Turning off regen and power limiting for increased range

[ML_X60D_Canada]

2 Questions

a. Would anyone know of a way to turn off regen (I know you can set it to low) completely. During highway driving, i prefer to coast rather than regen to not double tax mechanical energy with the various losses (motor, controller, battery).

b. Is there a way to limit total power (other than the 80KW valet limit). Again, for highway driving, i feel this would improve range (I could be wrong, as most motors are most efficient at near max power outputs). Would appreciate your comments here.

Mo

 

[Lbkmxp100d]

Why would you turn of regen for range as regen adds range?! Secondly, there are settings in the vehicle to extend your range (range mode).

 

[ML_X60D_Canada]

Why would you turn of regen for range as regen adds range?! Secondly, there are settings in the vehicle to extend your range (range mode).

Regen is great for city driving (stop and go) but not for highway/long distance driving when you rarely need breaks. Put it this way, the only thing better than capturing mechanical energy and putting 50-75% of it back in the battery is leaving it as mechanical energy. That's why i really want to find a way to disable regen completely for long trips.

 

[Chrisizzle]

It sounds like you are new to EVs and just haven't gotten the hang of 'One Pedal Driving'.

You press to go faster and release to brake/regen. In the middle is the sweet spot of coasting that you are looking for... where you are not putting power in or taking it out.

If you haven't found that spot, you need to work on fine tuning your foot movement.

 

[ML_X60D_Canada]

It sounds like you are new to EVs and just haven't gotten the hang of 'One Pedal Driving'.

You press to go faster and release to brake/regen. In the middle is the sweet spot of coasting that you are looking for... where you are not putting power in or taking it out.

If you haven't found that spot, you need to work on fine tuning your foot movement.

I'm used to using the accelerator. I just find it very very hard to not let the car go into regen. It would be a lot simpler to have the car react in a similar manner to when regen is fully limited due to very cold battery. This is my 3rd EV.

 

[cgiGuy]

Welcome to the forum. The simple answers you're looking for are no and no. Sorry.

 

[number12]

For such a customizable car regen should have 2 more settings

Off low standard high

Low and standard being the two current options.

Why not?

 

[Evbwcaer]

"Off" would also be nice in slippery conditions.

 

[Mikeballball]

you can turn off regen in controls, but from my understanding regen increases range like Lbk said. So instead of using your brakes, the car sort of 'engine breaks' for you and instead of turning the kinetic energy into heat with normal breakpads, it is stored into your battery while slowing down your car for you by you just simply letting go of the gas pedal. Of course you can still use your brake to slow the car down (if you turn this off) but you just wouldn't get any additional energy back when you let go of your gas pedal. Essentially you will get less range out of your car when you turn this off.

 

[number12]

you can turn off regen in controls, but from my understanding regen increases range like Lbk said. So instead of using your brakes, the car sort of 'engine breaks' for you and instead of turning the kinetic energy into heat with normal breakpads, it is stored into your battery while slowing down your car for you by you just simply letting go of the gas pedal. Of course you can still use your brake to slow the car down (if you turn this off) but you just wouldn't get any additional energy back when you let go of your gas pedal. Essentially you will get less range out of your car when you turn this off.

Nah.. do not think you are right

 

[ML_X60D_Canada]

you can turn off regen in controls, but from my understanding regen increases range like Lbk said. So instead of using your brakes, the car sort of 'engine breaks' for you and instead of turning the kinetic energy into heat with normal breakpads, it is stored into your battery while slowing down your car for you by you just simply letting go of the gas pedal. Of course you can still use your brake to slow the car down (if you turn this off) but you just wouldn't get any additional energy back when you let go of your gas pedal. Essentially you will get less range out of your car when you turn this off.

Mike, when you say controls, you mean the standard settings? I don't have that option in my MX. Indeed regen does what you described and is perfect for stop/go driving, but when you don't need to break (in other words, you just don't want to accelerate any further), letting the car coast is the most efficient thing you can do. I have been hacking this by putting the car in Neutral when i remove the foot off the accelerator and I get a very significant improvement in range. I just a 50 KM trip using only 150 W/KM (better than the rated consumption of 197 W/KM). So i know this works well. It's just very annoying to use Neutral and I'm not accurate enough to hover the pedal at the 0 regen line.

