Regenerative Breaking

[Jannca]

Hello.
I have been driving the 2018 Leaf for 3 years now. My lease is coming to an end and I am considering the ID3.
I've been driving for over 40 years and I am blown away by EVs. One of the things I love is the one pedal driving (e-Pedal). Does the ID3 come even close to one pedal driving?
Many thanks

[OllyExeterID3]

Hi, I have just moved over to the ID3 from i3 which has extremely good one pedal driving (will come to a complete stop on any mode when accelerator released)

Initially was a bit disappointed with ID3 as the 'B' mode will slow you down to ~3mph then crawl, you have to depress the brake pedal to stop completely. However, did a drive today and released how much I love the adaptive regen it gives, it will sense traffic and speeds etc and will change regen level to match (within reason). It is different rather than worse.

I would say it is not perfect at one pedal driving but for most circumstances you wouldn't notice an appreciable difference.

[Deleted User 192]

B mode is as close as you get to one pedal driving, but as mentioned above it will only slow the car to a walking pace - it drives like an ICE automatic, which is exactly what I wanted.

[Jannca]

Thank you so much. That is very helpful. Nothing like experience for that real insight.

[Daveion]

I have only done 500 miles so far and up until the weekend only ever in B. I tried D briefly and was surprised just how freely the car coasts off throttle buf even more surprised it still slows down for bends and cars ahead etc with regen braking. Then if started snowing so not had a chance to look at how and why its doing that. I guess I have something in the assistance turned on but I did enjoy the drive. In my drive style and jouneys it may not make a big difference to overall efficiency and it was more fun whilst it lasted.

[simonrg]

I have only done 500 miles so far and up until the weekend only ever in B. I tried D btiefly and was surprised just how freely the car coasts off throttle buf even more surprised it still slows down for bends and cars ahead etc with regen braking. Then if started snowing so not had a chance to look at how and why its doing that. I guess I have something in the assistance turned on but I did enjoy the drive. In my drive style and jouneys it may not make a big difference to overall efficiency and it was more fun whilst it lasted.

I think driving on D with manual regen via brake pedal and automatic regen via ACC works really well.
When ACC/sat nav are working correctly the ID.3 will be really impressive.
I am not a professional driver, so having the ID.3 drive and I can be the back seat driver who watches (analyses/criticises the ID.3), steps in when something goes wrong is great and should be a lot safer than me driving.
So I have left home set D, Eco, Acc, then pressed set, just steered for 180 mile journey, occasionally I touched the brake and then hit reset, but the ID.3 joined dual carriageways, slowed down for roundabouts/corners, accelerated away, correctly obeyed both permanent and temporary speed limits, slowed down when cars pulled in front of me, waited for me to pull out into the outer lanes to accelerate past the cars it had slowed down for etc..
This is exactly what I expected from the ID.3 and why when it gets silly things like kph / mph confused it is disappointing.

[digital]

A fairly basic question, but do you have to set a speed in ACC to get the automatic slowing down and speeding up for roundabouts, vehicles in front and such?

Does a destination in the satnav have to be set?

We have Eco mode and ACC set and drive in D but don't seem to get the reactive effects. We're on 783.

[Deleted User 192]

Do you have to set a speed in ACC to get the automatic slowing down and speeding up for roundabouts, vehicles in front and such?

Yes, just hit the SET button on the wheel and if you wish to manually override the limit shown in the ACC display (left panel on the screen behind the wheel) use the buttons on the wheel. I also adjust the "distance to the car in front" marker using the button on the wheel, it's a little too conservative for me by default.

Does a destination in the satnav have to be set?

No.

[G43FAN]

A fairly basic question, but do you have to set a speed in ACC to get the automatic slowing down and speeding up for roundabouts, vehicles in front and such?

Does a destination in the satnav have to be set?

We have Eco mode and ACC set and drive in D but don't seem to get the reactive effects. We're on 783.

I'm slightly confused by replies to this question. Are you saying that the ID3 will recognise a roundabout and slow down? Isn't this based on the Vehicle in front as in other vehicles with ACC?

[Hobbibear]

My understanding of regeneration or should I say logic, is if in DB on the ID3 the car slows to about 3mph so you have a rolling motion and if you drive to that the power needed to increase momentum is less than if the car comes to a holt, as you will use more battery power to start from a stand still than from a rolling motion and that’s a better system than the EVs that when using one pedal driving that comes to a stop.

[Deleted User 192]

I'm slightly confused by replies to this question. Are you saying that the ID3 will recognise a roundabout and slow down? Isn't this based on the Vehicle in front as in other vehicles with ACC?

