Anti lock, regen, and snow

Hi CivicQc,

The Prius switches from electrical braking to friction when it senses slipage. It happens even in the summer, when you hit loose pavement, such as in the bottom of a pot-hole, while braking.

The friction brakes stay active till you reaccellerate, or come to a stop. Then the car will switch back to electric brakes.

Regen is electric braking. There is no need for the semantics of not calling regeneration "the brakes". Smell that burning electric smell on a train platform? That is the train using its electric brakes.


The electrical braking is fully variable in a Prius. Its not like on some homemade electric cars, where its all or nothing. If you hit a rough piece of ice, and are not braking hard enough to cause a tire to rotate differently from another tire, the electical braking will just continue.

NO, regenerative braking is not the equivalent of going into a low gear. There is no direct equivalent, but "B" gear in a Prius comes close. Although "B" gear is intended for long down hill runs, when there is so much regenerated electricity that no more can be sent to the battery, and the friction brakes must be assisted by engine braking.

If you go into neutral in a Prius, the electric brakes wont be used. Only the friction brakes.

This is in regards to the 2nd Generation, and may be different on the 3rd. We wont know till winter comes: What is poor in a Prius regarding icey conditions, is the car cuts power only. It does not appear to use the friction brakes on the slipping wheel, to cause torque to transfer to the non-slipping wheel. Or if it does, it does it so slowly, and with such little force, its hardly noticeable, and is not usable on the go, but only in very slow groping along situations. My last car was a Saturn SL2, and it was excellent in this regard. This was the only negative thing about the Prius in comparison to the SL2.

 

From a subjective standpoint, braking in a Prius feels just like it does with an ordinary car with one exception: if the front wheels lose traction during braking, you feel a quick loss of braking, the traction control icon flashes, and braking resumes. The transition is fast and causes no problems, although it does scare some drivers - the quick reduction of braking effort feels like uncommanded acceleration to an uninformed driver.

Tom

 

Hi CivicQc,
I live near Toronto, Ontario and although I don't think we get as much snow as you do, we got hammered last year.
I live in a VERY hilly area, and my house is at the top of a hill. I put Gislaved Nord Frost 5 winters on and had no problems with the car at all.
I think with a good winter tire on the car it will make it no problems....although if I'm not mistaken it's now law to put winters on in Quebec anyways.

 

I can't answer your questions but I can say that in Anchorage I have had no problems in the snow and ice with my Prius and neither has my signifcant other in hers. We both have snow tires with studs and they work well in our snow and ice 6 months per year. In fact, my Prius slips around a lot less than my Ford F-150 pickup and its way more fun to drive.