Regen isn't added to range

[David99]

I noticed an interesting behavior when I have longer stretches of going downhill and using regen to put in a good amount of energy back into the battery. As I was going down I kept an eye on the trip meter which keeps track of the energy in kWh. At the bottom of the hill I saw 0.7 kWh where added from regen. That would roughly be 2 miles. The Model S doesn't add these to the range, though. The rated range number did no change. It stayed as it was before going downhill. What's interesting, though is that i was able to drive about 2-3 miles (at 300 Wh/mile) before the number decreased. It seems the energy gained through regen isn't added into the rated range in terms of the numbers displayed, but of course the energy is captured and available.

 

[Lloyd]

It does, you just need a bigger hill! I just came down San Marcos pass into Santa Barbara and gained 5 miles on the downhill side.

 

[stevezzzz]

For reasons only Tesla knows, you have to add about 1.0 kWh of regen before the rated range display changes, usually (but not always) by bumping up by 3 miles.

 

[Kraken]

What they said. Up to 3 miles, it just makes it so you don't burn a mile until the excess energy is burned off. After 3 miles of regen, it shows up. You also get all that distance you were regening for free!

 

[David99]

Interesting! So there seems to be a threshold before it starts to show up as a number.

 

[simonog]

Interesting! So there seems to be a threshold before it starts to show up as a number.

That makes sense in that the displayed range has a smoothing effect from sudden usage or regeneration if only of short duration. It avoids the number flickering up and down.

 

[dirkhh]

Funnily enough I had to try several times until I finally found a big enough "hill" (actually, Mt Shasta), to see my range go up (by 3 miles, as others have mentioned).

 

[Cottonwood]

For reasons only Tesla knows, you have to add about 1.0 kWh of regen before the rated range display changes, usually (but not always) by bumping up by 3 miles.

Steve is exactly correct. There is a dead zone of 1.0 kWh. Nothing shows up as additional rated miles until you accumulate the 1.0 kWh.

Because 1.0 kWh is slightly more than 3 rated miles, this usually shows up as 3 additional rated miles, but can sometimes be tallied as 4 rated miles. Even if you don't pass the 1.0 kWh threshold, the regen energy is in the battery; the rated miles remaining just won't decrement until you have used up that regen energy and another rated mile.