EV Regenerative Braking using the "B" drive in EV Mode

so the whole point is same efficiency, and less pad wear?

 

I didn’t use it much. The fact the brake lights are not illuminated is enough reason to be cautious.
J

 

I’ve been toying around with that a bit too. Even in “B” the regenerative braking is not as heavy as it is in my electric smart. The argument of brake lights, well, my smart does not trip the brake lights on deceleration and I have yet to get hit.


iPad ?

 

I have only used it once, when coming down a long mountain road at Olympic National Park. It seemed to do what it was supposed to do but I don't know if it would have charged the battery any more than if I had just left it in D.

 

Not really. B mode decelerates much faster than coasting.

 

But it’s still similar to downshifting a manual transmission. When downshifting the brake lights don’t engage either, but it’s still very common to do.


iPad ?

 

Will engine be turned on and burn gas in B mode?

 

No

 

I guess I value my rear bumper more than you do.

 

B mode shuts off the gas and make the ice an air brake, ie, the ice turns and its friction slows down the car.

The gen2 manual warned against excessive use of b mode because it would wear parts.

Cruise control won’t engage while in b mode.

When running electric, why turn the ice?

 

I've seen recommendations to avoid using B when driving; just use it when decelerating. I don't recall the reasons. It is said to give lower efficiency than driving in D.

 

Deceleration and down steep hills when you would otherwise have to repeatedly brake in order to maintain speed. That said, it could certainly be used to decelerate before red lights and stop signs and such, though I wouldn't do it in heavy traffic with vehicles following behind me fairly closely. I want the drivers behind me to see my brake lights when I'm slowing down.

From the 2018 Prime Owner's Manual, page 333:

 

Are you sure that cruise control won't engage in b mode? The only time I used b mode was on a long down hill mountain road (4 or 5 miles) and I used cruise control at the same time. Worked OK until the person ahead of me turned right and the CC slammed on the brakes.

 

I use it all the time when I’m in ev mode. I wish the car had one pedal driving but this is at least 20% of the way there.

 

But no more faster than than downshifting in an ICE car, and people have been doing that in addition to the braking to stop for generations. I did it regularly in a the HHR without incident.

Both of the above quotes apply to the hybrid, and maybe the PiP. The size of the Prime's battery means that it only uses regenerative braking while in B for most cases.

 

If you’re looking for me to validate your unsafe habit look elsewhere.

 

Use of engine braking to control speed and slow down is a common practice. Plenty of time has passed for evidence of such being unsafe to accumulate to the point that the vehicle code would require the brake lights to light up with it, or even remove lower gear choices from the shifter.

Not every car decelerates at the same speed while coasting. One car in drive can decelerate as fast as one in a lower gear or B. I need to make use of downshifting in the Camry because it will coast far longer than most other cars I have owned. It is up to the following driver to be paying attention to the traffic ahead. For all they know, the car ahead may not have working brake lights.