In fact, according to BMW, drivers of current EVs pretty much never activate their mechanical braking systems, relying instead on their electric motors to handle the job.
I didn’t think the regen could bring a car to a complete stop, like at a stop sign or a red light. They’re certainly not using the motors to hold your place on a hill, are they?
Or are they just saying BMW drivers never stop when they’re supposed to?
I drive an electric van at work, I keep the regen on max because I’m lazy and it saves me some braking and some power - but I still need to use the brake pedal! Regen is fine if the speed of the traffic slows, but if you want to actually stop, or stop faster, you need the brake. Regen won’t make fuck all difference when a kid on a bike wobbles into your path. I’m sure they could increase it, but enough to rapidly stop a heavy vehicle going downhill? I dunno.
Edit - also, it’s intermittent if the van decides it’s having a bad day.
I don’t know about heavier vehicles like vans or trucks, but in my parent’s Renault Zoé the Regen braking is strong enough to slow the car down from like 50km/h to 30km/h when going downhill. It might be enough to bring the car to a standstill, I’ve never actually tried letting it be - usually there’s a car behind me or I need to get somewhere in time so I can’t afford to experiment.
Brakes are still important for emergency/manual speed adjustments, of course. Just wanted to share my experience with “how well does regen braking work downhill?”
I never apply brakes when on a hill, as regen braking covers that to.
But what about coming to a complete stop on a hill? There’s no way for regen to do that, there has to be motion for it to work.
Do you know for a fact that your car (in “B” mode or whatever it is you’re using) doesn’t engage mechanical (friction) brakes on your behalf when appropriate? Or is this an assumption?
EV motors can add energy in either direction of rotation, or remove energy from the existing rotation.
Regenerative braking is removing energy, and yes you must be moving for it to “regenerate” energy. You are correct that it can’t hold you in place without adding energy, you’d roll forward very slowly.
However if you look up how these motors work, the same magnets that are timed to make the motor run can be used to lock the motor in place by adjusting which electromagnets are powered. So the onboard computer detects when motion is slow enough for regenerative to stop working and switches over to magnetic locking, which does burn a bit of energy.
Hmmm. Maybe þe system is more þan regen. You can still apply plenty of resistive force wiþ permanent magnets.
Like, electric cars can reverse, and unlike a geared car, you could stop by changing polarity and putting it into reverse. It would draw power, but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t exert just as much stopping power as friction brakes can for a car.
I mainly use it, but I i definitely have to use the brake when i need to get less speed or in an emergency. My car does roll forward automatically and engine brake automatically too.
I didn’t think the regen could bring a car to a complete stop, like at a stop sign or a red light. They’re certainly not using the motors to hold your place on a hill, are they?
Or are they just saying BMW drivers never stop when they’re supposed to?
I drive an electric van at work, I keep the regen on max because I’m lazy and it saves me some braking and some power - but I still need to use the brake pedal! Regen is fine if the speed of the traffic slows, but if you want to actually stop, or stop faster, you need the brake. Regen won’t make fuck all difference when a kid on a bike wobbles into your path. I’m sure they could increase it, but enough to rapidly stop a heavy vehicle going downhill? I dunno.
Edit - also, it’s intermittent if the van decides it’s having a bad day.
I don’t know about heavier vehicles like vans or trucks, but in my parent’s Renault Zoé the Regen braking is strong enough to slow the car down from like 50km/h to 30km/h when going downhill. It might be enough to bring the car to a standstill, I’ve never actually tried letting it be - usually there’s a car behind me or I need to get somewhere in time so I can’t afford to experiment.
Brakes are still important for emergency/manual speed adjustments, of course. Just wanted to share my experience with “how well does regen braking work downhill?”
Yes I use regen braking for nearly all my stops at lights and stop signs. I’d say 80-90% of the time.
I never apply brakes when on a hill, as regen braking covers that to.
But what about coming to a complete stop on a hill? There’s no way for regen to do that, there has to be motion for it to work.
Do you know for a fact that your car (in “B” mode or whatever it is you’re using) doesn’t engage mechanical (friction) brakes on your behalf when appropriate? Or is this an assumption?
EV motors can add energy in either direction of rotation, or remove energy from the existing rotation.
Regenerative braking is removing energy, and yes you must be moving for it to “regenerate” energy. You are correct that it can’t hold you in place without adding energy, you’d roll forward very slowly.
However if you look up how these motors work, the same magnets that are timed to make the motor run can be used to lock the motor in place by adjusting which electromagnets are powered. So the onboard computer detects when motion is slow enough for regenerative to stop working and switches over to magnetic locking, which does burn a bit of energy.
Hmmm. Maybe þe system is more þan regen. You can still apply plenty of resistive force wiþ permanent magnets.
Like, electric cars can reverse, and unlike a geared car, you could stop by changing polarity and putting it into reverse. It would draw power, but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t exert just as much stopping power as friction brakes can for a car.
I mainly use it, but I i definitely have to use the brake when i need to get less speed or in an emergency. My car does roll forward automatically and engine brake automatically too.