Having a new Tesla is exciting and when you are waiting at a red light for the green light, you might be tempted to test out the acceleration possible at the light change. However, the battery in an electric car does not like it when you floor it. It can wear it down because you are demanding a lot of instant power. It is a reaction that many of us have just by driving a gas car. Gas cars have a gear system to deal with instant acceleration. A Tesla is not designed to be a race car, it is designed to go as far as possible through the use of electricity.
What does my Tesla say chill? Your tesla says chill on the touchscreen because you have the speed limit mode enabled. It automatically selects the chill mode when you have enabled the speed limit mode. The chill mode is designed to reduce your acceleration speed. It is only a slight reduction, but it enough so that the owner does not damage the battery cells. Accelerating quickly can negatively affect the cells.
If you were to set the chill mode yourself, you will notice an instant release of stress. Nowadays, we are dealing with stress from all angles, learning to relax your foot on the acceleration pedal is a plus. How much time would one save anyhow? Perhaps there could be a savings of a couple of seconds because of the fact that other cars will probably be ahead of you at a light.
Saving a couple of seconds is something that is not required in my opinion. Nevertheless, many drivers would like to have the feeling of speed. With an electric car, you do achieve instant acceleration almost instantly. There are no gears for the car to cycle through to reach higher acceleration. Before 2017, you could simply apply pressure on the pedal and the speed would be there. In fact, Tesla does have a ludicrous mode and another mode called the insane mode for speed demons.
They added in the software update that included chill mode around 2017. I have noticed that even the newer Model Y Teslas include this feature according to the manual. What is curious is they are highlighting the fact that the feature is there to make the ride easier on the passengers. The ride is smoother and more relaxing.
I feel that it was also set up so that people would have less of a chance of demanding too much instant energy which can affect the stability of the battery cells over the long term.
You must be wondering if there is any data suggesting that using the chill mode will be beneficial to the battery pack in a Tesla. I will explain the affect on the life of the battery cells.
Remember to protect your Tesla’s touchscreen, click here to see a touchscreen protector on Amazon.
Does the Tesla chill mode save the battery?
Some people are assuming that they need to use the chill mode because it will increase the life of the battery, Exchanging the battery pack is unquestionably going to be the most expensive component to replace in an aging Tesla. However, does the chill go easier on the cells in general? There is not a lot of data out there as to whether or not this is happening.
There is one YouTuber that put the two modes to the test. The standard and the chill.
Here is a video that tests to see if less energy is consumed when using the chill mode:
The normal mode is called the standard mode. It allows you to floor the Tesla and to see instant gratification in form of quick acceleration. This is something that some of us tend to need or we think that we do. I surmise that you are using more energy because you are demanding more during the first 2-3 seconds to reach a high speed. Bjorn Nyland, a YouTuber tested his Model x during 2019 to see if you were to save energy in the chill mode. He did not see a difference in energy used. It was about the same. At the time he was driving on the highway with a temperature of -8c. He states that maybe you would save energy if you were to drive on city streets because of the change of needing to accelerate more often.
I am assuming that more energy consumption translates into adding more wear and tear to the battery. The more times that it is required to charge your battery pack, the shorter the life of it. This is the way that all battery packs work for electric work. High consumption is not a plus.
Although we can conclude that the battery is not damaged by using a mode that provides higher acceleration. Perhaps, there is an increase in the overall range that can be obtained when using the chill mode.
Does the chill mode increase range?
There does not seem to be information online that proves or disproves that the range is lengthened by using chill mode. Tesla, as mentioned above, added this feature to make the ride more relaxing. The acceleration of an electric car is intense. Your head will be pushed back if you were to floor it in the standard mode. You may get to your destination faster, but the charge left will be about the same.
I have found zero evidence that it is helpful to the range. There are certain things that one can do to increase the range, such as using fewer components well heating the interior, using the air conditioner on just one side of the vehicle during days of high heat.
People who are currently doing their best to increase the range, do not need to add this feature to their repertoire. One major reason being is that they do not normally over accelerate. They like to coast down hills. They will do what it takes to engage regenerative braking to be used at a maximum level, such as slowly coming to a speed without braking too much when approaching stoplights. In other words, they normally are not speed demons. Most true speed demons are not concerned about how to save on the range of an electric car, they just want to get to places faster than others.
If you like the feel of quick acceleration or if you are already not flooring your Tesla, how do to turn off the chill mode since you will not need it.
How to turn on and off the chill mode in a Model Y Tesla
What are the exact steps to take to turn on and off the chill model:
- On the touchscreen, click on ‘controls’
- Click here to add dashboard stickers that are mounted close to your touchscreen. available on Amazon.
- Now select ‘driving’
- Then pick ‘acceleration’
- Click on ‘chill’
To turn off the chill, just go to the acceleration screen using the above steps and then select the ‘standard’ mode.
What is the acceleration boost for the Model Y?
For the owners of the Model Y that want to make their tesla go even faster, there is an upgrade that can be purchased that is the acceleration boost.
It is an upgrade to the software that gives a faster 0-60 mph. It is not a huge speed increase, it saves about .5 seconds, but it would be noticeable to the owners are constantly testing their acceleration capabilities.
What is amazing about this upgrade is that it makes a car that is already so fast to accelerate, even faster. Just imagine how your passengers will react when you force extra g forces on them using your new acceleration boost.
In order to get the upgrade, you will have to log into your tesla account to see if the feature is available for your model Y. There is a section called upgrades will you can check for it.
I tried to figure out if it really is worth it since that it only shaved .5 seconds off of the zero to sixty miles per hour amount. The price is reasonable for such an upgrade at $2000. I found an indication that the BMW M4 Competition Package offers a similar upgrade that speeds up the acceleration by just a tenth of a second with a fee of close to five thousand dollars attached to it.
Even though the price is reasonable, what if you are not the type of owner that is going to speed around on a track. Why would you bother having the upgrade? It is simple, it would be neat and your friends would become jealous. Nevertheless, too soon to determine if this boost in speed is not so great for the battery cells. They will need to pump out the power at a faster rate than normal.
Something else to consider is that the faster speed will degrade the tires faster. Once the tires have been worn down, your Tesla might end up more electricity than before because of the added tire to road friction.
