regenerative braking poll

[Canuck]

One drive on a hilly, curvy mountain road with standard regen and you'll understand why it's vastly superior. You don't need to move your foot back and forth. I often try to make those mountain drives without ever hitting the brake.

So true.

I do a lot of windy highway mountain driving and Tesla's regen makes the driving experience so much better. It also saves on replacing the brakes.

My only gripe is that the brake lights come on far too easily. I can drive the entire windy mountain to my cabin, for hours, without touching the brakes once, but someone behind me, and not knowing regen, would think I was riding the brakes. That bothers me.

 

[Xenius]

So true.

I do a lot of windy highway mountain driving and Tesla's regen makes the driving experience so much better. It also saves on replacing the brakes.

My only gripe is that the brake lights come on far too easily. I can drive the entire windy mountain to my cabin, for hours, without touching the brakes once, but someone behind me, and not knowing regen, would think I was riding the brakes. That bothers me.

I've wondered about this myself. Being the judgemental jerkbag that I am I'll sometimes be behind someone complaining to myself about how they're riding their brakes. Then I think, huh, wonder if folks thing the same about me because they don't know how the S works.

 

[PeterHG]

With over 97% voting standard, I hope Tesla will consider even stronger regen, especially at low speeds so the brake is not necessary to come to a full stop. I had a BMW ActiveE and test drove an i3. Neither of them required the brake for a routine stop. This is the one area where BMW electrics appear ahead of Tesla.

 

[vandacca]

With over 97% voting standard, I hope Tesla will consider even stronger regen, especially at low speeds so the brake is not necessary to come to a full stop. I had a BMW ActiveE and test drove an i3. Neither of them required the brake for a routine stop. This is the one area where BMW electrics appear ahead of Tesla.

Tesla has a totally different paradigm than BMW and others. This was a conscious decision to work this way, rather than being behind in technology.

If the last 5 mph of slowing down doesn't actually put anything back into the battery, but is actually just the application of brakes, then I prefer Tesla's solution.

 

[TallPaulS]

How long have you been driving electric?

Most of us rather quickly get used to one pedal driving - being able to drop a bunch of speed without having to reach for the brakes is very convenient on freeways and surface streets alike.

Of course, then you get in another car or have a cold pack one morning and it feels very unnatural the way the car keeps flying forward...

Keep in mind, anytime you hit the brake pedal in a Tesla, you're throwing away energy - energy that you could have kept if you had more regen enabled.

I absolutely love that I can control my speed so well with just the accelerator. My use of the actual brake typically consists of slowing from 5mph to zero at a light, and rare traffic based speed stops. I know this will sound rude, but it's my firm belief that only bad drivers feel the need to completely let off the accelerator and immediately apply the brake under normal driving (even in an ICE).

And boy was I surprised the morning I left for a trip with a 100% charge and the car blazed down my road like my previous BMW because it couldn't use the regenerative braking.

 

[ohmman]

And boy was I surprised the morning I left for a trip with a 100% charge and the car blazed down my road like my previous BMW because it couldn't use the regenerative braking.

When this happens, I almost feel as if the car is accelerating away from me. That's how accustomed to regen I am.

 

[BrettS]

. I know this will sound rude, but it's my firm belief that only bad drivers feel the need to completely let off the accelerator and immediately apply the brake under normal driving (even in an ICE).

I totally agree with you, but honestly, this is *exactly* what you're asking for with regen on the gas pedal. Either the pedal will be pushed down and you'll be applying power to the wheels, or you'll be letting up off the pedal and regen will kick in and you'll be slowing down. It's very difficult to hold the pedal in exactly the right spot for coasting.

I've said it before in this thread and I'll say it again. You can drive much more efficiently if regen isn't on the gas pedal and you can take your foot off of the pedals to allow the car to coast. Put regen on the brake pedal where it belongs

 

[number12]

So true.

I do a lot of windy highway mountain driving and Tesla's regen makes the driving experience so much better. It also saves on replacing the brakes.

My only gripe is that the brake lights come on far too easily. I can drive the entire windy mountain to my cabin, for hours, without touching the brakes once, but someone behind me, and not knowing regen, would think I was riding the brakes. That bothers me.

This x1000

Brake lights way to easily triggered.

Also it's been long enough. There needs to be a low standard and high option. I could make the arguement for an off mode,but I don't have a dog in that fight.

 

[dsnows]

I posted this yesterday in another thread, but it was kind of off topic there and I think it bears repeating here...

---------------

Just to preface this, I'm coming from a Prius and I've had my model S for about a month now. But I'm really not sure why the gas pedal is the right place for regen. On the prius as you hit the brake pedal it uses regen first and if you call for more braking than regen can provide it keeps regen on and also applies the 'real' brakes. You hit one pedal to brake and no matter how hard or soft you hit the pedal the car gives you the max regen and also ensures that car is still slowing down as much as you want. With 'one pedal' driving then you get regen as you let off of the gas pedal, but it only provides limited stopping power. If you want to stop faster than regen allows you still need to hit the brake pedal. It's counter intuitive....

...I think having one pedal to go and one pedal to stop makes much more sense. The brake pedal should be used to stop the car and should use regen as much as possible when you press it.

My Ford C-Max Energi works that way also. Applying the brake activates regen. It takes some time Getting used to the Tesla method.

