I am concerned about the fact that the strength of regenerative braking cannot be adjusted, since Tesla remove the option to turn regen off. I wonder what experiences people have had with the Tesla on snow and icy roads when slowing down and braking. When regenerative braking kicks in is it more likely to skid than an ICE car would? I am used to taking the foot off the accelerator to slow down gradually in such conditions. Does Tesla automatically reduce the strength of regenerative braking when the tires slip?Are there any tips for driving on show and ice?
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Regenerative braking on icy roads
- Thread starter Hahne
- Start date
Take your foot off the accelerator gradually to slow down gradually. Worked for me in the winter. Didn’t really have any issues.
miracj
2021 Model Y LR AWD
On dry roads I still have full regen when using the brake pedal... why would this be different?
Keith
miracj
2021 Model Y LR AWD
The friction brakes are controlled by the brake pedal. But if applying the brake pedal shuts down the regen of releasing the accelerator, then a light touch of the brake might disable the regen without actually touching the discs.
One side effect of driving the Tesla in winter is that regenerative braking is automatically reduced due to the lower temperature of the battery. Even after you precondition the Tesla vehicle for ~20 minutes or more regenerative braking is limited.
Regen and friction beakes are independent. The power meter line above the speedometer indicates the regen power when the line is green. It’s a nonlinear indicator—light regen is shown as a relatively long line. Using this, it’s easy to tell that a light touch of the brake pedal does not affect regen. This is easiest to see when going downhill.
gx9901
Active Member
I've only had my MYP for a week, but I already feel like I've gotten a hang of the regen braking to the point that it's almost as intuitive as braking in an ICE car. I'm hoping by the time snow hits us I won't have any issue with regen braking in slippery conditions.
In some vehicles, i.e. the Chevy Volt and Chevy Bolt, whenever the ABS is activated as can happen when braking on ice all regenerative braking is immediately disabled. When this happens, a brief second, it feels as if you have lost all braking until the ABS starts to slow the vehicle.
UncleCreepy
Member
The car dynamically adjusts regen if senses that a wheel is about to lock up (much like ABS). You can see that on an icy road the green bar is all over the place if you suddenly take your foot off the accelerator.
Obviously there is no substitute for safe driving, especially in the winter, but the regen is not something to be concerned about. I always have my regen set to full and never had any issues so far. And I live in Ontario where winters can be pretty harsh.
The next generation of EV drivers won’t be asking this question. Because they unlike us will have never driven a vehicle without regen. To them feathering the braking with the accelerator pedal will be a natural instinct.
Frankly if there’s ice it’s also likely cold also??? Regen is going to be reduced anyway….. My wife and I have never used the reduced regen option. I guess we never seen any reason why we would want to. But we’ll admit that yes we do have extensive winter driving experience.
Frankly if there’s ice it’s also likely cold also??? Regen is going to be reduced anyway….. My wife and I have never used the reduced regen option. I guess we never seen any reason why we would want to. But we’ll admit that yes we do have extensive winter driving experience.
miracj
2021 Model Y LR AWD
Letting off the gas pedal enables full power regen. For my MY, this is ~82 kW of power in reverse at highway speeds with a warm battery. Hitting the brake pedal doesn't change this at all. Unfortunately for snow driving, this is 100% rear wheel braking. It didn't cause me any issues last winter though. ABS still keeps things under control.
That's good to know. That will save us from watching an hour of Bjorn testing this out. I think he missed his calling on testing this. He's always driving in the snow.
If you press the brake while still depressing the accelerator pedal, I think regen is disabled (as is acceleration) and only the friction brakes are applied. Not with my MY now if anyone else wants to test. I could be mistaken...did some testing a few weeks back but I can't quite remember.
EDIT not suggesting that this would be a reasonable thing to do...probably quite dangerous and hard to manage the pedals properly with both feet. Just interesting.
EDIT not suggesting that this would be a reasonable thing to do...probably quite dangerous and hard to manage the pedals properly with both feet. Just interesting.
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Really good info here. I am very surprised that Tesla's don't take advantage of the front motor for regenerative braking. If I had to guess, I would say they did this to simplify things, they have the same amount of regen on RWD cars as they do on AWD cars this way.
Keith
PS: Also surprised about the lower regen in winter. A Chevy Bolt with a 60 kWh battery has full 70 KW regen unless the battery pack is damn near frozen solid.
I had the same impression coming from the Bolt and Spark EVs as well. The Tesla battery management is MUCH more temperature sensitive than the GM BMS. I suspect, but have been unable to verify, that this is due to the relatively low Cobalt chemistry that Tesla uses (NCA vs NMC622).
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