It appears that Tesla has taken some information from the Model Y’s first winter season and used it to tweak a few things as the EV giant is already pushing a new software update to improve its cold weather performance.
The California-based company has been critiqued in the past for developing cars that don’t exactly pull their weight when they aren’t in sunny weather. However, Tesla vehicles have no problem performing in cold weather conditions
Between the torque provided by the electric powertrains along with all-wheel-drive via dual motor drivetrains, Tesla vehicles do very well when it comes to winter driving.
With that being said, issues are a normal part of bringing a new vehicle to market and it looks like Tesla has come across a few when driving in the extreme cold. Although it sounds bad, Tesla obtains information about its vehicles (especially newly launched) each winter that it can then use tweak the vehicles in order to deliver the best performance they can offer.
Being that Model Y vehicles just experience their first winter, it isn’t a surprise that Tesla is releasing a new cold weather improvement software update. According to several Tesla owners, some Model Y units have received a new software update “2021.4.12”: “Minor Cold Weather Improvements and Bug Fixes. Additional enhancements have been made to improve the overall experience of your Tesla vehicle in cold weather.”
As you can see, the release notes are quite brief, and Tesla doesn’t mention what kind of cold weather improvements to expect. However, several owners have reported stronger regenerative braking.
When driving in freezing temperatures, for the first few minutes you generally don’t have regen power. This is because the powertrain needs to warm up as regen braking is not as strong in cold temperatures.
Check back as we will update this article about the Model Y improvements as more information is obtained.