Shark2K - Both the Tesla and the MINI E illuminate the brake lamps on firm regen.
From what I can tell Jack preferred the option to coast; it’s the most efficient way to use the spare energy you have in the car when it’s moving. I rather think that he’s missing a big part of the electric driving experience though; the regen turns driving into a one-foot operation; especially on the MINI which has the greatest amount of regen. In my daily driving where I’m asked to speed up and slowdown in traffic more than being allowed to coast along I’d not be very successful at using that coasting energy to the full.
The coast thing might surprise you. But I'm aware the regen thing might surprise me.
I was never quite confused regarding the tail lights. I was looking to use them as the enable signal, and I was fully aware they come on on both Tesla and Mini when regen is activated.
That said, I've no religion when it comes to regen. I've heard from a number of people on the Mini side who were originally a little alarmed, but quickly adjusted and they are emphatic that they like it now, although attracted to the notion of it being adjustable. They seem to indicate there is a sweet spot in the pedal where you're not really supplying current, but it isn't regening either and you can coast in this fashion. Is this similar on the Tesla?
We're just now installing the controller on the Mini-Me. My current thinking is to have regen triggered both by accelerator and brake. But we're probably going to have TWO adjustment pots, with both wipers connected to the controller via a relay. In this way, normally open, the accelerator pot can be adjusted for regen with the accelerator. On brake switch, relay closes, deselects acclerator wiper and connects brake pot wiper. In this way, you could have much more aggressive regen on the brake, and they'd be separately adjustable.
This is part of the magic of converting your own, you can screw it up three times and still get it how you want it in the end - without anyone's permission.
In response to keeping the backseat, cargo area on the Clubman, perhaps. I would calculate about a 19kw pack and a 55 mile range if we had left the rear seats and cargo area intact. With our drawer, we keep the cargo area, and have some storage on top of the drawer box that's actually pretty generous. I'll be able to haul 8 foot 2x4 lumber from Loewes anyway.
But I'm at the grandpa stage and two seats is usually one two many and almost never one short. And with the drawer box, I've got a shot at least at a 150 mile range with the heat and air conditioning off. There would be a sick satisfaction to being able to drive the 150 miles BMW originally claimed for the Mini-E.
I suppose after reading through this forum, I should apologize for the overlong, overboring, and overdetailed nature of our amateurish video productions. But I have to say that most of our viewers aren't just people who think electric cars are cool, or even drive one. They're by and large either building one or trying to learn to build one. Perhaps for someone such as yourself, you might find "Mythbusters" or "How It's Made" at a more entertaining pace and more appropriate to your intellectual requirements. I know "American Idol" is also very popular and indeed, Susan Boyle had me in tears...of a sorts...
We're sort of aiming at a new kind of "video magazine" and a technical magazine at that, with technical information along with some real world grunting and groaning. I repeat a lot of bolt sizes and measurements and things we had to look up, and you don't have to. In case your wondering, it's an M8 1.25 thread 40 mm. Similarly I've not found a way to make DigiKey part numbers particularly entertaining. But its true we might be overdoing it.....
In any event, if you find that BMW won't give you PERMISSION to keep YOUR car, (the one you're paying $900 a month for), you might consider building your own. It's actually a lot of fun. You learn a great deal in the process. And you do indeed gain an appreciation for Toyoto's brake and accelerator problems, what a State of Charge indicator really tells you and why it is hard to do accurately, and the ins and outs of several available regen strategies.
If I already knew all the answers, or if they had all been worked out and were easily and readily available, I would have NO interest in this area at all. And most days on the Internet, I feel like I'm the ONLY one out there who is NOT an expert. But I am a pretty good student... and in a past career, developed a pretty finely tuned bullshit detector alarm/management system....and I know how to use it...
So when you tire of getting permission to drive your car, please do at least consider joining us on the dark side...at
EVTV.me
Warmest Regards;
Jack Rickard
Electric 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster EV
