Haven't seen anyone mention this yet ... It was low 40's (F) today and when I got in my car, there was a yellow dotted line in the regen area indicating regen was limited. I was quite surprised, for two reasons (as compared to the Roadster). 1) It wasn't on/off and 2) it had to be a LOT colder outside for the Roadster to disable regen (I realize we're not comparing apples to apples here -- on/off vs. limited regen) Regen slowly increased and was back to normal within 10-15 minutes (I missed when it went back to normal).
Wow, I don't believe my Roadster has ever gone into limit mode unless it was sitting for hours well under freezing. I guess the algorithms are more conservative in the Model S. I wonder if this is just increased prudence or whether there is a battery chemistry difference?
Yeah my Roadster would need to set at below-freezing temps for hours. The Model S sat in ~43F temps for 7 hours or so, mostly in the sun (after being parked in 65-70F temps overnight). Interior cabin temperature while it was parked those 7 hours while the sun was up was 65-70F.
The battery in the S is directly under vs the roadster in the 'middle' maybe that has a little difference wrt ambient temps? but more likely different control algorithms
I was thinking along these lines. Also with that flat pack, the Model S battery has much more surface area per unit volume.
So some enterprising person, perhaps SoftAuthor, needs to come up with an easily removable bottom insulation solution.
My car had the same regen limiter the last few days in the morning. I hadn't thought about it. It moderated over a few minutes. Then the line disappeared.
just use some 3M crazy velcro on the edges and carpet tape for the center to mount a sheet of 10mm neoprene to the underside it might help some
Was the car plugged in? If so, I would have thought that it would keep the battery at optimal temperature. Sounds like the 10 minutes of driving was needed to warm up the pack.
I think it keeps the battery warm and cold enough to avoid degradation. I don't think it keeps it within, say, 10C. That would take a fair bit of energy to do.
Makes sense. I probably wouldn't want to pay for unneeded kWhs with the car plugged in for extended periods. I believe Tesla is working on the ability to "schedule" drive times to pre-heat or pre-cool the car while still plugged in so that you don't waste battery power and range starting out very hot or cold. Perhaps in this scenario they'll optimize the battery temperature too.
It was not plugged in. The roadster would keep the pack heated when cold out and plugged in. It used a fair amount of power to do so. No idea what the model s does. I'm in a garage and no plug at work so I doubt I'll get the chance to find out.
The chemistry changes when the battery is cold. The lithium tends to precipitate in metal form on one of the electrodes, I think. Anyway, the batteries will degrade rapidly if charged when very cold.
What, Toronto businesses don't have block heater plug ins for employees? Out here there are 110v plugs all over the place, since an ICE can have a hard time starting after sitting for 8 hours or so on a cold day. One reason Manitoba should be great for EV's; we're used to plugging in our cars all winter anyway!