Driving in Snow

[jerhenderson]

It's all about the tires.

My crappy little TDI Jetta that I put 600k miles on would go anywhere with good quality snow tires. Narrow tires, front wheel drive, open diff, no traction control, no problems. Keep the momentum up, pick your line, hammer down.

AWD and 4WD with snow tires is all that much better.

The CT with appropriate snow tires and it's ground clearance is going to be amazing.




Speaking of amazing, I really hope the CT has "Hill Descend Mode".

I had a 2007 BMW 330 6spd with HDM. It was amazing. Put the car in neutral, hit the button, and the car would creep down slippery hills with amazing control. No foot on brake pedal. Sadly, my 2014 BMW 328d does not have HDM, but the X3 loaner I got from the dealer did.

Could that be called Nikola mode?

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[jerhenderson]

I agree that pretty much any modern car with the same tires could have navigated those roads in the conditions shown although not many could add speed as quickly or corner at the same speeds with as much margin of safety.

But, until you have experience driving a Model 3 (I can't really speak to the Model Y in the snow/ice but I assume it is quite similar to the Model 3) in the snow and ice you can't understand just how much more control you have, even when compared to AWD cars like Subaru, Volvo and Mazda. There are a bunch of small reasons why the Tesla is better, and those add up to a considerable difference. Things like the steering geometry, suspension geometry, weight distribution and subtleties of throttle control come into play to create a superior snow/ice driving experience. i suspect the speed of electronic stability aids are quicker too. The more dicey the traction becomes, the bigger the difference you will notice in the Tesla's relative capabilities.

I'm certainly looking forward to it.... just unfortunate that this example was labeled deep snow.

 

[Crissa]

With the right tires, it'll be amazing. But it's still a car. And Autopilot/FSD isn't snow-aware yet. Yet.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

With the right tires, it'll be amazing. But it's still a car. And Autopilot/FSD isn't snow-aware yet. Yet.

-Crissa

That's an interesting example of what it takes to cause a Tesla to spin out. If you rewind that video to 9:10 to 9:11, you will see the root cause of that spinout. Notice the two tire tracks that start at 9:10 and are visible into 9:11. They start near the center of the road and curve over to the right shoulder. These are re-frozen ruts that were formed when the road was covered in about an inch of wet snow/slush. When they re-froze, it created 3D ice ridges that guided the rear wheels over towards the right shoulder. The amazing recovery was aided by the re-frozen tire tracks that encouraged the car to end up in its own lane.

When it's that slippery it's up to the driver to take the optimum path that will not cause a spinout. Over 9 out of 10 drivers don't know how. And, yes, that includes Autopilot.

 

[TruckDaddy]

Why would you need to disable regenerative braking in the snow? I understand that the braking can cause wheel lockup, but wouldn't traction control detect the wheel locking and reduce the amount of braking accordingly? Or is there a reason regen braking can't be modulated this way?

I would think the software would detect wheel slip, and send extra power to that differential to reduce braking and get the wheel moving again.

I went out last year in the snow without changing regen braking to "roll". I quickly got sideways without trying to going downhill. Luckily, I had enough experience from my go-kart and 3-wheeler days to handle it.

Now, I know to change the settings before heading into snow or ice.

 

[Bill906]

I went out last year in the snow without changing regen braking to "roll". I quickly got sideways without trying to going downhill. Luckily, I had enough experience from my go-kart and 3-wheeler days to handle it.

Now, I know to change the settings before heading into snow or ice.

Thanks for this. I've been wondering how "one pedal driving" would work on slippery surfaces. I even asked in a thread earlier. Currently my first reaction to unintended slipping is take my foot off the accelerator pedal. In one pedal driving that would cause regen, effectively the same as applying brakes. I then wonder, in one pedal driving mode if I would have to feather the accelerator pedal to find the sweet "neutral" spot where I"m not commanding positive or negative torque on the wheels.

 

[Crissa]

One pedal driving is like being in the perfect gear always in a manual. Except, you don't have a pedal to feather friction zone of the clutch, because no clutch.

But unlike the engine-braking of old, your one pedal is an entire torque curve.

Now, on my bike, the regen can come on in a fairly strong leap, which is why you need to set the mode for the terrain before you get to it.

But in a Tesla, you just feather the accelerator.

-Crissa

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