Battery warning every morning

[seenhear]

I live in the SF bay area of CA, so not particularly cold at night (dips to low 30's F sometimes). Typical overnight winter temps are around 40F.

And yet, every morning when I start driving my late-2017 S75, I get a little yellow warning triangle on the dashboard near the power meter, and the power meter shows the dashed yellow area in the regen region indicating that regen is limited.

When the car was new(er) this limited regen yellow dashed region on the power meter would only show up if I topped off the battery to full (which I rarely do) which makes sense since it'd have no energy space for the regen energy.

This happens regardless of charge state (could be 30%, could be 90%). The warning triangle disappears after a few seconds, and the limited regen indication goes away after 5-10 miles of driving.

So any ideas as to why I'm seeing this warning and limited regen now? Is this normal? Should I be concerned / report it to Tesla?

Thanks...

 

[Acps110]

You should not be concerned. This is perfectly normal. When the weather warms back up, it will go away.

If you want to minimize it, you can try to time the end of your charging with your departure time.

 

[sorka]

Even colder temps where I live and I always get the yellow regen limit dashed line as well....but not the yellow triangle.

 

[ucmndd]

There is increasing anecdotal evidence that recent software updates have altered regen behavior to make it more conservative and limited in more cases.

So, yes, it’s normal. But it could also be different than what you’ve experienced before.

 

[seenhear]

Thanks for the responses.
I feel a little better, but that warning triangle still makes me concerned.

Also as for that anecdotal evidence ucmndd mentioned, I have noticed that regen seems to be less, er, "strong" for lack of a better word, lately. To the point where I have on more than one occasion checked the settings to see if someone had accidentally switched the regen mode. I thought it was just me getting used to it, but I really do have to use the brake pedal more often now - not really "one pedal driving" as it was when the car was new (just 8000 miles / 4 months ago).

I've heard of regen braking becoming very weak in older electric cars, especially Nissan Leafs, but not in a 4 month old Tesla.
hmmm....

 

[Chaserr]

The yellow triangle just makes it easier for you to notice the lack of regen. Your car doesn't have the same display as Sorka and I, so our cars have a huge dotted line up front and center that we can't turn off. Yours is on a smaller side app that you don't even need to show, so the exclamation point makes sure you're aware of limited regen.

 

[chillaban]

It's been unseasonably cold in the SF Bay Area recently. It's not abnormal to see limited regen in this kind of weather after an overnight soak, and it can take dozens of miles of driving for the pack to warm up to normal temperatures.

The main change from 4 months ago is the weather, not anything about your battery pack.

 

[Robwoodruff]

I think with one of the new updates, they changed the way regen works. I now see the little exclamation point and have to use the brake pedal when it is cold out much more than I did last winter. I liked it better when regen was more consistent. This year, it doesn't seem to matter how I charge the car in the morning before I leave, when it is cold outside, I don't have as much regen; last winter I did.

 

[Canuck]

There is increasing anecdotal evidence that recent software updates have altered regen behavior to make it more conservative and limited in more cases.

Yes, add me to that pile of anecdotal evidence.

I thought it was just me getting used to it, but I really do have to use the brake pedal more often now - not really "one pedal driving" as it was when the car was new (just 8000 miles / 4 months ago). I've heard of regen braking becoming very weak in older electric cars, especially Nissan Leafs, but not in a 4 month old Tesla. hmmm....

The Leaf has regen? I've never felt it in my Leaf. But I do know what you're getting at. Leafs fail to allow regen to charge batteries as they degrade so we can watch the less regen in the dash bubbles, even though we can't feel it. That's common as Leafs degrade but I am not aware of any Tesla with limited regen due to degradation.

So that's not what you're feeling in your Tesla. The regen dotted line will stop charging at the rate the line is drawn to avoid damage to your cold battery. If there's no line (and it goes away fast as the battery warms with driving) your regen should not be any different than when the car was new. Mine is the same after 4 years except I think Tesla draws the regren line more now. The lack of regren when the battery is full, or cold, does feel odd when you're used to strong regen.

 

[lymex2018]

The lack of regren when the battery is full, or cold, does feel odd when you're used to strong regen.

Good point. Luckily I set the regen to normal right from the start. Even though, still feel the change of behavior.

As for the warning triangle, I got several time too this winter, but they all come out when I've driven for a while.

 

[henderrj]

Charging at the low rates we do in our homes does little to heat the battery. If you want to assure that it is the weather, simply preheat the car for, shoot, a full hour before you go. If it is just the cold weather, you should see markedly less reduction in region.

 

[Steinwand]

It appears it is all working as it is supposed to. Regen feels less as it will only go to the dotted yellow line when the battery is cold. Once the battery is warm, which can take quite a few miles depending on temperature, the dotted line will disappear and regen back to normal. On really cold days, you may also see a dotted yellow line at the top of charge usage dial. This will prevent full acceleration until the battery has fully warmed up. All normal.

 

[f-stop]

There is increasing anecdotal evidence that recent software updates have altered regen behavior to make it more conservative and limited in more cases.

I too feel they changed something to do with this in one of the firmware updates this past fall, after which I noticed the yellow regen warning coming on at higher temperatures than the previous two years.
e.g. this year even before winter weather came, when starting the car I noticed the yellow dashed line appear as high as about 13 degrees C or more, whereas before it only came on well below 10C. At the time I remember hearing other similar reports on TMC