Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

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> However, I concede that most drivers are nowhere near as interested in the technicalities of driving and teaching learner drivers to rev match and heel and toe is probably too complex at that stage in their driving careers.

For every ICE driver like you, there are an equal number of EV drivers trying to optimize their driving habits as well. The difference between ICE and EV when it comes to brake wear is that it's an active effort for an ICE driver and passive for an EV driver.

The regenerative braking in an EV varies by make/model but the 1st gen. Nissan Leaf has by far the least aggressive system. With the Leaf, the brake engagement is based on a number of factors from how fast you're going to how hard you press on the brake. The Leaf will almost come to a complete halt simply by taking your foot off the accelerator and allowing the regen system to drag the car to a stop without ever depressing the brake. In stop-and-go traffic you rarely have to take your foot off the gas.

In the Leaf when you depress the brake pedal the regenerative system ramps up quickly and only after it has peaked do the mechanical brakes engage. When stopping it's not uncommon to hear the mechanical brakes engage just as the car comes to a rest to hold the car at a stand still, it's an audible thunk.

The Tesla Model 3's regenerative braking is quite aggressive compared to the Leaf and if you take your foot completely off the accelerator pedal you will lurch forward in your seat as the car quickly decelerates.

I personally find the Leaf to be a much easier, and a lot less fun, to drive than the Model 3 because of how the brake regen systems work. In my 2015 Leaf I can engage hill mode (aggressive regen) and eco mode (gummy pedal) and then only have to touch the brakes to come to a complete halt. I've yet to find a setting in the Model 3 that compares.

You should go test drive something like the Model 3 as it's a very different driving experience to an ICE in terms of braking.

>You should go test drive something like the Model 3 as it's a very different driving experience to an ICE in terms of braking.

You sound like you took one test drive of the Model 3 at one setting and have no idea that there are multiple settings. If you go through the menus, the aggressiveness of the regen braking is settable. You can make the car "creep" as if it has an automatic transmission, or you can make it not "creep", like cars with manual transmissions and clutches. You can set it for aggressive regen like a real EV, or you can set it for non-aggressive regen so it feels like driving a regular car with an auto trans.

The proper setting, IMO, is the full-EV mode with very aggressive regen. You're not supposed to use the accelerator as an accelerator, you're supposed to use it as a speed control pedal. So you don't take your foot off the pedal at all, unless you need to brake hard. The rest of the time, you keep your foot on the pedal and modulate it to control your speed. If that's a problem for you, it's because you learned bad driving habits with non-EV vehicles, and you need to learn better driving habits now.

Was this just an opportunity for you to insult me twice? Because you confirmed my claim that it's different by pointing out that it has settings to make it feel less different.

You made a claim about the car and how its regen braking works, implying that that was the only way it could work. You then said a different car had settings to change this, but you said nothing about the Model 3's settings, which in fact, let you change this thing that you're complaining about.

You make it very hard to discuss anything because you're aggressively looking for flaws in people's comments that you can object to (i.e. you like to argue) which intern means people are less likely to invest effort in responding because we're hear to have friendly discussions.

> implying that that was the only way it could work.

You're interpreting it how you want to and not taking what's being said in the context it's given.

The comment I was responding to remarked that they used engine braking as a means of reducing brake wear. They acknowledged to have never driven an EV and I was pointing out that by default an EV exhibits a behavior (i.e. regenerative braking) that is similar and, unlike engine braking, is not something you consciously have to perform. It's on by default.

You swoop in to tell me how I'm wrong (which I'm not) and that I'm complaining (which I wasn't).

> the Model 3's settings, which in fact, let you change this thing that you're complaining about.

First, I wasn't complaining about it at all, go back and reread what I said.

> I personally find the Leaf to be ... a lot less fun, to drive...

With both cars you have to keep constant pressure on the accelerator to coast, however the Model 3 requires you to maintain greater pressure which leads to fatigue faster (i.e. less fun). In the Leaf you can set Regenerative Braking to Normal and disable Eco Mode, which increases throttle response and reduces pedal weight, which allows you to coast at highway speeds with minimal pedal pressure. The Model 3's equivalent settings (i.e. Acceleration = Standard, Regenerative Braking = Low) require much more pedal pressure to coast at highway speeds.

Second, even when you set Regenerative Braking to Low in the Tesla, it is still not like driving an ICE vehicle. The Model 3's least aggressive Regenerative Braking setting is so aggressive that if you completely remove your foot from the accelerator it automatically illuminates your brake lights. Unless you're driving in a manual transmission vehicle and you downshift, you will never experience that kind of tug.

So no, in fact, you cannot change the settings in the Model 3 to be comparable to a conventional ICE vehicle. At best you can get a behavior that's akin to driving a manual transmission vehicle aggressively.

Again, I'm not complaining about the Model 3 or any EV.

With regards to my "one test drive" experience with EVs: https://i.imgur.com/KUnPluM.jpg

I would love to, I'm not sure we will have the Model 3 in the U.K for quite some time still. I'll give it a go when they're available and hopefully report back on a future article!

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