yet another regen thread

[Doug_G]

I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but I like the safety feature of regen braking. In an "emergency" braking situation, your car has already begun braking before your foot even has a chance to hit the brake pedal. The heavier the regen, the better!

Absolutely agreed!

 

[bolosky]

Don't forget the wear on tire from regen.

Aside from only using the rear wheels, why should regen be any harder on the tires than braking? All that the tires respond to is the force applied by the drive train, it doesn't matter where that force comes from.

 

[zack]

I concur regarding braking vs regen being hard on tires. The tires don't see a difference. Both are hard on them, but the acceleration of the car (jack-rabbit) will be the hardest because it's often 295 ft-lbs. We don't regen at that rate. It would be uncomfortable for the shoulder belt to tighten at the better part of 1G (like hanging on the belt facing down!)

The most efficient thing you can do in a Roadster is drive on a level (or downhill, heh) surface, accelerate very gently to approximately 30mph in a straight line without ever changing speed. That's how you can set the next record for maximum mileage in a Tesla.

 

[VolkerP]

In a conventional car, all four wheels are engaged when braking. Due to high center of gravity/front engine, more braking force is applied to the front wheels, that's why front brakes have bigger disks. Tire wear is distributed among 4 tires with the front tires getting more.
Compare that to the roadster where the rear tires get all the regen braking force alone, plus acceleration force.

 

[Dragon]

Good point. Add that to the weight of 65% on the rear you know why the rear tires wear out 2-3 times faster than the fronts.

 

[zack]

Good points.

 

[efusco]

Good point. Add that to the weight of 65% on the rear you know why the rear tires wear out 2-3 times faster than the fronts.

Good reason to rotate regularly.

 

[Mycroft]

Good reason to rotate regularly.

Hopefully the fronts and the backs are the same size tire. Or it might be just as easy to replace the rear tires more often than the fronts.

 

[efusco]

Hopefully the fronts and the backs are the same size tire. Or it might be just as easy to replace the rear tires more often than the fronts.

Was having the same thought about tire size--I do hope they're the same size. Might be just as easy to replace the rear more often than the front, but that's not ideal either, and could be a lot more expensive if you're riding those 22"!