What does everyone think of one-pedal driving in EVs?

[Bobby]

Except for the Taycan, EVs don’t really “coast”, they artificially maintain and then vaguely decrease speed if you let off the accelerator. My wife’s Volvo XC40 EV does this when not in one pedal mode, it’s not really like how ICE cars do it. So as a result when you do apply the brakes the car lurches more than an ICE car would. I think certain types of EV motors allow this better than others but maybe someone with more knowledge can correct me (permanent magnet motors I believe cannot coast?). I’ve noticed in the Volvo using the brakes adds about as much back to the battery as using one pedal driving, with the drawback being you’ll need your brakes redone in 3 years of ownership, which the Volvo dealer confirmed is the case so much so that they have a package that includes brake insurance and tire insurance. It will be a very long time before I need to get new brakes for the Lucid. I don’t find a problem with how the Lucid does it and I feel I have more control of the car’s speed at all times by regen/one pedal than were I to use friction brakes.

My I Pace allows regen to be turned to “low” thus allowing a true coasting feel. When using the brake pedal above 4mph, the mechanical brakes do not activate (unless it’s a panic stop) and the slowing is accomplished through regen. It works quite well and feels like actual brakes. When regen is turned to “high” it feels like the Lucid set to standard.

 

[Bill55]

I would argue that requiring you to constantly provide input into the accelerator gives you more control and not less. With more time driving, one pedal driving is not unpredictable and the brake is always available should you need it.

I love one pedal. I do think programming in some coast at highway speeds would be nice. An abrupt lift should go straight to regen, but a moderate lift would allow some coast. I also think we need a thin red bar below the speed indicator to let driver know when brake lights are on.

 

[Canyonero!]

OPD is da bomb. I got used to it in my GV-60 very quickly. Was somewhat annoyed that I had to put it back in iPedal mode (max regen) manually EVERY time.

Was happy that the Air stayed in max regen mode. The Air also has stronger regen than the GV.

I have the same feeling most of you do when drining an ICE car and it doesn't slow down as soon as I let off on the gas.

 

[Tay Chi]

Uh, there is a low-regen option. Switch to it, and enjoy yourself. It will be less efficient, but if you prefer it, you're more than welcome to use it.

Eventually, though, I think you'll find yourself all-in on the one-pedal driving. It just takes some getting used to but then you'll wonder why anyone would ever do it any other way.

You can switch to low regen (aka "standard" regen) either in the settings or by holding your finger down on any of the 3 drive modes.

I agree with Bobby here, it is not "low" and that's why Lucid didn't name it that way. A few reviewers including Matt Watson thought the air needs a lower regen option.

I am not trying to convert you. I just need to the option to disable it for highway or slippery ice conditions.

Anyway, I don't think I have more to say on this. Reddit has plenty to say about the topic. Thanks everyone.

 

[Adnillien]

When I first started shopping for an EV, I thought that the Audi/Porsche blended brake was a great idea since it would make the EV coast and feel like an ICE car. When I test drove the the Audi, it did feel just like an ICE car. Like many things with an EV, it is better to take full advantage of what an EV can do. I love the one pedal driving and almost always drive with High Regen. You can percisely control both acceleration and decelleration with one pedal. It is just as intuitive as mdoulating the brake pressure when going downhill in an ICE car. The blended brake is no more efficient than the regen since they are both using regen, just controlling the regen in a different manner. Regen is essentially charging the battery, there are charging losses so only 80% to 85% of the energy is recaptured.

 

[borski]

I agree with Bobby here, it is not "low" and that's why Lucid didn't name it that way. A few reviewers including Matt Watson thought the air needs a lower regen option.

I am not trying to convert you. I just need to the option to disable it for highway or slippery ice conditions.

Anyway, I don't think I have more to say on this. Reddit has plenty to say about the topic. Thanks everyone.

Sure; I’m not really trying to convince you either, heh. Just noting the option and that coasting isn’t necessarily more efficient.

 

[victoryroad]

One-pedal driving is very predictable and easy. I rarely need to use the brakes. It is also nice to watch the charge increase on long descents when leaving high elevations in CO. It definitely takes the sting out of the inefficiency when ascending those mountains. I recently drove an ICE car briefly for a friend around Denver and found the coasting and then the braking necessity quite annoying. Funny how habits of a lifetime of driving ICE cars can be changed so quickly. Just one more point in favor of EVs.

 

[Ampere]

I really prefer one-pedal driving. However, I very much like the suggestion of some cockpit panel indicator when the brake lights come on.

 

[joec]

I really prefer one-pedal driving. However, I very much like the suggestion of some cockpit panel indicator when the brake lights come on.

That, plus a warning that comes up when you are charged to 100% and thus lose regen. Add those two things and I'd consider it perfect.

 

[BobFM]

The few cases it doesn't cover -
It will never come to a complete stop even if the car in front of you stops - no idea why it is this way considering the ACC system can bring the car to a stop. Shouldn't be a big deal to implement it in software and give users the option they prefer

I have to disagree with this statement. Granted I am used to the high regen setting, but my car does come to a complete stop without me having to apply the brakes.

I've learned to love the regen braking and miss it when I'm driving my wife's vehicle...

