Model S Cold Battery Indication

[atmun]

Hi folks,
I noticed, at least on my car, the only way to see if the battery is not regenerating is to have the energy graph up on the instrument cluster (I typically do). I took a look at the manual and in Instrument Panel page, it does mention the Snowflake Icon but I've never seen it on my car.

On the 3/Y you get the snowflake icon, and on the phone app and in the charging screen, you can see a reduced range due to the cold battery. Also, there are little pop-up warnings that note regenerative breaking is limited when you start the drive on a cold battery. I was surprised to not see any of this on my 2020 MS LRP. Is this typical or should I be making a service appointment?

I started looking into this because I've recently had some weird battery things happening. One day, regen limiter on the energy graph was flickering in and out (assuming the temp was on teetering on some threshold). And there was a little yellow warning icon that would also flash in and out. Looking at the forums, I guess this is expected when the regen is limited? Weird that I only see that icon the one time. Also, twice, I had restart the car in order for it to even start charging, I think it had to do with cold weather.

 

[2101Guy]

Everything except your last sentence, is normal behavior of the car. It's also not unusual (if you precondition your battery aka warm up your cabin for about 30 minis while the car is plugged in) in really cold weather for the battery pack to cool down some after you start driving/lose some regen. The system will prioritize heating the cabin over keeping the battery pack at a optimal warm temp. EV's quite different from ICE vehicles where the engine remains hot once its hot, regardless of weather.

 

[DerbyDave]

Atmun, my June, 2020 S Long Range Regen doesn not flicker, but the amount of regen changes and goes from normal to 2 bars to 4 bars back to normal, 2 bars, etc., so it may be the same as your flickering. The yellow exclamation also comes and goes. I think all this is normal.

 

[atmun]

Cool - thanks!
If/when the restart is required again, I'll give roadside a call.

These subtitle UX differences between the S/X and 3/Y are really weird. Especially when they seem like a software thing...

 

[Storksb]

I have been having similar regen experience on my 2016 S90D. Got an error last week that the car may not restart. It was cold and hasn't subsequently returned. Put a service request in and they remotely pulled the logs and diagnosed that the battery coolant heater is failing. Off to the service center soon.

 

[DerbyDave]

BTW, the exclamation mark only comes on for a short time to notify you there has been a change in the regen, either more or less regen, as indicated by the bar segments. That is why it comes on and then goes off after a short time, coming on again briefly when another change happens.