 

[brucet999]

I'm used to using the accelerator. I just find it very very hard to not let the car go into regen. It would be a lot simpler to have the car react in a similar manner to when regen is fully limited due to very cold battery. This is my 3rd EV.

So, for you there is only foot-on-accelerator and gaining speed or foot-off-accelerator? If so, I guess you need to set a speed in TACC and let the car feather the accelerator for you in order to maintain speed.

 

[ML_X60D_Canada]

So, for you there is only foot-on-accelerator and gaining speed or foot-off-accelerator? If so, I guess you need to set a speed in TACC and let the car feather the accelerator for you in order to maintain speed.

Yep that's about right . I do use TACC on highway now, but once more, I find that it uses regen far too much and isn't very careful on range. I just want free coasting...

 

[andrewket]

2 Questions

a. Would anyone know of a way to turn off regen (I know you can set it to low) completely. During highway driving, i prefer to coast rather than regen to not double tax mechanical energy with the various losses (motor, controller, battery).

b. Is there a way to limit total power (other than the 80KW valet limit). Again, for highway driving, i feel this would improve range (I could be wrong, as most motors are most efficient at near max power outputs). Would appreciate your comments here.

Mo

You can control both of these with your right foot. The accelerator is not binary.

 

[vandacca]

Yep that's about right . I do use TACC on highway now, but once more, I find that it uses regen far too much and isn't very careful on range. I just want free coasting...

If you set TACC for highway driving, it shouldn't use regen at all if speed is kept constant. Regen should only kick in when being forced to slow down, for example, coming into traffic.

What you're asking for does not make sense. If you need to slow down, regen is the best way to slow down. If you had some "magical" coast mode, that would force you to use the brakes to slow down, wasting that kinetic energy into heat. You do not want this "coast" mode, it will do the opposite of what you think.

 

[mrElbe]

As I understand,
break - action to destroy something or take a rest
brake - action to slow down or as a noun, describing a slow down device.

 

[ML_X60D_Canada]

If you set TACC for highway driving, it shouldn't use regen at all if speed is kept constant. Regen should only kick in when being forced to slow down, for example, coming into traffic.

What you're asking for does not make sense. If you need to slow down, regen is the best way to slow down. If you had some "magical" coast mode, that would force you to use the brakes to slow down, wasting that kinetic energy into heat. You do not want this "coast" mode, it will do the opposite of what you think.

I find myself often driving 100-110 KM//h following traffic in the middle lane, and with TACC the car is constantly going into regen mode (even with distance setting to 7, I have AP2 in case AP1 is smoother). If I had coast mode, I would simply vary the distance between me and the car in front to avoid braking (thanks mrElbe), and avoid needing to transfer my precious mechanical energy into battery storage and loosing a good percentage of it to the various losses. Regen is great if you need to brake, but coasting is always better than regen...

 

[Uncle Paul]

No vehicle manufacturer recommends that their vehicles be put into neutral to coast for increased economy.

Even with manual transmissions, it is less safe to shift into neutral than to remain in gear at speed on a highway.

You want to be able to instantly have throttle control, as well as to use engine braking to remove speed on long downhills. (reduces chances of brake fade)

 

[ohmman]

Have you tried using the consumption app and feathering the pedal? You say that you find yourself going into regen constantly, but I'm thinking maybe you're not using a visual tool to help. It may be because I drove a classic S with the old interface for so long, but I can avoid regen pretty well when trying to minimize consumption.

 

[Gwgan]

Regen vs coasting has been discussed. Your best results may come from not using cruise control and becoming adept at the one pedal.
Regen vs. Coasting
You can try the emulation mode if it is still available to reduce the power curve. As I recall I found the setting did not persist but maybe it would last for a run of highway driving.
What does this do? (holding "T")