Regen braking limited?

[rincewind]

I personally find the Sceduled departure feature a little frustrating. For me, it's main use would be to pre heat the battery so that it's warm on departure, but the fact that it stops charging at 6am stuffs that - most of my trips start at 7 or later, by which time the battery has cooled down again. They need to remove that 6 am barrier.

 

[GtiMart]

You're right, it's a bad surprise when you let go of accelerator the first time and it doesn't slow down. One solution is to preheat the car before you leave. The car will heat the battery when it's too cold. Depending on the amount of time you preheat, regen might be back to full. Even if it's not, the heat generated in your motors will continue to help the battery heat up when you drive.
When you charge the car, it will also heat the battery the same way if it's too cold to take the charge. Current configuration seems to be that it preheats when the battery is below 10C (50F). My regen is 0 until battery reaches at least ~2C and then it slowly goes up from there.

 

[GtiMart]

Rincewind, you are right that they need to make non-peak hours configurable. The car should start preheating the car close to your departure however, after charging. Maybe it's an option? That will heat the battery back up...

 

[Dan203]

It is a little weird when this kicks in because I've been using hold mode and gotten use to one pedal driving. When regen isn't working at full capacity it throws off my driving a little because I have to actually use the brake.

Probably not a good idea to have the car behave differently, especially brake differently, based on temperature.

I wonder how much energy it would require to keep the batteries at the proper temp all the time? When it's plugged in at home I don't care at all, and when I'm out as long as the phantom drain is minimal I'd be willing to leave an option like that on all the time. I'd rather have the car drive consistently than worry about a little lost range here and there.

 

[GtiMart]

When it's very cold, roads could be slippery so low regen is recommended. If you use that you'll find the difference between low and no regen less dramatic. It's still a pain. I suggest preheating the car a few minutes before you get in. The battery will start warming and it might be enough to give you some regen from the get go. Preheat longer if it's colder outside.
Heating using electricity consumes a lot of power. Having it on all the time to keep the battery at least at ~50F where you get good regen would consume your battery quickly.

 

[Dan203]

When it's very cold, roads could be slippery so low regen is recommended. If you use that you'll find the difference between low and no regen less dramatic. It's still a pain. I suggest preheating the car a few minutes before you get in. The battery will start warming and it might be enough to give you some regen from the get go. Preheat longer if it's colder outside.
Heating using electricity consumes a lot of power. Having it on all the time to keep the battery at least at ~50F where you get good regen would consume your battery quickly.

I leave my heater on all the time, including the seat, so that it's warm when I get back in. Last night I left it on for over 4 hours while I was at my pool league, with the cabin set to 69F and the driver seat set to low, and lost just 7% of my charge. (outside temp in the 30s)

Keeping just the battery warmed to 50F shouldn't take even that much. And if you're plugged in at home it shouldn't matter at all since it would require less energy than your car could pull from the outlet.

I don't understand why you'd say regen is worse on slippery roads. I've played with it in the snow and I've found it to be much better. Probably because it's never actually locking the wheels. It's like having a smoothly applied anti-lock brake. Rather than the pulsing that real anti-lock brakes require.