Does regen braking use more power? [Update: no, it does not]

[animorph]

Thank you for the replies. So I take it the regen braking only starts when your foot is totally off the accelerator? It just seems like when i am at a stop light, and i give it a small amount of pedal to move up a couple car length, that there is a strain, or force against my car. Like i said, maybe it is all in my head. And after all the comments, I just dont understand why anyone would not want to use regen braking. Just seems to be the most logical way to get the most out of your battery.

As far as feeling a strain against initial acceleration, you may be feeling the brake hold function that comes on with a little extra brake pressure (with Creep on, or even easier with Creep off or Roll on). It shows as an H inside a circle on the display. There's a short hesitation as the brake releases when you start accelerating.

 

[justsomeguy]

I think the dynamics are quite good, but for the average unsuspecting person buying an ‘AWD’ car, it’s borderline dangerous.

I always tell people, all cars are already all-wheel-stop.

However, in the specific case of Teslas, AWD does have an advantage in snow stopping in that you also get front motor regen. This translates to more available regen in low traction and the removal of the heavy rear bias braking that could cause issues for people.

That being said, the same advice always applies. Drive careful and get snow tires!

 

[drtimhill]

Thank you for the replies. So I take it the regen braking only starts when your foot is totally off the accelerator? It just seems like when i am at a stop light, and i give it a small amount of pedal to move up a couple car length, that there is a strain, or force against my car. Like i said, maybe it is all in my head. And after all the comments, I just dont understand why anyone would not want to use regen braking. Just seems to be the most logical way to get the most out of your battery.

No, it starts as soon as you ease back on the accelerator, you dont have to have your foot totally off. You should "feel" the car slowing down rather than coasting. You can also see regenerative braking on the screen .. on the Model 3 look at the horizontal line under the MPH speed .. when its a black bar you are using battery energy to drive the wheels, when its green you are using regen braking to recharge the battery.

If you want to feel the difference, try charging the car to 100% and then driving it. With the battery fully charged, the car cannot use regen braking (no room in battery to store the energy), and so you will feel how the car would behave without it (the car will "coast" forward when you lift your foot off the accelerator like a normal ICE car .. be careful!!

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

I always tell people, all cars are already all-wheel-stop.

However, in the specific case of Teslas, AWD does have an advantage in snow stopping in that you also get front motor regen. This translates to more available regen in low traction and the removal of the heavy rear bias braking that could cause issues for people.

That being said, the same advice always applies. Drive careful and get snow tires!

Best I can tell, the front motor is only used for regen at quite high speeds. It doesn’t appear to be used at all, even in low traction conditions at lower speeds. So the tail wags a bit under regen and it can be somewhat unstable. With more mechanical grip this isn’t an issue though. The friction brakes stabilize it no problem if you’re heading straight. It would be a reasonable thing to pop in a ‘snow mode’ or something like that for the dual motor variants. The average person buying an AWD car wouldn’t expect this behavior. The 3 is basically RWD until after there’s slip, which isn’t typical.

 

[justsomeguy]

Best I can tell, the front motor is only used for regen at quite high speeds. It doesn’t appear to be used at all, even in low traction conditions at lower speeds. So the tail wags a bit under regen and it can be somewhat unstable. With more mechanical grip this isn’t an issue though. The friction brakes stabilize it no problem if you’re heading straight. It would be a reasonable thing to pop in a ‘snow mode’ or something like that for the dual motor variants. The average person buying an AWD car wouldn’t expect this behavior. The 3 is basically RWD until after there’s slip, which isn’t typical.

And I thought this as well! But there's some data that suggests otherwise. I saw this over on reddit, he says the road was covered in snow, and you can see quite aggressive front motor regen all the way down to ~40km/h then it tapers to 0 at around 25km/h.

Model 3 AWD Roll Mode vs. Hold Mode

I do completely agree about the slow slip power transfer though, it is really apparent even in rain.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Whats most interesting to me is that:

When I have the regen to hold option "ON" it works just fine......

However EAP/FSD in traffic....does not use it. When EAP/FSD comes to a complete stop in bumper to bumper traffic the complete stop simply shows as 0 MPH on the screen

EAP/FSD doesn't show "hold" like regen uses when coming to a full stop.

 

[derotam]

Best I can tell, the front motor is only used for regen at quite high speeds

Yeah, if you look at one of Bjorn's videos HERE you can see that @~200km/h(124mph) the front motor maxes at 20kW in regen. At 160km/h(100mph) the regen on the front motor stops and it just free-wheels.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

And I thought this as well! But there's some data that suggests otherwise. I saw this over on reddit, he says the road was covered in snow, and you can see quite aggressive front motor regen all the way down to ~40km/h then it tapers to 0 at around 25km/h.

Model 3 AWD Roll Mode vs. Hold Mode

I do completely agree about the slow slip power transfer though, it is really apparent even in rain.

Interesting. Maybe it does it after the rear slips. On snow if you snap off the throttle the rear wiggles around a little bit then it settles down. So maybe it blends in front regen after the rear gets loose. Either way, the car gets a little wiggle sometimes on regen. This generally isn't really a big deal, but it can be in the wrong situation. With low enough traction, its hard to tell if the front is attempting any regen. The ruts in the snow from prior vehicles kick the car around a little and make it tricky to get a feel for whats going on. Plus the rolling resistance is high so the car slows down relatively quickly even without regen.

The time the car takes to move power to the front is more significant than it probably need to be. As the traction drops this gets worse and you need to have quite careful throttle control unless you drive well below the limit.

 

[SeanB-Model3]

Seriously? I'm sorry but this HAS to be a troll...