Performance in snow?

[AZFox]

Add some Driver Skill and Appropriate Tires to your Slate and you'll be cruising right past AWD SUVs that are stuck in the snow (on the other side of the road... they're crossovers). Don't stare. Keep your eyes on the road.

Seriously though, the Slate will have ABS and enough brains to do Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, and Pedestrian Detection. It stands to reason that the Slate will have enough brains to apply the brake to a wheel when it loses traction, thus sending power over to the other wheel that does have traction.

Having an electric motor for instant ability to apply or remove torque can't hurt.

Oh... and Traction Control is #1 on the list of Safety Features on the Slate FAQ Page, so there's that.

 

[SichuanHot]

Add some Driver Skill and Appropriate Tires to your Slate and you'll be cruising right past AWD SUVs that are stuck in the snow (on the other side of the road... they're crossovers). Don't stare. Keep your eyes on the road.

Seriously though, the Slate will have ABS and enough brains to do Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, and Pedestrian Detection. It stands to reason that the Slate will have enough brains to apply the brake to a wheel when it loses traction, thus sending power over to the other wheel that does have traction.

Having an electric motor for instant ability to apply or remove torque can't hurt.

Oh... and Traction Control is #1 on the list of Safety Features on the Slate FAQ Page, so there's that.

A simple brake vectoring system is probably one of the simplest things to program for a rudimentary ABS system. All you need to use are the wheel speed sensors and an accelerometer meshed into a PID or equivalent loop assuming that there's an ABS pump in the brake fluid loop. No doubt Slate will employ some form of that since it's even easier with an EV.

 

[Luxrage]

I grew up and lived in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and all through those years I was driving a big V8 Thunderbird with rear-wheel drive and no ABS/Traction Assist. Rarely did I ever have a problem as long as I stayed on the surface streets. Ditto what many other members have said about the poor weight distribution of ICE vehicles. I had to weigh down the back with sandbags which would come in handy if I ever did get stuck. In that car stopping was more of an issue than getting going with how heavy the front end was.

And as far as people's comments about how 4wd and things is relatively modern by car standards and the prevalence of RWD vehicles all the way up till the 80s, there's a great archive upload by Dallas SMU from 1977 of morning commuters in big RWD boats getting on in the ice. Cigarettes and beer in hand!

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

Personally I’d like the option but I live in az basically a flat desert 🏜 so I don’t really need it but I want it just for the off chance I need something a bit more

 

[skidoofast]

Well Teach your Subaru has likely spoiled you. I have 350 feet of gravel drive that we don't plow since the stones will end up all over. None of our other 4 wheel drive type vehicles over the years could top the Outback. When it was gone, I began buying snow tires for various vehicles and YES they make a big difference. The Slate should get darn good traction over the rear drive and having snow tires will be (pun intended) icing on the cake. I'll for sure get an extra set of steel rims and snow tires, along with the sand bags in the bed and expect to deal with whatever winter can dish out. Winter however can limit your range to the point of 20-30 % loss so those of you in real winter states do need to be aware of that and if you are going to be doing some longer drives, maybe opt for the bigger battery. But for daily driving locally you can top off at home and be ready the next morning.

I like in Minnesota, my wife and both kids have Subarus (pretty spoiled in the winter but safe)

Also live in the county and don’t plow until the first layers of snow are packed into the gravel and freeze so the plow doesn’t dig up the gravel