According to a multiple Tesla owners in a Reddit thread, the recently released software update 2021.4.11 does not inhibit the regen braking feature in sub-zero temperatures and/or when the battery is running cold, and instead allows full use of it.
The regen feature, more commonly known as regenerative braking, on Tesla vehicles is designed to make them more energy efficient by converting their kinetic energy while they are in motion into chemical energy that can be stored in their batteries and used later.
This is done in place of applying mechanical brakes and serves to slow the vehicle down.
However, there are times when your Tesla is supposed to disable regenerative braking and fall back on its mechanical brakes — when your battery is at 100% charge, or when your battery sits below its normal operating temperature, for example.
When your battery is colder than it should be, a little snowflake shows up next to the battery icon on your dashboard. The way it used to work was if you could see the snowflake, regen would be inhibited or completely disabled.
However, post-update 2021.4.11, regen is being reported as working at maximum capacity even when the snowflake icon is being displayed on the dashboard.
The occurrence is being reported by a number of Tesla owners with different models, so this does not appear to be a unit-specific or model-specific issue.
Whether this is a bug or Tesla has finally cracked the code on facilitating full use of regen on a cold battery without potentially harming it currently remains unknown.