 

[vandacca]

I totally agree with you, but honestly, this is *exactly* what you're asking for with regen on the gas pedal. Either the pedal will be pushed down and you'll be applying power to the wheels, or you'll be letting up off the pedal and regen will kick in and you'll be slowing down. It's very difficult to hold the pedal in exactly the right spot for coasting.

I've said it before in this thread and I'll say it again. You can drive much more efficiently if regen isn't on the gas pedal and you can take your foot off of the pedals to allow the car to coast. Put regen on the brake pedal where it belongs

I disagree. You should give it another chance. With a little practice, you can find the sweet spot and feather the accelerator so that you can effectively stay in the area between regen and acceleration.

Just for fun, sometimes I don't even bother using the brakes (eg at a red stoplight on a slight incline). I just feather the accelerator enough to keep me still. So, it is possible, so if others can do it, so can you. Mind you, I have 35+ years of driving a stick, so I'm not sure if that helped.

 

[TallPaulS]

It's very difficult to hold the pedal in exactly the right spot for coasting.

I actually don't personally find this to be a problem at all, I probably stopped actively thinking about it within an hour of first experiencing the regenerative braking. It feels so narural to just go whatever speed I want my moving my foot I almost dread getting in my pickup. The closest ICE I can compare it to are my motorcycles, where slight hand movements, and occasionally gears, do most of the work for me (excepting racing where heavy braking into corners is a given).

On the brake lights coming on, I tend to agree, with the caveat that I'd rather not have someone run up my arse just because they didn't see brake lights. With manual transmissions being so rare on the roads these days I wonder if there aren't a whole generation of drivers out there that won't expect a car to slow down without the active application of brakes (hence brake lights).

 

[Blup85]

+1 for stronger regen (change the question-are to add "higher regen wanted". As others have stated, regen in snow is a definite issue, and its seems like it "should" go to low regen (sliding scale would be nice) when icy conditions are known (temp?)..

 

[dhanson865]

Can anyone put it into numbers? Max regen in KW on Standard vs Max regen in KW on Low.

edit: a comment on a video says 60kW and 30kW but I don't know if that is accurate.

 

[ohmman]

Can anyone put it into numbers? Max regen in KW on Standard vs Max regen in KW on Low.

edit: a comment on a video says 60kW and 30kW but I don't know if that is accurate.

Those numbers are correct. 60 for standard, and 30 for low. I just verified.

 

[BrettS]

I disagree. You should give it another chance. With a little practice, you can find the sweet spot and feather the accelerator so that you can effectively stay in the area between regen and acceleration.

Oh, I'm giving it all the chances in the world. I use it because there is no other choice if you want to use regen. I've had standard regen on since i got my model S. I'm just saying that one pedal for go and one pedal for stop would be much better.

And I agree that you can work to find the sweet spot to allow the car to coast, but it's harder than it needs to be.

 

[Skotty]

You know what? I do sometimes use low for regen. But generally only for 2 obscure reasons.

1) If I accidentally forgot to set charge level back down to 80% after a trip, it's charged to 100%, and I don't have much driving to do. In such case I intentionally hurt my own efficiency by setting regen to low to get it back down a little quicker.

2) If I feel like the brakes haven't been getting enough exercise, sometimes I'll turn if down to low for a drive.

 

[voltaren]

I use standard during normal driving and feather the pedal to coast as much as possible. When I'm on the highway for long periods, I put it on low to be more efficient.

Wife has a hard time feathering the pedal because she drives with the ball of her foot so sometimes she throws it on low. Either way, I like how Tesla gives you options.

 

[Chopr147]

I charge to 100% and have to suffer a few miles w/o regen.... icky!

Try living in a cold climate where full regen is unavailable all winter long

 

[Saghost]

Try living in a cold climate where full regen is unavailable all winter long

I don't know how cold your climate or garage is, but I found switching my charging to the morning made a huge difference.

Tesla unfortunately doesn't have a "charge to be complete at X time" mode yet like GM (and I think Nissan?) EVs do, so I just scheduled charging to start ~90 minutes before my nominal departure (I need about an hour of charging to cover my daily commute alone on my current setup.)

Of course, that only helps in the morning - on real winter days I was still restricted for the whole evening commute.

If the price/capacity ratio improves enough, I'd love to see Tesla include a 2-400 Wh ultracapacitor and ~40-60 kW DC DC converter either standard or as an option, so that full regen would always be available in normal driving at any temperature or charge state.

 

[evp]

I've driven a stick for the past 36+ years and early on have down-shifted on ice with bad results. So, I'm acutely aware of regen/braking issues in icy conditions.

This past winter has been fairly mild here, but I did have 2 occasions to drive in very slippery conditions and regen worked flawlessly. From what I can tell, when you take your foot off the accelerator, regen doesn't get "stupidly" applied, but rather it's applied within the limits of traction control. It feels like traction-control will limit regen when necessary.

I'll have to experiment more next winter, but that's my initial observation. Would be curious to hear what others have experienced.

Yes, I've triggered traction control in regen on packed snow. But it wasn't nearly as precise as it is in acceleration -- the rear end cut loose before regen was reduced, so it felt like I was fish-tailing down the hill. This was in a classic RWD Model S. I expect it wouldn't happen in a D.

When this happens, I almost feel as if the car is accelerating away from me. That's how accustomed to regen I am.

That's another thing about regen on snow. When traction control cuts regen, you are suddenly in a situation where you were already going a little too fast and suddenly regen is not slowing you down. Jumping on the brakes to correct the situation does not contribute to calm measured driving technique.