Does the brake pedal activate regenerative braking before the brake pads apply friction?

[AquaMan]

I'm not a fan of one-pedal driving, but I'm a fan of regenerative braking for longer range.

So, I would hope that it's possible to set the car to coast in a manner similar to gas-powered car, but also that when the brake pedal is depressed, it uses regen braking before the brake pads. Friction wouldn't be applied until more braking force is needed than regen braking can provide. Same result in terms of efficiency, without so much "delicate" use of the accelerator and less brake pad wear.

Can Teslas do this? If not, why not?

 

[Arthur31]

Turn regen off
Drive the car and gently hit the brakes, does the green regen bar fill up?
I have no idea since I 1 pedal both cars

 

[ScottNY]

Regen cannot be turned off on newer Model Ys

 

[fiehlsport]

Teslas do not use blended braking. The pedal is 100% friction.

After having a few other EVs, I prefer it this way. The pedal is firm and direct. When you blend in regen, it becomes spongy and not as predictable. When I had my old Model 3 on the track, it was definitely more of a concern than it is in normal street driving, though.

 

[Big Earl]

I'm not a fan of one-pedal driving, but I'm a fan of regenerative braking for longer range.

So, I would hope that it's possible to set the car to coast in a manner similar to gas-powered car, but also that when the brake pedal is depressed, it uses regen braking before the brake pads. Friction wouldn't be applied until more braking force is needed than regen braking can provide. Same result in terms of efficiency, without so much "delicate" use of the accelerator and less brake pad wear.

Can Teslas do this? If not, why not?

No - Tesla does not offer a blended braking option. In my opinion, blended braking is an inferior setup. Having driven (and owned) several vehicles with brake blending, I find the driving experience to feel less connected and less smooth than Tesla's implementation of one pedal driving.

 

[ScottNY]

Teslas do not use blended braking. The pedal is 100% friction.

The latest updates have introduced blended braking on certain model Ys and 3s.

 

[MP3Mike]

@ScottNY but it is a different kind of blending than is being talked about here. What Tesla introduced is the option to have the car apply the friction brakes when you let off the accelerator and regen is limited because of the state of charge, battery temperature, etc. (Even though you have not touched the brake pedal.)

On current Teslas, if you let off of the accelerator it is applying the full regen that is available. If you press the brake pedal it will add friction brakes in addition to the regen.

 

[boulder.dude]

I rented a Prius once and the blended breaking was very awkward!

If you want to coast in a Tesla, just gently apply the gas pedal. You’ll get really good at it.

When you are braking, I assume regen is also happening (since your foot is off of the gas).

 

[Fourdoor]

From everything I have read, the only blended braking system worth a crap is from Chevrolet, all others are pretty trash. If for some reason I drive my Bolt in D instead of L (1 pedal drive mode is L) the brake pedal has a seamless transitioning from all regen to blending regen with friction brakes... it feels exactly like a traditional friction only brake system... one of the reason I always drive in L is because I can't tell when the friction brakes blend in, so I don't drive as efficiently in D as I can in L since I am probably wasting some energy by using the friction brakes without knowing it.

As others have said, this isn't an option with Tesla, and personally I like the 1 pedal driving and having good pedal feel in the friction brakes on my MYP.

Keith

 

[TriKKyOne]

Regen cannot be turned off on newer Model Ys

Unless you use SEXY buttons.

 

[turnbowm]

On our 2015 Chevy Volt, the brake pedal controls the amount of regenerative braking down to approx. 7mph at which time the mechanical brakes come into play. Both come into play, however, under emergency conditions. At 51K miles, the rotors and pads look like new. It took a couple of days to get used to one-pedal driving in our MYLR, but I now prefer it over the Volt method.

 

[Fourdoor]

Unless you use SEXY buttons.

Using the SEXY buttons to turn off regen is only effective if you don't use AP or TACC... and the transition from AP / TACC to manual driving with the SEXY zero regen in operation is weird... the regen ramps up like normal when you kick off AP and then after a few seconds drops to zero. Since I use AP a lot the "adjust regen" wasn't that great of an option for me.

Keith

 

[ScottNY]

Unless you use SEXY buttons.

