Brake lights & regen braking

[LCIDdreams]

Unlike many folks I coast a lot to stops. After 49 years of driving, 7 pick up trucks and 14 cars, most with 85-110k miles I have never had any brake work done at all. I have a long time friend who goes from stomping on the accelerator to stomping on the brake pedal over and over and is replacing pads every three years or so…..

For a long time I had heard that engine breaking causes additional strain and wear on internal combustion engines and “brake pads are cheaper than engines” so I tended to avoid it except to control speed on downhills (don’t ride brakes). Seems that is not true

 

[LucidDropkick]

For a long time I had heard that engine breaking causes additional strain and wear on internal combustion engines and “brake pads are cheaper than engines” so I tended to avoid it except to control speed on downhills (don’t ride brakes). Seems that is not true

Things are a little different with electrical engines. I too used to control downhill speed on my car as well (Lexus LS430) ever since I gouged my rotors and had to pay to get them resurfaced.

In an electrical car, there is no mechanical downside to regenerative breaking.

 

[Volker.Berlin]

Some remarks from a Tesla owner:

• As @extesla mentioned above, Teslas turn on their brake lights on regen, too. To be more specific: They turn on their brake lights on any significant decelleration. It's not directly linked to regen. If you regenerate just a little bit, brake lights will stay off (and thus your follow-up traffic won't think you're nuts).
• As @extesla mentioned as well, there is a way to monitor brake lights in the Tesla's instrument cluster, even though it's a little subtle. You may find some view or display in the Lucid to give you that information, too.
• @hmp10 I want to add that, in the Tesla, if you absolutely want, you can always coast by switching the gear lever to N. You can switch back to D any time, provided that the car is moving above a certain (very low) threshold. Below that threshold (around 3 mph) you have to push the brake pedal to be able to engage D.

I don't want to bore you with irrelevant facts about Tesla. Obviously, this is a Lucid forum. But maybe some of the lessons I learned from driving a Tesla can be applied to a Lucid as well.

 

[Volker.Berlin]

Unlike many folks I coast a lot to stops. After 49 years of driving, 7 pick up trucks and 14 cars, most with 85-110k miles I have never had any brake work done at all. I have a long time friend who goes from stomping on the accelerator to stomping on the brake pedal over and over and is replacing pads every three years or so…..

I an electric car, it's different. First of all, using regen doesn't put any wear on your brake pads. Second, not using your brakes is what will have you replace your brake pads sooner. That's counter-intuitive, but thanks to regen, brakes on an electric car are getting used so little, that you rarely have to replace them because they are worn. Typically, you'll have them replaced because they are rotten... On my Tesla, brake pads had to be replaced after 100k Miles. I'm neither an aggressive driver (except, sometimes...) nor am I trying to optimize my driving for minimal brake wear.

 

[MikeTz]

I have heard frequently of EVs with 100,000 miles plus still on original brake pads

My son sold his Model S with 149,000 miles and original brake pads. He went through five sets of tires so I am sure he did not baby the car.

 

[Bbq9]

Hi all, during our test drive today, our Lucid rep told us that the brake lights go on whenever you let your foot off the gas so that regen braking can happen. Is that true? Because the way I was doing one pedal driving today, anyone behind me looking at my brake lights would think I was having a seizure.

One of the best things about the range test on Sunday, was being in a convoy with 4 other Lucids.
it meant I got to see the regen based brake lights coming on (very occasionally) as we drove Ms Daisy to the beach and back (sorry @SaratogaLefty couldn’t resist)

what I saw was mostly logical use of brake lights… eg they would come on for slowing down for corners or sudden appearance of cyclists.
What I did not see was a LOT of brake light, even whenever the person in front lifted.

the light is definitely tempered by the amount of deceleration … and in my opinion as the person following, in a healthy safe way.

I believe @DreamPaloAlto had his GoPro mounted and running for some of it, and that should show the brake lights very effectively

 

[SaratogaLefty]

One of the best things about the range test on Sunday, was being in a convoy with 4 other Lucids.
it meant I got to see the regen based brake lights coming on (very occasionally) as we drove Ms Daisy to the beach and back (sorry @SaratogaLefty couldn’t resist)

what I saw was mostly logical use of brake lights… eg they would come on for slowing down for corners or sudden appearance of cyclists.
What I did not see was a LOT of brake light, even whenever the person in front lifted.

the light is definitely tempered by the amount of deceleration … and in my opinion as the person following, in a healthy safe way.

I believe @DreamPaloAlto had his GoPro mounted and running for some of it, and that should show the brake lights very effectively

I totally agree we were in the "Driving Miss Daisy" mode for the test!! The intent was to try to drive at speed limit plus 5 mph max and for the most part we stayed in that range, although in the more curvy sections I did slow down somewhat more to help my wife's equilibrium. I think Borski wants to do another run in Swift mode with increased speeds to see how much range we lose. My "normal" driving without my wife is significantly faster. In my younger days I had a 911 which I "tracked" on all the courses in CA over a 5 year period.

 

[JimHouston]

In my Tesla, I really like that it shows you on the dashboard image of the vehicle when the brake lights are active. This way you can learn exactly how much you can come off the accelerator pedal before they come on as you sometimes don't want to freak out the person behind you with brake lights. The Lucid does not have this but I sure plan to suggest it as some kind of visual indication is needed and as a driver, you should know if your brake lights are illuminated or not.

Also yes, brake pads will last a long time. I'm over 100,000 miles in my Model X on the original pads.

 

[Bbq9]

In my Tesla, I really like that it shows you on the dashboard image of the vehicle when the brake lights are active. This way you can learn exactly how much you can come off the accelerator pedal before they come on as you sometimes don't want to freak out the person behind you with brake lights. The Lucid does not have this but I sure plan to suggest it as some kind of visual indication is needed and as a driver, you should know if your brake lights are illuminated or not.

Also yes, brake pads will last a long time. I'm over 100,000 miles in my Model X on the original pads.

I would like this... I has bothered me not knowing - particularly as so many tesla drivers seem to have phantom braking (never seen on lucid)

 

[Volker.Berlin]

I would like this... I has bothered me not knowing - particularly as so many tesla drivers seem to have phantom braking (never seen on lucid)

You will know phantom braking when you see it. That one doesn’t require any indication on the dash board.

 

[JimHouston]

Go drive on a dark street at night and let off the throttle to varying degrees and using your side view mirror, you can see at what point your brake lights illuminate. I did this several times until I was comfortable knowing at what point the brake lights come on during regenerative braking. Now I don't worry about it, but I still would like a dashboard indication like Tesla's miniature image of the vehicle with the lights actually being shown when activated.

 

[Bbq9]

You will know phantom braking when you see it. That one doesn’t require any indication on the dash board.

ha
sounds like i'm the lucky one never having suffered phantom braking