Regen Braking Best Practices

[Thinjake]

I am new to EVs and one pedal driving though I am loving it! I know that to get the best efficiency and milage, you should accelerate slowly and keep the needle within the POWER area.

For braking, is it better to keep the needle in the CHARGE area or allow it to "redline?"

For example, say I am doing 60 and have to turn shortly. Is it better to slowly release the pedal so the needle stays in the CHARGE zone a long time? or is it better to let go of the pedal all at once and let it "brake" quickly and aggressively and all at once?

 

[DeaneG]

I just drive in a way that makes me and my passengers the most comfortable. With passengers in the car I'm very careful to gradually ease into regen to avoid causing motion sickness.
In general this also results in efficient driving.

 

[Thinjake]

I just drive in a way that makes me and my passengers the most comfortable. With passengers in the car I'm very careful to gradually ease into regen to avoid causing motion sickness.
In general this also results in efficient driving.

Yes, so do I, but that doesn't answer the question.

 

[DeaneG]

EVs are at their most efficient at light amounts of acceleration or deceleration. This minimizes power loss due to resistive heating in motor, wiring, and battery. Light deceleration will recapture more energy from regeneration than quick deceleration.

For efficiency purposes, an EV's drivetrain can be considered a generally symmetric system that behaves the same whether it is generating positive torque (acceleration) or negative (regeneration).

 

[Coltonw011]

Try to prolong the regen as much as you can. It’s given me higher efficiency than just letting it slam on.

 

[Bobby]

Try to prolong the regen as much as you can. It’s given me higher efficiency than just letting it slam on.

I equate this to sudden fast charging versus gradual charging, the latter of which is better for the battery.

 

[HariK]

I am new to EVs and one pedal driving though I am loving it! I know that to get the best efficiency and milage, you should accelerate slowly and keep the needle within the POWER area.

For braking, is it better to keep the needle in the CHARGE area or allow it to "redline?"

For example, say I am doing 60 and have to turn shortly. Is it better to slowly release the pedal so the needle stays in the CHARGE zone a long time? or is it better to let go of the pedal all at once and let it "brake" quickly and aggressively and all at once?

I just drive to brake gradually and do not look at any meter. I got used to very gradual stop very easily with the max regen setting.

 

[Bobby]

I just drive to brake gradually and do not look at any meter. I got used to very gradual stop very easily with the max regen setting.

Yes, I barely touch the brake. I do wonder how much regen is done when the brakes are applied. Does it immediately use the calipers or does it utilize regen as well? In my Jaguar it only uses the calipers in an emergency stop or below 4 mph. Everything else is regen. I am unable to find the info for the Lucid. It does seem like the meter swings to the left when I’m using the brakes.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Yes, I barely touch the brake. I do wonder how much regen is done when the brakes are applied. Does it immediately use the calipers or does it utilize regen as well? In my Jaguar it only uses the calipers in an emergency stop or below 4 mph. Everything else is regen. I am unable to find the info for the Lucid. It does seem like the meter swings to the left when I’m using the brakes.

A while back I posed this and the answer I got was that the brake is not blended:

https://lucidowners.com/threads/not-to-be-undone.4162/page-2#post-102118

 

[Lucken]

After owning 4 EVs, I’ve found that driving efficiently with an EV is very little different than driving efficiently with an ICE car. If you want to maximize efficiency, you accelerate slowly and consistently and when slowing, you anticipate your stops and ease off the accelerator (go pedal) gradually. Driving like this will also be appreciated by your passengers.

I actually had to demonstrate this to a friend who insisted he heard that riding in an EV can be a nauseating experience. He now sees it can be no different than smooth driving with an ICE car.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

Just about the only time I touch the brake pedal is when I need to take the car off of ACC. Other than that I use Regen in Max mode all the time. Took very little time to adjust my driving to be smooth. Biggest problem now is when I drive my wife's ICE and forget it doesn't slow down much when I decelerate.

 

[Nova _AT]

I have the same problem driving ICE car. Took foot of the pedal and was expecting car to stop. Then I realized I need to break.

 

[Steveinarizona]

I have the same problem driving ICE car. Took foot of the pedal and was expecting car to stop. Then I realized I need to break.

This will be an ongoing issue. I have had adaptive cruise control on my cars for many years. I remember once renting a car for the drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and back and telling myself repeatedly (both ways) that I do not have ACC! Automatic headlights, regenerative braking, ACC, blind spot warning (the other guy) etc. may not be in a car you drive (such as a rental) or in the other guy's car.

Lack of standardization is another issue. Turn signals that are not stalks in the usual place; various kinds of shifters; window and door lock controls in different places, etc.

The period between now and everybody at level 5 automation will be a challenging one.

 

[EVCar]

My problem with regen is sometimes I unintentionally let go off the pressure and the car will slow down, as it should.
I’ve read on another forum that to prevent this, people switch to normal regen when on freeway. Haven’t tried this method. Too much work to switch back and forth.

 

[Bobby]

My problem with regen is sometimes I unintentionally let go off the pressure and the car will slow down, as it should.
I’ve read on another forum that to prevent this, people switch to normal regen when on freeway. Haven’t tried this method. Too much work to switch back and forth.

Not really… just touch and hold the Smooth button to get a pop up choice.

 

[EVCar]

Not really… just touch and hold the Smooth button to get a pop up choice.

Yeah, that‘d require 2 movements of my fingers
Seriously, I’m just worried that I’d forget to switch it back on.
In our other EV, the default is always normal regen so I’d have toggle a switch on the steering wheel upon starting the car. Easy as it seems, I still forget to do it occasionally.

 

[bobofat]

Test it out after a charge and see what the efficiency looks like. I think the trip info lists "since last recharge" as one of the options.

Drive like you normally would on the highway with feathering the accelerator off and see what you get. Then charge it again, and do the same route but drive to make yourself sick with the lurching and release of the pedal and see what result you get for your mi/kWh.

I've noticed in general, if I'm doing more stop and go, in town driving, i get better mi/kWh.

 

[SM_NCarolina]

I am new to EVs and one pedal driving though I am loving it! I know that to get the best efficiency and milage, you should accelerate slowly and keep the needle within the POWER area.

For braking, is it better to keep the needle in the CHARGE area or allow it to "redline?"

For example, say I am doing 60 and have to turn shortly. Is it better to slowly release the pedal so the needle stays in the CHARGE zone a long time? or is it better to let go of the pedal all at once and let it "brake" quickly and aggressively and all at once?

It's better to have slow Regen over longer period because efficiency is all about energy used / distance travelled. If u travel further, u will slowly Regen but also cover ground without using energy lowering ur overall kWh/mi used.

 

[girolamo]

I beg to differ with most of you, in that I am pretty sure that once inverter losses are added in to the picture, there is a case to be made for not going very light on the regen. Consider that the losses may have a constant low value (for example, due to voltage drop across the diodes and transistors used) and energy recovery will be at zero for voltages below that value. With that in mind, very low power (in the charge region of the dial) may be less efficient, meaning that to get highest efficiency of battery use you should accelerate brisket and brake the same. It is true that at very high current levels (far right and left on the dial) you will increase resistive losses in the world and battery, so the extremes should be avoided. Resistive losses go like current squared, so are greatly increased at the ends of the dial. Without knowing the details of the inverter, it is impressive to know where the sweet spot is, only that it is in the middle somewhere.