When holding brake down to charge/regen, am I wearing out the friction brakes too??

See this thread elsewhere on this site that discusses this exact issue. There isn't virtually anything that this hive mind hasn't discussed. Now if we could only find that hiding place..... Always search first if you can.
Braking... | PriusChat

 

It takes some practice and you can't ALWAYS get it exactly right but........

The best thing you can do for fuel economy is anticipate traffic lights and other slow downs and "coast" early.
That is, off gas and over but not on brake.
If you can go again without stopping, the LESS you slow down the better.

The technique is a bit different when you know that you must stop at a given point (stop sign).

And no, moderate pressure on the brake pedal won't use the physical pads at all.
I find it impossible to tell when they actually cut in.

 

My understanding is that if the bar is between the C and the G on the CHG section of the HSI, you are mostly using regen braking. To the left of C and you are using friction braking.

 

My take is its best to avoid braking, as long as it's possible, and safe. Keeping a decent front buffer and anticipating slowdowns, and coasting to stops, all help with this. You'll still get enough regen braking, and some charging occurs during normal driving, even without braking.

I'd just try to avoid extensive electric-only periods, to the point of signif battery depletion.

 

Both, but primarily pedal pressure.

On the HSD, there is a bar that fills up when you begin to apply the brakes. If the bar is not full, then you are not engaging the friction brakes. Only when this bar is full OR at speeds of 8mph or less - the friction brakes are being used.

The bar has the letters CHG on it.

 

At 8 mph, friction brake wear is going to be very slight at most.
In my experience with my 2010 gen 3, you have to brake very hard at speed to get beyond regen into the friction brakes.

There was a question, wondering about the recent recall to reprogram the computer, if it reduced regen braking and was harder on the friction brakes. We were running 75 mph on I 94 and turned into the exit at a full 75 mph. It took quite hard braking to slow from 75 to the stop sign in that short distance. My brother was driving, so I told him to stop at the first available turn out, a few hundred ft up the road. My thoughts were, we braked from 75 mph about as hard as we ever would in any normal situation and now made two full stops using the friction brakes for the 8 mph and lower speed.
I knew that brake rotor heat would tell if the friction brakes had done any amount of the work to stop the car .
I reached through the wheels and touched the brake rotors, the front brakes were just slightly warm, maybe 100 degrees, the rear rotors were cool to the touch. From the brake heat, I would guess that regen braking did at least 95% of the work to stop the car.
I dont know what the recall changed, but regen braking works remarkably well and the cars top speed of an indicated 115 mph is the same as it always was. MPG has not changed, so I see nothing changed that made Prius the great little car it always was.

 

From my observations, it seems like anything within the CHG bar is usually mostly or completely coming from regen. There are some exceptions (like if the battery is nearly full, or too hot, or if you already exceeded the CHG bar while braking, or if you hit a bump that triggered ABS/TRAC/VSC, or if your speed is low, or...), but in general the CHG bar is pretty indicative of how much power is going into your battery while braking.

 

Don't worry.

The brakes are designed to last like normal brakes wear.

Brakes wear prematurely if you "ride" them (always have the brake pedal depressed) or there is a mechanical flaw causing one or more pads to "drag" on the disc/drum.

Normally used brakes in a normal vehicle can last 50K miles or more before NEEDING to be serviced (although you should really peak at them every 5K to check for problems (when you normally rotate your tires).

 

When I first read your headline, I thought you were asking about "Force Charging" The Prius.

But if your question boils down to...when I brake am I also wearing out the brakes?...I suppose the answer even with The Prius regenerative hybrid braking system is Yes.

Any time the friction brakes get engaged, some wear is going to happen. The computer controlled dual system of The Prius reduces the direct amount in comparison to "regular" vehicles without a hybrid regenerative system, but whenever there is friction there is wear.

Personally? Braking is something I don't want to think too much about. It's a safety issue. I want it to be instinctual, and immediate when it is necessary. When I need to stop, my first priority, even with The Prius, must be to safely stop. So most of the time, I just let the regen system and the friction brake synergy...be completely computer controlled. My input and thinking is reduced to Press pedal..stop vehicle.

That being said, Sure if I'm within a stretch, heading towards a stop light or sign with plenty of time to stop, and no vehicles around me, I'll try to brake efficiently and get the most out of the recharge capabilities of the regen system. I would say these momentum reducing opportunities are similar to situations where if you were driving a stick shift...you could down shift to slow. With the Prius? It's not down shifting...it's trying to let the regen system do most of the slowing.

So I can't say I never give it any thought or attention. BUT in general...I brake to stop, I don't usually consciously brake to regen. And I think the Prius system is designed to allow me to do this, and still be efficient.

I haven't really owned The Prius long enough to have experience in this regard. But what I have read, is that the synergy between the dual braking systems the hybrid regenerative brakes provide, result in far reduced wear on the friction brakes than would be mirrored on a friction brakes ONLY vehicle. I have no reason to believe this isn't true.

However, I refuse to worry about amount of wear I might be generating given any "philosophy" in application of the brakes. I apply the brakes to stop, and my priority is being able to safely stop.

Having The Prius over a year, my gas mileage has remained excellent. That's my marker and bell weather. I mean, even with any regular vehicle I've owned, I try to avoid situations where I would be slamming on the brakes. However, if those situations arise? They arise.

 

100% agree. I do the same technique of "avoid braking" as much as possible. Braking just wastes en