News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Winter chills limit range of the Tesla Model S electric car.

Re:Winter chills limit range of the Tesla Model S electric car by YZF on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:34AM (#5234400)
What's with the "regenerative brakes" thing? It seems people think that if you use the brakes more frequently you'll get more range. The only thing regenerative braking does is that you'll lose less energy than if you didn't have it. It's still inefficient to slow down and speed up.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Winter chills limit range of the Tesla Model S electric car by raverbashing on Sunday February 17, 2013 @04:38AM (#5234724)
Yes, the only situation where it would increase your range is if you're going downhill (for a long stretch) and you're keeping your speed constant using the brakes

Not sure how Tesla does that (if it does 'engine braking')

And of course that's negated by the fact that you'll be going uphill in the way back, using more energy

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Winter chills limit range of the Tesla Model S electric car by lutusp on Sunday February 17, 2013 @04:45AM (#5234743)
> Not sure how Tesla does that (if it does 'engine braking')

Tesla uses the electric motors that normally propel the car by expending battery energy, but "in reverse" to generate a small amount of power while decelerating. It's better than nothing, but it's not as efficient as many people seem to believe.

> And of course that's negated by the fact that you'll be going uphill in the way back, using more energy

Good example -- going downhill with your foot on the brake, recovers 20% of the car's kinetic energy lost by descending the hill. Going uphill again requires 100%$ of the required energy from the battery. So it's a net loss of 80% of the total energy represented by climbing and then descending the hill.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Winter chills limit range of the Tesla Model S electric car by wissler on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:43AM (#5234419)
Lack of basic physics knowledge. Shameful really.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Winter chills limit range of the Tesla Model S electric car by homosaur on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:48AM (#5234427)
It could also be misleading information from dealers. I've never tried to buy an electric but I can tell you about the astronomical amount of bullshit I've heard from dealers when trying to purchase a normal car.
[ Parent | on HN ]