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Does Touching the Brakes to Enable Regen Turn On the Brake Lights?


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I've been experimenting with the brake coach and regen to extend my electric mileage.  I've learned that touching the brakes activates the regen (the little swirlie on the performance display) and today, I actually had the EV mileage to up while in traffic.  What I want to know is, when I touch the brake pedal lightly, am I riding the brakes and wearing down the brake pads? It doesn't feel like it.  I'm hoping that all I'm doing is engaging the motor generator to act like an engine brake and I'm not wearing the brake pads.

 

Also, when I lightly touch the brakes to engage the regen, do the brake lights come on?  If so, the folks behind me today must have thought that I'm an idiot.

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Your brake coach will tell you what % you used the electric motor and the friction brakes.  If you receive, for example, a 95% brake score on a stop, that means you used the electric motor 95%, and the other 5% by friction (energy lost).  Knowing this, you can ride the brake all day long using regen and not worry about tearing up your brake pads (if you're not pressing hard enough to engage them), and yes, the brake lights should illuminate since you are stopping.

 

You also get a little regen just coasting.

 

I drove home from a family member's house last night and I was 13 miles away from home and had 10 miles of battery range... Well, I accepted that challenge to see if I could make it home without turning on the gas motor... and I did.  I kept my speed to 40mph or less, coasted as much as I could, avoided stopping completely at all traffic lights (it was late at night so there wasn't much traffic, so I wasn't pressured to go faster, and I was able to time them so by the time I got to the intersection, they turned green for my direction)... maximized regen when I needed it... accelerated slowly and smoothly... and I made it home after the car kicked over to hybrid mode... I had half the hybrid battery left when I rolled in to the garage.  Trip computer said I averaged something around 194MPGe for the ride home.

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