Not possible to turn off 1 pedal driving?

[CalDriver]

My wife hated aggressive regen on another EV we rented a while ago, and that car did not even have true one-pedal driving or come to a full stop by itself. She could only drive it comfortably in the lowest regen setting.

I’m okay driving with high regen myself, but as a passenger I really don’t like it. I’ve had several Uber rides in Teslas where the constant lift-off braking felt terrible, and once I even asked the driver to stop doing it. He basically said he couldn’t.

So if the R2 drives the same way as a Tesla, this could honestly be a deal breaker for us. I still need to test-drive it properly, both as the driver and as a passenger, especially in the lowest regen setting. But if it still feels like forced aggressive regen, I’ll probably cancel my order and let someone else get it faster.

It’s definitely harder to be smooth at one pedal driving. I even once met a Tesla owner who had had his car for over a year and had no idea that depressing his accelerator like 15% would result in coasting and he should do that instead of fully lifting off. I told him to try it, I’m not sure he did, he was smiling at me like I was nuts. I don’t even own a Tesla.

If you aren’t a particularly careful driver, it’s much easier to drive reasonably with two pedals. Who here hasn’t been behind an EV that is constantly flicking its brake lights because the driver is clearly letting off too abruptly from the gas. Or the EV who suddenly seems to limp the last 500 feet to a traffic light because they timed their lift off regen poorly and slowed down too much too soon.

It also comes down to the effort I want to put in. For the same reason I don’t want to daily drive a manual on my commute, I don’t want to have to be very precise with my accelerator inputs in order to ensure a smooth ride. People say OPD becomes second nature, but I don’t want to force myself to get used to a higher level of alertness just to be able to drive a car the same way I am able to drive perfectly well with two pedals - a solution to a problem that is non-existent at least for me and many others.

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[SwampNut]

Lifting off the accelerator and expecting the car to roll is natural. Lifting off and having the car immediately "brake" is not.

Have you driven manual transmission cars? Particularly any with larger and/or high performance engines? Because to me it is natural to have a car decelerate immediately, probably because of that experience. Modern autos, of course, have very little braking, and I really hate that. I think that is not natural at all.

 

[rvnxyz001]

The hardest for me to get used to originally was descending our hill (9% grade, 3 mi mtn road): was a little strange to be on the accelerator while descending… typically I’d drop to second gear and (mostly) coast down the hill.

I wish I could test-drive it for a week or two. A 30-minute drive probably is not enough to know if every driver in my family will be happy with it, especially as both driver and passenger

We have tried other "normal" EVs, and they were totally fine. They drove mostly like regular cars, just with very smooth and natural regen. The problem is that they usually do not look as good inside/outside as the Rivian, unless you move up to a luxury EV.

 

[rvnxyz001]

a solution to a problem that is non-existent at least for me and many others.

Yeah, it feels similar to the effort they put into electronic "door handles" while still needing physical ones as a backup. To me, that is the pinnacle of over-engineering.

I get that it looks cool and futuristic, but I will never understand why a simple mechanical handle needed to become a software-controlled feature with an emergency fallback.

Anyway, it is good to see that a lot of newer EVs have figured out how to do natural-feeling blended braking. They can recover energy through regen in a smooth, normal way without forcing aggressive one-pedal driving just to get good range numbers.

I really hope Rivian follows that trend, especially now that the R2 has a new braking system. I would much rather see them go that direction than copy the Tesla-style forced OPD approach.

 

[rvnxyz001]

Have you driven manual transmission cars? Particularly any with larger and/or high performance engines? Because to me it is natural to have a car decelerate immediately, probably because of that experience. Modern autos, of course, have very little braking, and I really hate that. I think that is not natural at all.

No, unfortunately never had a chance to drive manual

 

[Seano]

I wish I could test-drive it for a week or two. A 30-minute drive probably is not enough to know if every driver in my family will be happy with it, especially as both driver and passenger

We have tried other "normal" EVs, and they were totally fine. They drove mostly like regular cars, just with very smooth and natural regen. The problem is that they usually do not look as good inside/outside as the Rivian, unless you move up to a luxury EV.

Yeah, don't confuse my explanations with extra ordinary difficulty - more differences. I'm very pro on how the Rivians drive and think I explained it in as balanced a way as possible.

My sports car is **very low** to the ground. You can not just drive it in/out of parking lots or over speed bumps without considering the setup (unlike every other car we own); One of my Jeeps has a manual and won't move unless you know how to operate a clutch (unlike every other car we own).

Is everyone going to like 1 pedal driving? I don't know. But my opinion is that Rivian implemented it well.

 

[SwampNut]

No, unfortunately never had a chance to drive manual

Then I think we hit a key difference. I learned to drive in a mid-70s Honda CVCC and a 1961 VW bus. I distinctly remember my first auto experience, where I nearly drove into a gas pump, since, of course, cars should automatically slow down when you let off the gas.

 

[Husky]

No, unfortunately never had a chance to drive manual

It's not too late! Go test drive a Miata! You'll want to bring it home.

 

[mkg3]

Have you driven manual transmission cars? Particularly any with larger and/or high performance engines? Because to me it is natural to have a car decelerate immediately, probably because of that experience. Modern autos, of course, have very little braking, and I really hate that. I think that is not natural at all.

Depends on what gear one is on. If you're on the freeway and are in top gear, it will not slow down immediately. it will roll/coast albeit gradually slowing down. Clearly if you downshift, it will slow down much quickly as the engine revs down.

On the lower gears, if you lift, then there is an immediate slowdown. The slow down is much more natural and associated with engine revs coming down, not quite like regen braking.

Unless you happen to have an old MT, most modern MT also has rev matching so the art of downshifting and engine RPM matching by the driver is essentially taken away; hence DCT is a better alternative to having a pure MT. One can be lazy and be in auto mode (e.g., traffic) and be in the manual mode for the open/winding roads.

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