[hellsop]

Ah that makes sense thank you obermd....... so I am curious, what is the MAX kwh that comes from regeneration back to the battery? I mean, I see -25 to -35 when actively braking. How much of that is actually restored to battery? 3.6kw in a given hour and obviously we don't brake for a whole hour so instant regeneration only restores very little if any energy back, correct?

Round trip from "momentum" to regen to battery then back through the motor to momentum again has been quoted at various efficiencies, but the lowest ones seem to be about 70% goes back round trip. We've also had people report up to -60kw under peak braking. But you're right that it doesn't amount to much compared to actually running wall power through a charger because of the huge amount of TIME available while plugged into a wall.

 

[hellsop]

Correct, regen bypasses the AC to DC rectifier and feeds directly to the battery. Max regen is somewhere around 50 KW. As for descending a mountain, I filled half my battery between the parking lot on top of Independence Pass and Aspen, CO, just by using cruise control, L and the regen paddles to maintain speed or slow down during the descent.

Sort of. The power control electronics (the big flat thing under the hood that DOESN'T have fill caps on it) are still involved. But that's designed to handle the full working load of the car, so it can handle a LOT more than even 50KW. It's just that the paddle won't command that level of draw and the wide pedal system will start blending in friction above that in order to keep wheels turning and to start using the rear to slow as well.

But that has little to do with the actual charger module behind the bumper.