Regenerative braking - revisited

[Rainman]

I totally agree with this.

I drove my wife's Rav4 Hybrid and I was just dying to get back into the R1S

I am in the I like the Rivian regen camp as well, and we have a Porsche Taycan in the family - it really does coast, but has limited regen.

Sponsored

 

[SSteveEV]

The only way I'd be even remotely okay with this is if they added a hardware paddle to get full regen like Chevy did with the Bolt. But having had an EV that blended regen onto the brake pedal I can say I *hate* that mode of driving. All Rivian really needs to do is tweak the throttle mapping or better yet give us a few different profiles to choose from while still giving access to the maximum amount of regen. The way they've done it you can hit the brake pedal and know 100% it will behave the same way *every* time because it's only the friction brakes. My MINI Cooper SE behaved the same way and I loved it.

I agreed with this about the brakes handling the same, then I thought a second more and realized, if regen is still doing whatever it wants while our foot is off the throttle does it still count as only friction? Food for thought, still agree its nice to hit the brake and know its friction so we don't have to check battery level first. Just want a way to coast via a software update instead of modulating while watching a little line switch from blue to green constantly.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I love driving our R1S via OPD and high regen. HOWEVER, I can certainly see how some people, especially when driving in sport, would not want any regen. I think Rivian may need to permit more choices while also drawing a line in the sand between true OPD and just regen.

OPD - I think a true OPD setting should enforce high regen and, assuming this is possible with the hardware, automatically use the friction brakes when regen deceleration is reduced or eliminated for any reason so the vehicle always slows at the same rate using the same pedal position. In this mode we would never have to use the brake pedal except for emergency stopping.

High Regen - Current high regen behavior with variability in stopping depending upon regen availability (Not sure this is really required given true OPD above, but I am sure someone would miss it so why not leave as-is?)

Standard Regen - Current behavior

Low Regen - Current behavior as available in Snow mode

Coast - Permits coasting when no accelerator is applied, as if driving an ICE automatic in Neutral or manual in neutral / with clutch depressed. This should also show an indication on the instrument cluster that range may be adversely impacted.

 

[SSteveEV]

Can we at least agree that coasting makes a flat line graph of energy +/- and whether you are the worst or best manual/automatic driver in the world we will never attain the same efficiency trying to flatten out our curve on the same energy consumption/regeneration graph? The limit might approach 0 but coasting is 0.
I so often see people say regen is 99% efficient which is just wrong. Coasting (and then never touching the brake) is more efficient than OPD.

Did that make sense without a visual graph? No? sorry.

Edit: @SoCal Rob My post ended up lining up fairly well to your post I hadn't read yet. Your warning might need to say adversely impacted in some situations, positively impacted in my use case.

 

[SRO]

In the 19-page "I cancelled my R1S" thread, there was a comment:

I was worried about 1 pedal driving for all of 5 mins on my first ever time driving a Rivian. I’ve had it for two weeks now and I love it. Couldn’t imagine not having it.

I've had my R1S for six months and I dislike how regenerative braking was implemented on the Rivian. It has grown to become one of my biggest dislikes.

I much prefer Porsche's regen braking setup , which drives like a regular car - the vehicle coasts as you lift off the accelerator and then regen brakes when you push on the brake pedal, pushing harder on the brake pedal engages the actual brakes after you are at max regen.

I'm not sure why Rivian believes 'coasting' is not a valuable driving mode that would not be missed.

a) it's more efficient. It is a bit hard to hit the 'not accelerating' , 'not regen braking' sweet spot on the Rivian, so in reality you're just oscillating back and forth between them. Maybe without an equivalent of any engine drag this would be unnerving?

b) bumpy roads can be challenging in the Rivian. It's really hard to maintain that tight sweet spot when bouncing around in your seat - you hit a bump , decelerate, foot goes in , vehicle accelerates, foot lifts off, vehicle decelerates (and that cycle repeats for a good 4-5 times.

I can live with a) of course, it's a bit jarring to switch back and forth between the Rivian and my other cards, it's more b) that is a real problem for me, it's harder to drive the Rivian smoothly , compared to a normal car.

I’ve been using regenerative braking since 2017 It took a few months to get used to it and now it’s second hand. At first I tried to time the release of the accelerator to stop where I wanted it. Now I just let up on the accelerator until it stops where I want it. I probably hit the brakes a couple times a week. No matter which way you do it I think it generates the same electricity. The wife does the same with her EV6. The first thing she does when she gets in her car is put it to max regen.

 

[CrazyOne]

Drive one daily... And the regen braking aint nothing like a manual.

It's like being in first gear all the time ?

 

[zymolysis]

Yes, I'm probably setting myself up for it by driving sport - low, I'm sure it would be much less likely to buck if I were driving in a softer suspension mode.

It sounds like Rivian is giving you what you are requesting, since you set it to Sport mode (I assume that it has a faster or more violent reaction to changes in pedal position). I'll be looking to see if I experience what you do when you drive (apparently I don't, at least not to the extent you do). But I don't drive in Sport mode.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Someone on Reddit just said they don't rest their heel on the ground when they drive and I'm wondering how the hell anyone could drive anything without doing that without it being a disaster.

 

[COdogman]

Someone on Reddit just said they don't rest their heel on the ground when they drive and I'm wondering how the hell anyone could drive anything without doing that without it being a disaster.

 

[sfvR1S]

I've only had my R1S for a few days, but it's my 5th EV and I haven't noticed anything unusual or unexpected with OPD. Not all OPD is going to be the same, but so far, with a small sample size, it's been fine.

Then again, I haven't driven every single EV with OPD so maybe someone made a better mouse trap.

 

[zoomer0056]

It's like being in first gear all the time ?

OPD is like OGD (one gear driving).

 

[CommonSense]

Someone on Reddit just said they don't rest their heel on the ground when they drive and I'm wondering how the hell anyone could drive anything without doing that without it being a disaster.

Yikes! That is a rough life, maybe they are tiny and can’t reach? 100% do not recommend driving that way.

 

[Craigins]

Someone on Reddit just said they don't rest their heel on the ground when they drive and I'm wondering how the hell anyone could drive anything without doing that without it being a disaster.

This was the observation i had when people keep talking about a bump that takes their foot off the pedal. I just don't see how it is really possible in a normal situation. If i were hitting bumps that lift my foot off the pedal I'd be more worried about the other parts of the vehicle rather than a little deceleration.

 

[R1TruKaLa]

The question I would ask is how many of the people who don't like the regenerative breaking have driven a manual transmission extensively? I think driving the Rivian is very similar to driving with a manual transmission. It took me a very short time to adjust.

Yeah, kinda like motorcycle riding feathering the clutch.

 

[usulio]

This was the observation i had when people keep talking about a bump that takes their foot off the pedal. I just don't see how it is really possible in a normal situation. If i were hitting bumps that lift my foot off the pedal I'd be more worried about the other parts of the vehicle rather than a little deceleration.

It doesn't need to lift your foot all the way off the pedal to contribute to porpoising. It just needs to bounce you enough to change the pressure you're putting on the pedal. I will keep trying to shift my driving position around to improve this.

Sponsored