Cruise control question.

welcome! no, it won't hurt anything, but it's no different than letting off the gas or stepping on the brake. friction braking only occurs when you mash the brakes, so the hsi goes all the way to the left, or if you're traveling under 7 mph. all the best!

 

Just be sure you are in control of the car at all times.

 

nope. the hsi bar shows you when you're regenerating, and how much. and also when you're friction braking. it's not exact, but a decent representation. the manual has a pretty good explanation.

this has been the m.o. of the prius since 1997. when you let up on the gas, you start regenerating. to understand this, put your car in neutral for a minute and see how you pick up speed.

the harder you step on the brake, the more electricity you regenerate, until the friction brakes kick in if necessary. that's why prius brake ads and rotors last so long. at 33,000 miles, mine look like brand new.

 

the higher paying job you'll get.

 

That is exactly how I brake on an exit ramp. It's more predictable than trying to control the brake pedal without engaging the friction pads. You're a Pro when you can safely exit exactly at the right speed and not engage the friction pads.

 

Do be aware that as soon as you press the brake pedal the braking system "positions the brake pads -at- the rotors, ready to brake". From Toyota. But only minimal friction occurs, UNLESS:
1. You applied the brakes very quickly.
2. You press hard on the brake pedal.
In other words, you are using regen. unless you panic or have to stop "quickly".

Be warned, the Prius has "brake assist". If you get in a panic braking situation where you have to mash the brake pedal the car will "assist" you and apply maximum braking. Always good to ensure all items in the car are secure. It will shock you how fast the Prius can stop! Place "things" on the floor, not on the seats (if on the seats they will end up on the floor). I keep the "security cover" closed over the hatch area, "just in case". It will at least slow down anything back there that wants to fly.

Even the smaller items can be deadly if they strike you in the back of the head!

 

I read the OP three times and for the life of me I'm not smart enough to get my head around what you're trying to accomplish by 'supercharging the regenerative braking system.'

I drive on the interstate every day, and when I'm in one of my hypermiling kicks I usually don't bother with the cruise control.
I can ALWAYS get much better fuel efficiency by hand flying the car rather than using the auto-pilot since the car isn't smart enough to allow for terrain. My idea of maximizing fuel efficiency is to use both the accelerator AND the brakes as little as possible while not being "one of those Prius drivers" that's a menace to normal traffic flow.
I've managed to consistently exit the interstate without using my brakes at all with a little luck and light traffic.
In other words.....hypermiling techniques that work with all cars, work with all cars, and usually people that try to game the battery or the regenerative brakes wind up using more energy in the long run.

All the best!

 

They're pretty close to the rotors from the get go, wouldn't you say?

I'm sceptical of this lack of brake pad use, suspect the hand-off between brake pads and the transaxle is more graduated. Anytime I've got rust on the rotors (say after a car wash followed by a day's sit), I can HEAR the pads applying pressure to the rotors, any time and any speed.

 

correct me if i'm wrong, but hitting decel on the cruise is the same as taking your foot off the gas. the same amount of regen would be applied.

 

I'm not sure about that, but I know if mine encounters a significant downhill while cruise control is on, it applies regenerative braking much more strongly than if I take my foot off the accelerator descending the same hill with the same starting speed. That's annoying! If I want or need to brake, I'd prefer to do it myself, instead of letting Toyota's meddlesome programmers try to maintain the set speed too rigidly. It's possible to eliminate the unwanted regeneration by pressing the accelerator slightly, but that requires a more delicate touch than it does with cruise off.

 

When I use the cruise control to decel it's much more aggressive than taking the foot off the pedal. You can feel the difference and see it on the display. It's more like half way filled on the display compared to a quarter fill with the pedal only.

 

Anyone checked: if the car's using regen braking, due to steep downhill with cruise speed set, do the brake lights come on. I'd think they do, but not sure of a way to check. Maybe at night you can see some glow from the high-mount brake light?

 

It's not. There's a way for an electric motor/generator to get more energy by increasing resistance (don't have the fancy language to explain this), but the regenerative braking is set for X. If the battery is maxed out, it doesn't work hardly at all, and when you are going too fast with CC engaged or trying to decelerate via lowering the CC setting, the regenerative braking increases to a much higher level (about 1/2 the regen bar) to scrub off speed as recaptured energy. At no point do the physical pads engage that I'm aware of.

This does not account for having the fancy active cruise control like the top end Prius has as an option.

 

I can tell you they don't come on when using "B" mode. My grandson followed me one day and I shifted to "B" mode several times (before I knew better) and it bugged the heck out of him not being able to tell I was slowing down. I believe the brake light is tied to the brake pedal. not lit unless pedal is pressed.

 

But brake lights don't come on if you slow down a more conventional car (whether automatic or manual transmission) by downshifting, so that's hardly a reason to single out the Prius for criticism.

 

From my experience it's easier to use cruise control to decelerate if going down a long downhill stretch of the road. In this case you don't have to play with the brake pedal. Non-hybrid cars in this scenario use the engine to slow the vehicle, but the Prius regen system has much more "braking power"