Regenerative braking disabled in very cold conditions

Definitely contact the service center. They likely know about it already. They will let you know how they plan to address the problem.

Did it actually have the word "malfunction" or did it say "disabled"? I think there are some legitimate conditions that disable regen (very cold weather) but the message wouldn't use the word "malfunction" if it was intentional.

We have that problem in cold weather until cars heated up. Was temperature a problem?

When the battery heats up enough regen will start coming back.
You can get around this issue by keeping your car plugged in and before you leave preheat the car
raise the charging limit a bit. 15 minutes of this should get you a decent amount of regen.

Mod note: thread title amended for clarity. There was no malfunction, this is normal operation.

This is an amazing write-up on cold weather driving in the Model S:
Cold Weather Driving - Blogs - Tesla Motors Club - Enthusiasts & Owners Forum

santana338 said:

Definitely contact the service center. They likely know about it already. They will let you know how they plan to address the problem.

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Ooops. Should have questioned the wording first. Glad it all worked out.

I didn't see it mentioned, so I will say it now.

The reason the Regen gets disabled, is due to the battery temp. A Lithium Ion cell, such as what is in the Model S, cannot be charged when the cell temp is at or below 32*F (Or in other words, freezing).
The reason for this is when charged below freezing, the internals of the battery Electroplate themselves. The end result, is PERMANENT IRREVERSIBLE Capacity loss. Once the pack heater and/or driving the vehicle bring the cells internal temp above 32*F, charging will resume. The amount of regen will increase as the cells reach the ideal temps.

Now going through my third Canadian winter with the Model S. In order to avoid (or substantially reduce) this problem, I set the car to charge for five or six hours immediately prior to driving, and also turn on the interior heating for 10 minutes before leaving, all of which results in greater comfort, better regen function and reduced battery power consumption.

I get this problem daily, as I always have to park outside (19 degree weather here at the moment). Usually takes half an hour of driving to get my regen back. You're not alone, OP!

RichardC said:

Now going through my third Canadian winter with the Model S. In order to avoid (or substantially reduce) this problem, I set the car to charge for five or six hours immediately prior to driving, and also turn on the interior heating for 10 minutes before leaving, all of which results in greater comfort, better regen function and reduced battery power consumption.

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Hey RichardC, what other issues have u come across if not charged before driving in the winter? IE. length of time for the cabin to heat up if left out in the cold?

Rheazombi said:

I get this problem daily, as I always have to park outside (19 degree weather here at the moment). Usually takes half an hour of driving to get my regen back. You're not alone, OP!

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It was mentioned above but tying to time charging to finish right before you leave and turning on your heat remotely with the app 30 min before you leave helps.

Those things do help, but if you have time of use pricing on electricity, you may be spending more $$ than you planned. Where I am, at 7 AM in the winter the price goes up about 50%. I'll warm up the battery after that but I try like anything not to charge it then. I do a few calculations to try to stop the charging just before 7 if I'm leaving by about 8.

If I leave later than that, I may as well charge the battery the night before. The morning charging isn't foolproof, either. Last week I set the timer to start charging at 5:15 AM but the car refused to start charging. First time that's ever happened; no explanation. If I had charged the battery while I was awake, I would have seen the problem and done something about it. (The solution was to reboot the touch screen.)

dsm363 said:

It was mentioned above but tying to time charging to finish right before you leave and turning on your heat remotely with the app 30 min before you leave helps.

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Haha aww, if only I had home charging I could certainly start the heater through the app though (we've been doing that anyway, but we usually only know we're going to drive somewhere about 5 min before)

Please note, when regen is disabled or limited, the car will not slow down as much as it normally would when you lift off the accelerator. This always surprises me a little at the first few stops. You will have to press the brake to slow.

Stay warm!!

-m

Daily occurrence to see it disabled here in New England. Mostly driving around these days with it disabled or very limited and thats with a lot of driving. Below about 30F you'll see it a lot.