Single-pedal speed control

[Chris L]

With hundreds of thousands of people new to EV driving waiting for their Model 3s, it may be useful to explain magnetic braking and single-pedal speed control to the uninitiated. A short tutorial:

www.telomeremedia.com/SinglePedalShort.pdf

 

[Chris L]

Updated Text: www.telomeremedia.com/SinglePedalTutorial.pdf

 

[Jason Bourne]

Chris I think your idea is valid, to educate people about single pedal driving and how it works. But I don't think a PDF document can full cover the nuances of it for a person to be able to teach himself. Maybe some videos? But even with that, it's a motor skill that takes time to develop in terms of how much pressure to apply and release from the pedal.

 

[Chris L]

Chris I think your idea is valid, to educate people about single pedal driving and how it works. But I don't think a PDF document can full cover the nuances of it for a person to be able to teach himself. Maybe some videos? But even with that, it's a motor skill that takes time to develop in terms of how much pressure to apply and release from the pedal.

I agree completely!

 

[Chris L]

But even with that, it's a motor skill that takes time to develop in terms of how much pressure to apply and release from the pedal.

Jason - I think it's like learning how to ride a bicycle — some people get on and take off, and for others it takes a little while longer. In any case, the learning curve should be much shorter than mastering the control of an ICE car's speed.

Because EV drivetrains are so much more responsive than ICE drivetrains (no input lag), they give immediate feedback to pedal inputs, which facilitates driver acclimation to single-pedal speed control. Most of the fine right-leg muscle control has already been developed by the nuanced use of the ICE accelerator. EV single-pedal speed control is just an extension of that. But the first critical step is understanding how single-pedal speed control works.

By the time I first drove an EV (an i3), I had thoroughly internalized the technology, and it literally took just seconds before I was completely comfortable with single-pedal speed control (and loving it).

Of course, if a person is a pulse driver (either hard on the throttle or hard on the brakes), the learning curve may take some time.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

While you're at it, can you whip up a video for BMW drivers...

"Turn signals. No longer optional"

 

[Foxhound199]

When I took a test drive, they told me a lot of people ask them to turn it off for the test drive. This was completely baffling to me. You already know what a car without one pedal driving feels like, what point is there to a test drive other than to see if you can learn to like something different? For me, it felt bizarre for like two minutes, then very intuitive for another couple minutes, then "OMG, how is every car not driven this way?" from there on out.

 

[Saghost]

I don't really think there's much education needed - as Foxhound said, I picked up on it pretty quickly (with my Volt, back in 2011 - it was already natural when I got my Tesla,) and I suspect most folks will too.

You know, one benefit of AP is increased turn signal use - you have to turn it on and leave it that way to switch lanes.

 

[tashtibet]

one drawback of AP & one pedal drive is the car/driver behind you don't see the brake light ON when stopped.

 

[tga]

one drawback of AP & one pedal drive is the car/driver behind you don't see the brake light ON when stopped.

Huh? When I slow w/ regen braking (whether I'm driving or AP is), the brake lights come on when decelerating above some limit. If AP brings the car to a stop, the brake lights stay on until AP starts driving again.

 

[EV-lutioin]

one drawback of AP & one pedal drive is the car/driver behind you don't see the brake light ON when stopped.

Look at the little image of the car on your dash screen, you will see that the brake lights come on when regen is used. Not always for light regen that mimics coasting, but for significant regen or long periods of regen. It's a pretty slick system that provides plenty of communication to cars behind you.

 

[EV-lutioin]

I test drove a Bolt the other day and it has full stop regen.... it is a more complete regen than Tesla where you have to tap the brake right at the end if you want to come to a complete stop. (although it is perfect for the "California stop") One annoying thing about the full regen in the Bolt is you have to select it every time you put the car in drive (it is Drive L instead of D).

 

[Jason Bourne]

When I took a test drive, they told me a lot of people ask them to turn it off for the test drive. This was completely baffling to me. You already know what a car without one pedal driving feels like, what point is there to a test drive other than to see if you can learn to like something different? For me, it felt bizarre for like two minutes, then very intuitive for another couple minutes, then "OMG, how is every car not driven this way?" from there on out.

I did this too when I test drove a Model S - at first at least. I wanted to feel how the S felt in a configuration as similar as possible to what I'm used to. Then after about 10 minutes, I turned the regen on and drive the rest of the way like that. I wanted to experience both settings in the same car.

one drawback of AP & one pedal drive is the car/driver behind you don't see the brake light ON when stopped.

As others have mentioned, the brake pedal is not what triggers the brake lights to illuminate; it's the fact that the car is decelerating at a particular rate.

 

[Saghost]

As others have mentioned, the brake pedal is not what triggers the brake lights to illuminate; it's the fact that the car is decelerating at a particular rate.

As required by federal and international regulations, it's actually both.

If the brake pedal is depressed, the lights must come on, regardless of deceleration.

If the car is decelerating above a certain rate, the lights must come on regardless of whether the pedal is pressed.

As I understand it, the car triggers the lights when AP/TACC is applying the friction brakes just like if you were (for that matter, when the car applies the brakes, you can feel it drag the pedal down if you look for it.)

Sitting stopped in AP the car will certainly have the brakes on, and should have the lights on - easily checked on the toy car on the gauge cluster.

 

[BerTX]

Obviously Tesla COULD bring the car to a stop when you let up on the accelerator if they wanted to, because AP does a complete stop. For whatever reason, they don't want to. I suspect initially it was to mimic ICE cars, and now it is probably because they are working on other things.

 

[Twiglett]

If the car is decelerating above a certain rate, the lights must come on regardless of whether the pedal is pressed.

pretty sure that is not the case.
Slowing down quickly with regen in a Leaf doesn't activate brake lights
Slowing down quickly with a stick shift (manual gearbox) ICE doesn't activate brake lights

 

[Saghost]

pretty sure that is not the case.
Slowing down quickly with regen in a Leaf doesn't activate brake lights
Slowing down quickly with a stick shift (manual gearbox) ICE doesn't activate brake lights

I think the Leaf doesn't hit the 1.3 m/s^2 mandatory threshold.

Road Rules: Electric car brake lights may work without braking

On page 22:
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs/R13hr2e.pdf

So under U.N. rules, an EV regenerating at less than .7 m/s^2 shall not turn on the brake lights, one regenerating between 0.7 m/s^2 and 1.3 m/s^2 may or may not, and one decelerating at more than 1.3 m/s^2 is required to show brake lights.

 

[Twiglett]

I think the Leaf doesn't hit the 1.3 m/s^2 mandatory threshold.

Road Rules: Electric car brake lights may work without braking

On page 22:
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs/R13hr2e.pdf

So under U.N. rules, an EV regenerating at less than .7 m/s^2 shall not turn on the brake lights, one regenerating between 0.7 m/s^2 and 1.3 m/s^2 may or may not, and one decelerating at more than 1.3 m/s^2 is required to show brake lights.

Well there you go!
Its easy to be right if you insist on using things like facts

 

[boaterva]

Well there you go!
Its easy to be right if you insist on using things like facts

Interesting.... So, an ICE car decel'ing due to downshifting has no such requirement, of course.... I know (back in the day, unfortunately) I was often almost rear-ended by those not watching closely when I down-shifted and didn't tap the brakes....

As for the one-pedal driving, I loved this when test-driving an X. No need to move your foot at all until you were almost stopped! I really can't see not at least trying this out, unless you are a member of the 'Nothing Changes' party (no affiliation with *any* party, past or present, presumed!).