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Winter driving

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lnirenberg

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Got to drive my car on a little snow today I compared stopping with regenerative braking and with the brake pedal. Using the brakes the ABS kicked in and I semi slid to a stop. With the regenerative braking it came a no drama no skidding stop. I assume this is the nature of the beast and I like it.
 
I'd love to try that but it hasn't snowed here for quite a spell:
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lnirenberg said:
Got to drive my car on a little snow today I compared stopping with regenerative braking and with the brake pedal. Using the brakes the ABS kicked in and I semi slid to a stop. With the regenerative braking it came a no drama no skidding stop. I assume this is the nature of the beast and I like it.
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Make sure regen is on low.
 
borski said:
Make sure regen is on low.
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Hummm ... that kinda makes sense. In the snow with an auto transmission I used to slip into neutral when trying to stop, because an auto transmission is always pushing you, even with foot on brake, making it hard or impossible to stop when it's icy.

Makes sense that regen will make this even worse. Unfortunately it hasn't / barely snowed here in Philly since I got the car so I have no idea how this car copes in the slippery white stuff. It will be very interesting to see how an electric car drives when it's really slippery...what happens when you turn regen off and shift into neutral when trying to stop on a very icy road??? Better? Worse?? Thanks for the heads-up borski.
 
Actually I would think you would want regen off. You want to have control over the energy going into the wheels. With regen off, you would be slowing the car with the brakes, which means that ABS would kick in as soon as you start to lose traction.

There's so much power and torque going to the wheels that I bet this car would be a handful in the snow. The low ground clearance could also be a challenge, causing the car to float, which would reduce the grip of the tires. The weight of the car would be a mixed blessing--helping the tires grip, but also making it hard to slow down due to all that momentum.

Disclaimer: I haven't driven the Air in snow, but I did live in Northern New England for 30 years. You get some snow up there lol.
 
We used to get some snow but not anything of consequence since the record winter of 2014-15. Now it's the annoyance between fall and spring.
 
My suggestion, despite your recent experience is to set regen on low of off in slippery conditions. The fact is that driving slower is much safer as is maintaining F-R and side to side balance. If you do skid sideways do nothing abrupt like hard steering or breaking hard. If you do not have winter compound tires in temperatures below 40 degrees be especially careful, and that is on dry roads, much less those with ice or snow. Summer compound tires get hard and very slick at freezing or even near freezing temperatures. Simple principles of physics.
 
We (20 mi N of Philadelphia) got about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow overnight. Going into philly in about an hour to see a play. Streets in neighborhood have yet to be plowed, so I'll have to shovel into a wall of ice if the plow truck comes in the next hour, otherwise it will be fun getting out to the main road. Temperature is just below freezing now but expecting 20 knot winds and 13 degrees F tonight. Kinda wish I had proper winter compound and lots of stipes as it will be very icy the next few days. Going to see how the stock A/S tires do. I have a lifetime of experience driving in these conditions so looking forward to it!
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14 Dec 2025
 
Yikes! When I lived in Philly they were pretty terrible at snow removal. Maybe things have changed recently.

Very pretty for the holidays tho ❤️
 
So far winter driving is mostly boring. You point the car and it goes there, for me no fuss no muss. Western Wisconsin gravel and ice driveway and country roads.
I did toss the car into a hardish left turn and was able to get the car to rotate counter clockwise when I was expecting it to slid sideways.
So I’m guessing that in smooth mode there may be a bias for the rear wheels. Anyone else notice that?
 
AWD Pure Blizzak snow tires in Swift, when pushed it understeers and nannies work to bring the front back.
 
I've not yet had the Gravity in snow, but had my Model X in snow many times.

Low Regen is the correct setting. If you start to slide you want 4-wheel active power management to the wheels. Just as with a 4wd ICE, when you take your foot off the accelerator you want gentle drag on the wheels managed by that AWD system, so that the wheels with grip get the power/braking.

Advanced traction control/anti-slip systems are far better than simple ABS.
 
My advice for driving in the snow in a 2023 Air Touring with the 20" summers is one word - DON'T! I stupidly took the Lucid, rather than my trusty 108K mile Ford SHO shod with winters, to attend an event in the Philly region. It was very cold and snow was predicted. Highway was OK, but not great. Once on the secondary roads with about 2-3 inches of wet snow, it was like I had bowling balls for wheels. Zero grip. I could not get the car up most inclines. I literally had to reverse down a hill to prevent the car from sliding down. Thankfully no one was behind me. Then, I had to devise a way home that avoided hills as much as possible. Stopping was a feat on downslopes. I made it home without crashing by going about 15 mph and not stopping (both being snow driving 101). My driveway slopes up, and I had to park at the end of the driveway until my plow guy came. I was very concerned about wrecking the car and the other cars around me. The SHO would have had no problems.

