sturoberson

During my 27 mile commute, I drive up and down about a 600 foot peak (Sunol Grade). I am experimenting with the ideal way to use batttery power when going up and regen power when going down the hill. Of course, with stop and go traffic, this goes out the window but occasionally I have no traffic. As for going up the hill, I have just been using auto and seek your advice. Going down, this is what I have learned: 1 letting the car coast without applying the brake can regen about a mile into the EV battery. The car will exceed the speed limit if I do this as it still gains speed due to the grade. 2 pressing just hard enough on the brake to light up the animated regen icon puts about 2-3 mile into the EV battery. I only do this to maintain 65 mph during the descent. 3 have not yet tried low gear or hill assist. will try next week. let me know if you have done similar tests. For now, seems that using the brake pedal to maintain speed is the most efficient. Question for all, when pressing the pedal just enough to generate a braking regen, do the brake lights illuminate? Since I use this on a grade to maintain speed, I can imagine it could trouble drivers behind me if they thought I was really braking or was a two-footed driver.