Cruisin' in Neutral - Actually a blast!

[NigelM]

I want regen on demand. I image a steering wheel stalk (car have so many these days, why not?) that is a regen adjustment lever. Push up for less regen and down for more. Push in to turn it off quickly and push it again to go back to last setting.

You need one of these (it's a Lotus steering wheel also!):

 

[vfx]

You need one of these...

I'm sure there are many examples of cars with octopus 4 to 6 levers coming from the steering wheel stalk.

and

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/first-drive-porsche-panamera/2102452/#photo-2102463

Not that big a deal.

That F1 wheel is insane!

 

[Roger Reid]

I am pretty sure there is no factory brake upgrade for the Sport - if somebody has upgraded their cars brakes it needs a post on this forum because I would love to hear the specifics.

Rich

I have switched my Sport 2.0 over to Carbotech pads (C6 compound) for the Elise. I had the chance recently to drive a new 2.5 after driving my 2.0 and there is an amazing difference between the Carbotech and stock. The C6 compound gives more bite while cold than their other compounds. This is important while autocrossing because there is no time to warm the brakes before a 45 second run. If I were running the big race tracks where the brakes get hot and stay hot, I would use a different compound. Street driving does not get the brakes that hot so I would stay with the C6 compound. I also had my rotors resurfaced as recommended by Carbotech.

Worth doing, YES.

 

[vfx]

R... I would stay with the C6 compound. I also had my rotors resurfaced as recommended by Carbotech.

Worth doing, YES.

How long do they last?
Link?

 

[Doug_G]

C6 sounds interesting. Where do you get them? Part number? Do they squeak more?

 

[frequencydip]

I tried this extensively early in my ownership, but couldn't find any appreciable range gain so stopped. Btw I agree with the theory that it should work

After reading this thread I tried shifting into neutral inorder to see what efficiency improvements I could get. Prior to using neutral my average was 306Wh/mile, after using neutral for a few weeks my average is 273Wh/mile. You have to shift into neutral rather aggressively and coast instead of using the throttle to maintain constant speed. Every slight down hill is in neutral and every stop is neutral first for a bit then shift to regen to come to a stop. I found that I am shifting almost as much as one would shift a manual transmission.

 

[ggr]

After reading this thread I tried shifting into neutral inorder to see what efficiency improvements I could get. Prior to using neutral my average was 306kW/mile, after using neutral for a few weeks my average is 273kW/mile. You have to shift into neutral rather aggressively and coast instead of using the throttle to maintain constant speed. Every slight down hill is in neutral and every stop is neutral first for a bit then shift to regen to come to a stop. I found that I am shifting almost as much as one would shift a manual transmission.

Well, we'll never prove it, but I think your improvement in efficiency is just because you're working harder.

 

[smoothoperator]

tried this the other day, got an error about the neutral button being stuck on the display? decided not to tempt fate and try it again.

 

[smorgasbord]

I want regen on demand. I image a steering wheel stalk (car have so many these days, why not?) that is a regen adjustment lever.

It sounds like the Cadillac ELR is going to have a paddle by the steering wheel for that.

I brought this up in a Model S thread, but maybe discussing here is better. I'd like to question the hyper-miling concept of letting the car coast downhill to a high speed rather than capture that energy via regen. Both are lossy. According to Tesla (http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/mode...ency-and-range), Model S at 50MPH needs 250 Wh to go a mile, but at 70MPH it needs 340 Wh to go the same mile. 90/250 is a 36% efficiency loss, which is about the same as Regen losses (there's a thread on this for Roadster that's 18 months old or so). Then when you factor in the safety of going 70MPH in a 50MPH zone, regen is perhaps the better way after all.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

I want regen on demand. I image a steering wheel stalk (car have so many these days, why not?) that is a regen adjustment lever. Push up for less regen and down for more.

Agree. I would like a paddle on the steer to adjust regen like it happens on Fisker Karma. It would be very useful as a regenerative brake for the car and the range would increase.