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Model S vs Ice...

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Just saw this on Twitter today. Hopefully the link below is correct. Lots of icy roads recently in the Pacific NW:

John Hendricks on Twitter

Looks like the white Model S slid into a parked car, sending both of them down the icy street.

I expected better from the Tesla. What kind of wheels does it have? Is it dual motor?
 
I expected better from the Tesla. What kind of wheels does it have? Is it dual motor?

This is one area where standard regen and a heavy car just don't do well. Dual motors won't help either if all 4 wheels are sliding.

I hit a solid patch of ice on my drive in one morning, and the rear end started to wrap around as I slid. Normally, the best way to make it through something like that is to not change your speed or direction as much as possible and coast through (hopefully you are already traveling slow). Lifting my foot off the gas (my instinct) turned on regen, which acted like a brake, which is what started my fish tail.

Luckily we don't deal with that stuff much here, but regen Low is probably a good setting in areas that do (e.g. DFW yearly black ice storms, ugh).
 
This is one area where standard regen and a heavy car just don't do well. Dual motors won't help either if all 4 wheels are sliding.

I hit a solid patch of ice on my drive in one morning, and the rear end started to wrap around as I slid. Normally, the best way to make it through something like that is to not change your speed or direction as much as possible and coast through (hopefully you are already traveling slow). Lifting my foot off the gas (my instinct) turned on regen, which acted like a brake, which is what started my fish tail.

Luckily we don't deal with that stuff much here, but regen Low is probably a good setting in areas that do (e.g. DFW yearly black ice storms, ugh).

I kind of need regen to make it back home on my occasional ski trip. Is driving down a mountain with regen a bad combination?
 
Just saw this on Twitter today. Hopefully the link below is correct. Lots of icy roads recently in the Pacific NW:

John Hendricks on Twitter

Looks like the white Model S slid into a parked car, sending both of them down the icy street.

The guy does write that "the one in front was parked until it got hit." But the Tesla has huge dents on the driver side. So either it was hit by the other car, it was hit too, by an unseen car, or it had pre-existing damage.

The fact that the Tesla had its hazard lights on could be another indication that it had been "parked."
 
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I kind of need regen to make it back home on my occasional ski trip. Is driving down a mountain with regen a bad combination?

I had this exact situation today. I didn't know what to expect but regen worked fairly well all the way down the snowy mountain road. The only issue I had was the ass end kicking out a couple times in sharp corners. Not sure if that was the fault of regen or I just took the corners too hot.. :( I do have good winter tires, clearly that is the best requirement.

As for the topic of this thread. Certainly a entirely different meaning when this owner says they "got ICE'D today!"
 
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Tires with sipes or studs are about the only thing which will make a difference on ice (other than quality, careful driving of course)!

Regen is bad news on corners (just as braking is in the corner), esp for the RWD as there's no way to recover using power. Heavy is not an advantage. But overall, still likely to do better than the invincible 4X4 drivers who largely seem to believe their ride has magical qualities on ice.

When stuck on Iceland overnight last winter I noticed that the locals generally used siped tires, only saw two vehicles with studs. Of course they might not be legal there, just as they are restricted in so many states here due to the wear and tear on the roads.

Edit: That all said, the speed those cars were moving down a relatively gentle slope means either the place is absolutely glass (which it probably was) and/or the Tesla had got hit pretty hard and sent both of them careening along the road. I'm going for another car involved based on the driver's side damage to the Tesla. But who knows ...
 
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I kind of need regen to make it back home on my occasional ski trip. Is driving down a mountain with regen a bad combination?

Snow is a bit different than just straight ice of the sort that was shown in the OP's video. In snow you have a little more traction, and AWD comes into play. Obviously chains/snow tires are the best option, but just remember to feather that regen very lightly, especially around corners. And drive slow - that will keep you out of most trouble (and help with the efficiency)
 
A good set of dedicated winter tires can do wonders on ice. All seasons way less so. Summer tires, absolutely zero traction on ice.

I'm guessing that Tesla had summer tires, as it appeared to have dark gray 21" wheels which come standard with summer tires.

Conditions like that though and it doesn't matter how good your tires are as you have to worry about everyone else.
 
Snow is a bit different than just straight ice of the sort that was shown in the OP's video. In snow you have a little more traction, and AWD comes into play. Obviously chains/snow tires are the best option, but just remember to feather that regen very lightly, especially around corners. And drive slow - that will keep you out of most trouble (and help with the efficiency)

My previous cars that went on the snow trip was a 4x4 2004 MDX, 2-wheel drive 2014 MDX, and a 2-wheen drive 2016 RDX. I only used chains on the 2004 on two occasions. I had only one slip moment on my 2004 MDX a few years ago, I was descending the mountain and my car began to slip down the hill and I crashed into a bunch of snow so I had to use the VM-4 Lock feature to free the car.