 

[Jeanwoodie]

I did Pikes Peak a year ago in August. At the top was told this the first Lucid on top.
One pedal driving a blast on way down. On steep downs would accelerate to 40+ then on regen to negotiate the 5mph tight turns.
At halway point is a mandatory brake temperature test. The GT brakes were at ambient temperature, having no need to even touch the brakes one time. (Overheated brakes must pull off until cooled).
Regarding ‘coasting’, isn’t coasting when one keeps the power needle at 0?

 

[AirPlur]

Can confirm that SWIFT mode with the lesser regen setting is the way to go if you want more of an ICE coasting feel, which was a good EV "training wheel" setting when we first took delivery. A month of acclimation later and I've found that the aggressive regen setting is not only my preference for standard driving but also enthusiast driving like @Jeanwoodie mentioned. I've found that the off-acceleration regen braking is perfect for modulating corner speeds for standard sport driving (i.e. not track-style hard braking), and satisfies my dueling needs for speed and efficiency (kinda like the car does overall).

 

[Chrry]

My first EV. I did not know that it had a brake pedal. Love it!

Which I believe (since using) should be the norm. Brake pedal… whaaa? What’s that? So old school

 

[Daniel2022AT]

I did Pikes Peak a year ago in August. At the top was told this the first Lucid on top.
One pedal driving a blast on way down. On steep downs would accelerate to 40+ then on regen to negotiate the 5mph tight turns.
At halway point is a mandatory brake temperature test. The GT brakes were at ambient temperature, having no need to even touch the brakes one time. (Overheated brakes must pull off until cooled).
Regarding ‘coasting’, isn’t coasting when one keeps the power needle at 0?

Congrats on being the first. Very cool.

 

[JerseyStrong]

Use it for my primary braking but I have noticed that at highway speeds it does not engage as assertively as it once did

 

[segbrk]

Use it for my primary braking but I have noticed that at highway speeds it does not engage as assertively as it once did

Regen is affected by the cold, because the battery won’t accept as much energy. That’s probably the change you’re seeing. I wish it automatically augmented with friction brakes under such circumstances, but it’s just something we have to get used to at the moment.

 

[The Gun]

I've seen some discussions about it in the comments of other posts but I wanted to gauge what everyone's opinion on one-pedal driving. While I understand the convenience factor, I am personally not a fan due to the efficiency loss from being unable to coast (technically, you can still coast but it takes a lot more effort and is not as intuitive).

This was posted on one of the other threads here -
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cu...rily-the-most-efficient-way-of-driving-an-ev/

I'm coming from an Audi e-tron and it functions similarly to the Porsche system mentioned in the article. And it is absolutely amazing for efficiency!
The rule of thumb is that regenerative braking is only about 70-80% efficient. The priority for reducing speed at any time should be coasting > regen braking > physical braking.

And the Audi/Porsche system does just that -
Going down a hill? Lift off the pedal and the system applies just enough regen to maintain speed
Want to slow down on a freeway with no one in front of you? No regen braking, just coast until you reach the speed you want
Someone in front of you? It uses the front radar used for adaptive cruise control to apply regen to get you down to their speed and then turns of regen to continue coasting

The few cases it doesn't cover -
It will never come to a complete stop even if the car in front of you stops - no idea why it is this way considering the ACC system can bring the car to a stop. Shouldn't be a big deal to implement it in software and give users the option they prefer
It has a limit on how hard it can regen brake - if the car in front of you slows down faster than that, you'll have to hit the brakes yourself (which are blended and can apply more regen before having to go to the physical brakes)
It cannot stop at a red light or stop sign if you are in the front - something that can hopefully be solved by software in the future with parts of self driving tech that detects stop signs and red lights.

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Now while you can coast on a one-pedal system, it involves meticulously keeping the accelerator pedal right in between that regen and power zone. I've found it to be a lot of effort to do this on the Lucid but well worth the efficiency boost in my not-very-scientific test. I saw an increase from 3.1 mi/kWh to 3.6 mi/kWh on a few loops of my commute. I'll keep at it and report back... hopefully with pictures next time

For reference, my efficiency over ~14000 miles on my e-tron is about 2.3 mi/kWh which puts it around the EPA rated range of the car. And I've never once thought about my air conditioning losses or reducing my speed (usually go 85mph on highways).

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I personally would love to see more options for the user in future EVs instead of everyone defaulting to similar one-pedal systems. It's the best part of having a computer on wheels, let the software do what it does best - letting us decide how we want to use it.

What do y'all think? Do you like/dislike one-pedal driving? Have you tried the Audi/Porsche system? Do any other EVs do things differently?

My Air GT experience climbing thru mountain passes… when descending with aggressive regen - gained 25-30miles of capacity by the bottom of aggressive descent and NIL brake wear - all the ICE cars were braking all the way down

 

[HariK]

Someone did a test of coasting vs different levels of regen on ioniq 5 in the bay area. I will try to find it and post it on the proper thread. There is a mode called auto and it did no better than 1 pedal at the cost of wearing out the brakes.

 

[HariK]

 

[HariK]

I looked around and decided to post the above link here.