Regenerative braking on icy roads in winter

Description of the problem

In winter, regenerative braking can play a nasty trick on slippery surfaces: the car decelerates sharply when you lift off the throttle, which can lead to a skid.

Regen has a flip side too: the friction brakes barely work, so after a winter of road salt the calipers seize. Prevention is covered in brake calipers seizing after winter.

Solution

1. On some cars you can lower the regen level in the menu (Regenerative Braking: Standard/Low). The option depends on the car, not the software version: it existed until ~2020, returned via OTA in April 2023 (2023.6.100.1) on some cars, and is gone again on new cars from model year 2024.
2. On newer firmware, regen is automatically limited when the battery is cold. This is standard behavior.
3. Don't release the pedal completely: keep it "feathered" and lift off smoothly.
4. Regen cannot be fully disabled: the stopping modes (Creep/Roll/Hold) only affect behavior at speeds below ~6 km/h, and since January 2024 new M3/Y (US market) offer Hold only.
5. Don't rely on the electronics alone: Tesla's owner's manual explicitly warns that regenerative braking on snow or ice can cause the wheels to lose traction.

Community experience TESLA Belarus

From the TESLA owner's group BELARUS chat, from an analysis of 400,000 messages.

Who raised the topic: Александр

Who helped figure it out: Stinger, Adrian, Vlad, Алексей

Discussion in Telegram: #171254

Links

• Snow, Ice, and Regenerative Braking (Tesla Motors Club): https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/snow-ice-and-regenerative-braking.316491/
• Regenerative braking on icy roads (Tesla Motors Club): https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/regenerative-braking-on-icy-roads.239289/
• Tesla brings back regenerative braking options (Electrek): https://electrek.co/2023/04/24/tesla-brings-back-regenerative-braking-options/
• Tesla Updates Stopping for Model 3 and Y to Feature Hold Mode Exclusively (Not a Tesla App): https://www.notateslaapp.com/news/1850/why-tesla-updates-stopping-for-model-3-and-y-to-feature-hold-mode-exclusively
• Regenerative Braking (Tesla Model 3 Owner's Manual): https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-3DFFB071-C0F6-474D-8A45-17BE1A006365.html