Down hill regen?

[davraker]

Today I was going down a long down sloped hill, probably for a 4-5 miles. With the regen working, I could not really coast as I did with my Prius Prime. I had to keep some pressure on the accelerator at all times. This varied based on the grade of the hill of course. As I am a fairly new MY owner, I am curious if the benefits of the brake regen in this situation is greater than placing the car into a more traditional braking mode and getting additional coasting time? Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jcanoe]

You can't turn off regenerative braking. You can, in some Model Y vehicles depending on the build date, change the level of regenerative braking on the Driving options screen. You can choose Low regenerative braking instead of Standard. If you are driving and your foot is on the accelerator pedal you can feather the amount of regenerative braking. On the left side of the Model Y screen, look for the green line just above the speed indicator. If the green line is to the left of center your Model Y is performing some degree of regenerative braking. When the green line is extending to the right you are using power from the Model Y battery pack to accelerate and to propel the vehicle.

 

[davraker]

You can't turn off regenerative braking. You can, in some Model Y vehicles depending on the build date, change the level of regenerative braking on the Driving options screen. You can choose Low regenerative braking instead of Standard. If you are driving and your foot is on the accelerator pedal you can feather the amount of regenerative braking. On the left side of the Model Y screen, look for the green line just above the speed indicator. If the green line is to the left of center your Model Y is performing some degree of regenerative braking. When the green line is extending to the right you are using power from the Model Y battery pack to accelerate and to propel the vehicle.

Thanks, I probably should have been more clear. I did mean reducing from Standard to low.

 

[jcanoe]

Thanks, I probably should have been more clear. I did mean reducing from Standard to low.

Try driving the same down hill route in Low and see if that is an improvement. I came from driving a Chevy Volt; the GM engineers have stated that as regards regenerative braking that coasting (free wheeling) was the most efficient way to increase EV range. The reason is that anytime regenerative braking is active you are converting forward momentum into electrical energy, then pushing that into the battery. There are losses at each step of the conversion. Of course unless you are a serious hypermiler you would not attempt to shift into neutral and let the Model Y keep rolling for as long as possible. The Chevy Volt (also Chevy Bolt) have a standard level of regenerative braking when driving in the D shifter position and increased regenerative braking when driving in L. Some had stated that, depending on the terrain, they achieved slightly better EV range when driving in L (more regen) versus D (less regen) while others experienced just the opposite. In any case the difference was minimal. On a test track you could pulse the vehicle, shift to neutral and free wheel all day long. In real world driving this would be unsafe.

 

[frankvb]

Just use AP and it will keep the car at the set speed.