brakes the whole way down [does anyone know how to downshift this thing?]. It's a bummer because of the wasted energy, wear on the brakes, but it's a lot less fun than modulating speed between accel and regen and I actually feel a bit more stable with the more gradual changes in force that regen allows.
What I'm not sure about is does 'Slip Start' actually do anything once you are going 30+ mph? If you do make the car freak out by sliding and drop recharging- is there a way to quickly reset it? Should Tesla's have 'Winter Rally' mode in addition to 'Track Mode'? What are you finding? Northern states, Canadians, northern Europe, 辽宁省 Liáoníng Shěng?
Given the brains in the vehicle, the sensors, the amazing ability to direct force to wheels in a more responsive manner than an ICE- Tesla could build the best snow driver of all - things like throttle adjustment to move weight to front or back wheels depending on whether the car was under or oversteering at the time while in a partial powerslide - could all be done automatically - or at the very least - allowed.