Earlier in the winter, I had priced Lucid's dedicated winter wheel and tire package and one from Tire Rack. Lucid's package is a rip off. $3,750 before tax not installed, no road hazard insurance, no summer wheel/tire storage and weeks wait for install. After the above snow experience, I called my mechanics that I have been working with for about 23-24 years. It was Thursday afternoon before the big storm. They aren't open on the weekend. They called Tire Rack (which has a big distribution center in Delaware), and by Friday afternoon at 4 PM, I left my mechanics' shop with four 24 pound Sport Edition A22 black wheels, four 19" Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 RFTs, TPMS, road hazard and summers stored for $3K (including tax). I'm getting close to 2.5 m/kwh, noting that I charge my car and turn on the climate for about 30 minutes before leaving for the train in the morning.

My guys definitely did me a solid, but their service and price blew Lucid out of the water.
 
Haj said:
My advice for driving in the snow in a 2023 Air Touring with the 20" summers is one word - DON'T! I stupidly took the Lucid, rather than my trusty 108K mile Ford SHO shod with winters, to attend an event in the Philly region. It was very cold and snow was predicted. Highway was OK, but not great. Once on the secondary roads with about 2-3 inches of wet snow, it was like I had bowling balls for wheels. Zero grip. I could not get the car up most inclines. I literally had to reverse down a hill to prevent the car from sliding down. Thankfully no one was behind me. Then, I had to devise a way home that avoided hills as much as possible. Stopping was a feat on downslopes. I made it home without crashing by going about 15 mph and not stopping (both being snow driving 101). My driveway slopes up, and I had to park at the end of the driveway until my plow guy came. I was very concerned about wrecking the car and the other cars around me. The SHO would have had no problems.

Earlier in the winter, I had priced Lucid's dedicated winter wheel and tire package and one from Tire Rack. Lucid's package is a rip off. $3,750 before tax not installed, no road hazard insurance, no summer wheel/tire storage and weeks wait for install. After the above snow experience, I called my mechanics that I have been working with for about 23-24 years. It was Thursday afternoon before the big storm. They aren't open on the weekend. They called Tire Rack (which has a big distribution center in Delaware), and by Friday afternoon at 4 PM, I left my mechanics' shop with four 24 pound Sport Edition A22 black wheels, four 19" Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 RFTs, TPMS, road hazard and summers stored for $3K (including tax). I'm getting close to 2.5 m/kwh, noting that I charge my car and turn on the climate for about 30 minutes before leaving for the train in the morning.

My guys definitely did me a solid, but their service and price blew Lucid out of the water.
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This has nothing to do with the Air, lol.

Don't drive in the snow on summer tires. Period. It's a terrible idea.

glad you're okay
 
Aka-none said:
So far winter driving is mostly boring. You point the car and it goes there, for me no fuss no muss. Western Wisconsin gravel and ice driveway and country roads.
I did toss the car into a hardish left turn and was able to get the car to rotate counter clockwise when I was expecting it to slid sideways.
So I’m guessing that in smooth mode there may be a bias for the rear wheels. Anyone else notice that?
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I have found the same - it seems rear-biased under acceleration and braking, which I like.

Personally, I drive with standard regen in snow. I develop muscle memory for braking distances, so I don't want to remember two different modes. I would rather turn it off than have (in effect) 3 different levels of braking and remembering which one I am on.

On sheet ice, I would turn it off and use my own experience to manage traction, however in snowI have found that the very heavy car, dedicated snow tires and the rear bias has given me predicable braking patterns. Smooth driving rules in the winter, no matter what system (human or electronic) is doing the work. To each their own, but if you really do lose traction, ABS is going to kick in anyway, so "trust the safety systems" has worked well for me. First winter in the Gravity, however, so there is more experience to come....
 
borski said:
This has nothing to do with the Air, lol.

Don't drive in the snow on summer tires. Period. It's a terrible idea.

glad you're okay
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Agreed which is why I started with 20" inch summers though the weight of the car adds to the issue. More importantly, avoid Lucid's winter tire offering. There are far better options.
 
Haj said:
Agreed which is why I started with 20" inch summers though the weight of the car adds to the issue. More importantly, avoid Lucid's winter tire offering. There are far better options.
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For sure haha. Wasn’t giving you a hard time. I read “summer tires” and went “oh nooooo” haha
 
My Air Pure AWD with Blzzak snow tires understeers fairly consistantly when negotiating uphill switchbacks.
 
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