The Joys of Paddling

[Poins]

That is very disappointing. It must surely be possible to wire the lights up to come on at, say, B4 or greater. I am assured that the BMW i3 is wired so that brake lights come on when the driver takes his foot off the accelerator.

 

[Hypermiler]

re switching to B1 and back to B0 to stop the ICE - that seems to work most of the time for me, when in save mode. Thanks for the tip.
H

 

[thegurio]

I asked earlier whether keeping it in b5 had any adverse effect on battery life - well after testing today I can confirm it takes more out of the battery keeping it in B5, rather than just leaving it in D, or B0... If you drive along a long flat road, and you take more of the power meter, if you shift up and down you'll find the power meter moves in unison. Not sure if it's enough to make the regen worth it (I doubt it) but an interesting observation nonetheless.

 

[Goldie]

I asked earlier whether keeping it in b5 had any adverse effect on battery life - well after testing today I can confirm it takes more out of the battery keeping it in B5, rather than just leaving it in D, or B0... If you drive along a long flat road, and you take more of the power meter, if you shift up and down you'll find the power meter moves in unison. Not sure if it's enough to make the regen worth it (I doubt it) but an interesting observation nonetheless.

Hi thegurio,
I guess what you are saying is use it to suit the driving conditions - long flat roads use B0, stop go city driving use B5.

BTW, I love your signature block link to FUELLY, does it take much to collect the data?
Goldie

 

[thegurio]

I asked earlier whether keeping it in b5 had any adverse effect on battery life - well after testing today I can confirm it takes more out of the battery keeping it in B5, rather than just leaving it in D, or B0... If you drive along a long flat road, and you take more of the power meter, if you shift up and down you'll find the power meter moves in unison. Not sure if it's enough to make the regen worth it (I doubt it) but an interesting observation nonetheless.

Hi thegurio,
I guess what you are saying is use it to suit the driving conditions - long flat roads use B0, stop go city driving use B5.

BTW, I love your signature block link to FUELLY, does it take much to collect the data?
Goldie

100% what I'm saying - after approx 2,000 k's in 2 weeks I've found it's a different car on a 50k journey, than it is on a 500k one...

Not much at all to put it in to Fuelly. All you need to do is get an account, start filling it in. It takes about 30 seconds a fuel stop and it adds itself up and does all of its cool things. Ive got an iPhone app that is an american one which helps in the easy use of it, but they also have a mobile site to use which world well enough. You do always have to be connected to use it, but having said that it doesn't matter if you fill the car up during the day, so long as when you get home you fill it in, it's the same end result. I've been using it for about 5 years through 7 cars and have nothing but rave reviews over it

 

[greendwarf]

We tested B5 braking and checking the brake lights and they did not come on. This is a Swedish sold PHEV.

I tried my UK PHEV in B5 mode lifting fully off the accelerator and can confirm that at speeds upto 30mph the brake lights did not come on.

Shame. I like the single pedal driving of B5 but feel safer with brake lights.

Kind regards,
Mark

I find this discussion rather odd - being an old driver, I've always used engine braking to progressively slow down rather than brakes, so my brake lights don't come on now (sorry you behind!). Are you really saying B5 gives a significantly bigger slowing down effect?

 

[DrSlackBladder]

It's all very subjective; of course there is not one level of conventional slowing down using a gearbox that we can all calibate our discussion against.....the slowing down you experience while coasting at 70 mph in 6th is very different to when you then slam it into 3rd to take a roundabout. Regardless, I wouldn't say B5 regen slowing is more powerful than traditional engine/gearbox slowing, therefore no more dangerous (re lack of lights). In my brief experience with a demo car for a weekend and 300 mile trip, I'd say B5 regen is something like the slowing down you'd expect from dropping a gear or maybe two in "normal driving" of a "normal" car. And also the level of regen depends on battery charge at the time......so very subjective and variable, difficult to quantify or describe accurately!

 

[dukeinlondon]

I find that b5 is less abrupt than the engine breaking I had on my diesel engine when the CVT gearbox was set to sports mode. And of course, there was no break light.

When I test drove the i3 the braking was really strong so break lights are more than a nice to have.

 

[jayfdee]

I concur with some previous posters,B0 when on fairly fast smooth country roads,and motorways,always look ahead and anticipate. B5 for big downhills and around towns,but always be polite and look in mirror and dab the brake a bit to turn brake lights on.
Gliding is always more efficient than regen and accelaration back to speed.

Really enjoying my one week old PHEV.