It knows when you're coming up to a roundabout or tight bend, nothing to do with whether there are other vehicles in front of you.

[Deleted User 192]

My understanding of regeneration or should I say logic, is if in DB on the ID3 the car slows to about 3mph so you have a rolling motion and if you drive to that the power needed to increase momentum is less than if the car comes to a holt, as you will use more battery power to start from a stand still than from a rolling motion and that’s a better system than the EVs that when using one pedal driving that comes to a stop.

I think you're right - it's generally more efficient to coast and keep the car moving than to stop it completely.

[Daveion]

G43FAN digital scott28tt
I experimented a bit today and found I get auto regen braking when approaching bends and roundabouts without ACC activated. I also get the regen braking from the pedal so now find general around town driving suits me better in D.
The auto braking must surely be in other braking settings like road recognition. I didn't have time to look further today.
Dave

[simonrg]

My understanding of regeneration or should I say logic, is if in DB on the ID3 the car slows to about 3mph so you have a rolling motion and if you drive to that the power needed to increase momentum is less than if the car comes to a holt, as you will use more battery power to start from a stand still than from a rolling motion and that’s a better system than the EVs that when using one pedal driving that comes to a stop.

I think you're right - it's generally more efficient to coast and keep the car moving than to stop it completely.

This might be obvious, but ...
It's not just stopping which is less efficient than coasting, but any regenerative slowing down.
Driving with mechanical braking is less efficient than regeneration which will be less efficient than coasting.
Regeneration can only recover 60-80% of the energy used to get the car to speed.
ICE cars are different from EVs, in an ICE car starting from stopped is considerably less efficient than rolling, in an EV this is not the case.

[hwhbev]

I think that the way you drive is the most significant factor in energy efficiency. The car whose driver has a heavy right foot (hard acceleration, hard braking) is going to have much greater energy usage than the light-footed driver who accelerates slowly, is thinking ahead all the time, lets the vehicle slow down gradually using air/wheel resistance as much as possible, etc.

The question I have is whether there is any significant difference between D and B for the light-footed driver? Set to B, the light-footed driver can still get the car to ‘coast’ by not taking their foot completely off the pedal. If they need to brake then taking their foot off the pedal in B mode is the same as getting some regen from pressing the brake pedal when in D mode. So is there any real difference between D and B for Mr/Mrs Light-Foot?

[Daveion]

Im with you hwhbev. I think D suits the light foot better and makes for a better drive.

[Daveion]

I looked further into my auto braking today and confirmed it wasnt just a Senior moment!
The ACC was deactivated but the car was still slowing at bends and rondabouts etc. There was a green illuminated symbol of lanes in the bottom right of the inactive ACC screen. I was able to switch this on and off using the mode. With it on it auto brakes. With it off it doesn't. I looked in the manual later and concluded I must have Eco Assistant activated. This feature is overridden if ACC is active or you are in B rather than D.
I have only very recently started driving in D so never noticed it until now.
Its page 27 and 28 in the manual.
Every time I think I get it I realise:
The more you know
The more you know
The more you know you dont know.
Its a long learning curve that hopefully doesnt reset again with updated SW.

[G43FAN]

I don't have any real life experience of driving EVs to draw on, my car has arrived at the dealers and all being well I will pick it up in March, but reading a lot of info and watching videos plus adding a bit of school level physics.

It seems other EVs have a lever or switch which you adjust to increase or decrease the regeneration and at one extreme this allows the much talked about one pedal driving.
VW seem to have approached this by just using the brake pedal to provide this. The majority of the initial pressure on the pedal adjusts the amount of regeneration and the mechanical braking only takes over if the need to stop cannot be provided by regenerative braking alone.
So from an energy in energy out POV does the regeneration increase with pressure ( I assume it does) at which point the question is where is the balance between long slow braking (lower regeneration amount for longer) over greater pressure and therefore (I think, if I understand this at all) higher input but for a shorter time.

Obviously constant speed with as little braking and accelerating as possible would be the highest efficiency..

[gailjon]

Video here shows the difference:



It is from Marcus EV

[Deleted User 192]

The majority of the initial pressure on the pedal adjusts the amount of regeneration and the mechanical braking only takes over if the need to stop cannot be provided by regenerative braking alone.

So from an energy in energy out POV does the regeneration increase with pressure ( I assume it does) at which point the question is where is the balance between long slow braking (lower regeneration amount for longer) over greater pressure and therefore (I think, if I understand this at all) higher input but for a shorter time.

Obviously constant speed with as little braking and accelerating as possible would be the highest efficiency..

I think that's a good summary of how it works from my understanding and experience in the car.