Then it is no longer the MY that’s turning off regen. It’s a third party app.

 

[schen72]

Once you get used to the Y's 1-pedal driving, you can simulate "coasting" by simply gently releasing the go-pedal. I do this all the time and I'm able to drive very smooth, just like a gas car, and not make any passengers sick.

 

[KiwiME]

I'm not a fan of one-pedal driving, but I'm a fan of regenerative braking for longer range.

So, I would hope that it's possible to set the car to coast in a manner similar to gas-powered car, but also that when the brake pedal is depressed, it uses regen braking before the brake pads. Friction wouldn't be applied until more braking force is needed than regen braking can provide. Same result in terms of efficiency, without so much "delicate" use of the accelerator and less brake pad wear.

Can Teslas do this? If not, why not?

You are actually dead right in that coasting is the optimum economical driving mode rather than regen and it seems that Tesla did not make this easy for you. "Regen" in an EV only betters braking in an ICE car in that the losses are merely about 30% instead of 100%. You don't want to be "regening" if you don't need to be. And, obviously you don't want to be using friction braking either.

I own a 2019 MY Kona EV which has exactly what you ask for and since that's all I've ever owned I've never understood anything different. As I consider my next EV it's becoming clear that I have to learn more about which EVs have, or do not have blended braking. I'll just add that the entry versions of the Model 3 and Y are the same price here as the entry level Kona. We have an $8.6k rebate-style subsidy (not just a tax credit) for EVs under 80k and that strongly influences pricing from all EV makers. Aside from those I can also buy the entry Ioniq 5 and EV6 and still get the subsidy.

The Hyundai blended braking system has an integrated electrically-driven second master cylinder that works with the pedal MC to either "fake" pedal force (when regen is applied) or in emergencies provide ABS or collision avoidance functions. In the middle, typically at speeds under a walking pace, the system works just like a conventional braking system and applies the disk brakes. Essentially if you drive the Kona/Niro like a normal ICE car you lose nothing in efficiency. The Ioniq 5/EV6 add one-pedal braking as well, for those who prefer that style of driving. In the Kona the blended braking works very well and the driver does not need to adapt their driving style because it's an EV.

My impression is that to save the development costs Tesla has positioned themselves such you need to learn excellent right foot control to drive with optimal efficiency. In an efficiency test like WLPT that seems unlikely to cause any issues. It's more a matter of what's practical day to day.

 

[TomServo]

We owned 3 Volt's and the BLENDED BRAKING was seamless. I sort of missed it when we got our Tesla until I started using the 1 pedal setup, then that became my new favorite. But done right it can be very good and reassuring for average drivers just buying their first EV. Chevy got that right on the Volt.

 

[KiwiME]

... Chevy got that right on the Volt.

Interestingly even the original GM EV1 had a blended braking system.

Hyundai's system is very good as well although I've never driven or even seen a Bolt as they are not sold here. New Hyundai/Kia owners are often unaware of how this works and I think Tesla's influence has lead to a consumer expectation of having one-pedal as an option.

 

[espress09]

Teslas do not use blended braking. The pedal is 100% friction.

After having a few other EVs, I prefer it this way. The pedal is firm and direct. When you blend in regen, it becomes spongy and not as predictable. When I had my old Model 3 on the track, it was definitely more of a concern than it is in normal street driving, though.

This must be why the brakes on the Vw ID4 are super soft and terrible, feels like driving a super old van

 

[KiwiME]

Interestingly the Hyundai Ioniq 5 blended system disables brake-pedal-requested regen if the static regen mode is set to zero (of four), which is coasting without any significant regen. The purpose according to owners I've asked is to allow the disks to be cleaned. The older Hyundai models don't do this but I can see how it would be useful for those in snow regions. The docs say it cancels after "about 10" applications but some have reported that it's not too reliable doing that. Not too many use Level 0 anyway despite that's likely to be the most efficient mode. The car seems to roll forever.
One Kona owner in Canada just had the brake master cylinder using replaced under warranty and the invoiced price for the part (to the importer) was CAD$4,625.

 

[Wishmaster]

Does the brake light activate on regen braking ?