New owner, regen braking on highway

[Ahzuz]

How do you guys manage to play with regen braking on highway without having the brake lights always on!?

I mean sometimes I have to let the pedal of the gas to adjust to traffic and I see the third light brake on in the mini model s in the dash.

One of my pet peeve is people always braking on the highway, I don't want to be that guy. Any tips? Or I just need to master it by adjusting my speed well and barely let off the gaz?

Thank you,

 

[dark cloud]

you learn to modulate your right foot; you can get quite a bit of engine breaking, er uh regeneration, without having the brake lights come on with a well-trained foot.

 

[Magellan55]

It also helps to not tailgate. I've found it easier to modulate my speed on the highway, or just in flowing traffic in town, with my Tesla compared to an ICE car which definitely would need braking (or downshifting) to modulate speed as much as I can do in a Tesla without the brake light coming on (which I think is about -0.1g?)

 

[dhanson865]

Consider setting Regen to Low until you are more used to feathering it and then play with Low and High a bit to see which you like better after you are more used to the car overall.

 

[Ahzuz]

Great tips guys, keep em coming

 

[Merc3]

How do you guys manage to play with regen braking on highway without having the brake lights always on!?

I mean sometimes I have to let the pedal of the gas to adjust to traffic and I see the third light brake on in the mini model s in the dash.

One of my pet peeve is people always braking on the highway, I don't want to be that guy. Any tips? Or I just need to master it by adjusting my speed well and barely let off the gaz?

Thank you,

I think a good software upgrade would be the ability to select when or IF the brake lights come on with Regen braking. Today I had a Tractor trailer lay on his airhorn behind me because of this issue.

 

[dark cloud]

I enjoy having the people behind me think the taillights on the Tesla are broken. It's a game I like to play. The less you can use the brake pedal the more efficient your driving is. This goes for an ice too. It amazes me how much gas and brake some people like to waste driving from point A to point B.

Recently though I have just experienced my first cold weather in this car where the regeneration is limited, and I will have to adjust my driving and let off the gas sooner approaching stop lights. Saw some snow yesterday!

 

[Lasttoy]

The only reason i dont like the lights coming on immediately is when the cops are chasing me. They know i saw them and i haved slowed down before they got close to me.
And it keeps tailgators off me is cool. If you get hit in the rear it will take months to fix if its not totaled.

 

[dark cloud]

The only reason i dont like the lights coming on immediately is when the cops are chasing me.

Does this happen often?

And it keeps tailgators off me is cool. If you get hit in the rear it will take months to fix if its not totaled.

Believe me, I am very much aware of my surroundings. I always check the rearview mirror before slowing/stopping. If I think someone needs to see red lights I will activate them.

 

[Don TLR]

Try driving at night with the rear camera open on top of the screen and getting used to where the brake lights come on. The should help getting the feel of where the lights come on along with watching regen on the dash.. I try to keep cruise on as much as possible to help with this but I know its tough to do in traffic..

Good points @dark cloud, Snow??? No thanks, was in the pool the other day ;-)

 

[scottm]

At higher highway speeds with regen set to Low, it takes quite a bit of runway after having lifted off the go pedal completely before the brake lights even think of coming on. There's quite a buffer there.

On the open highway I typically use Low regen anyway, but not for this reason. I like to prevent "unnecessary" regen cresting small hills and undulations while on cruise control, or not. I'd rather keep the car rolling with its inertia instead of capturing energy in the battery. It's OK to gain a little speed on a downhill if you can see that an immediate uphill is going to consume that speed. It's a better use of energy to roll instead of packing it in the battery just to unpack it immediately afterwards.

Frankly, I wish there was a regen Off setting for highway cruising.

 

[Ahzuz]

Frankly, I wish there was a regen Off setting for highway cruising.

Tend to agree with you here

 

[Snowstorm]

You can control regen pretty precisely with the accelerator. I frankly wish max regen is even higher. Note that regen at speeds above say 25mph is power limited, so maxes out I think around 50-60kw. Since kinetic energy is speed to power of 2, it will take a lot more power to deceleration the same amount at high speeds. Full regen results in a fairly strong deceleration at say 30-40mph,weak at 60, and is barely perceptible at 80mph

 

[hulk2k17]

Why not just use TACC and not worry about the speed at all?

 

[dhanson865]

Why not just use TACC and not worry about the speed at all?

Maybe, just maybe, there is a Tesla somewhere on the planet without TACC. Imagine a driver that has to control his own throttle, the horror. Oh, the humanity!

What percentage of the 400,000 with AP hardware didn't pay for the AP software and can't use TACC?

 

[bmah]

What percentage of the 400,000 with AP hardware didn't pay for the AP software and can't use TACC?

The Tesla service loaner I drove a couple months ago had AP2 hardware but no EAP, ergo no TACC.

To answer the OP's question, I found it wasn't real hard to just have a light touch on the accelerator. I've been doing this for 3.5 years now.

Bruce.

 

[Stiction]

TACC is good but is too fussy about following distance. In relaxed traffic situations a light touch
on the go-pedal and planning ahead gets the best energy use and frankly a better feeling ride.

After a while you get a good feel for the 'neutral point' ...and BTW you don't need to be too fussy ..the
scale is not linear so seeing a little bit of orange or green is not a big deal (but I don't have any showing when coasting

 

[Silent Ludicrosy]

How do you guys manage to play with regen braking on highway without having the brake lights always on!?

I mean sometimes I have to let the pedal of the gas to adjust to traffic and I see the third light brake on in the mini model s in the dash.

One of my pet peeve is people always braking on the highway, I don't want to be that guy. Any tips? Or I just need to master it by adjusting my speed well and barely let off the gaz?

Thank you,

You will learn what that ~.1g of deceleration feels like and you'll develop the muscle memory to put your foot there. You could also try looking at the power meter on the dash and try to keep the green regen line to around 25kw.

 

[scottm]

Trust me, I know how to feather foot and hypermile drive the car... I can emulate Neutral with my foot quite well on demand. I have great lifetime efficiency ratings on the car.

I would like zero regen setting for highway, for benefit stated (more efficient not to store energy)... and the main reason why is when using cruise control. You don't need TACC just plain cruise, set and forget. Cruise "lifts the pedal" for you can goes into regen area (green) when I really wish it rather wouldn't.

Zero regen, if made available, ideally would hold true for right foot driving and for cruise. Just plain cruise would then allow over-speed for those downhill dips... just like an ICE car cruise - it doesn't put on the brakes, just lifts off the throttle.

If you had TACC, it would apply the resistance (regen) if you're gaining too close on car ahead. Even if regen off setting was selected.

I think this setup would work.

 

[Ahzuz]

You will learn what that ~.1g of deceleration feels like and you'll develop the muscle memory to put your foot there. You could also try looking at the power meter on the dash and try to keep the green regen line to around 25kw.

Yep, even just a few days after posting this thread I'm getting used to the deceleration and try to apply just the right amount. Thanks folks, some very interesting reads.