Regenerative braking vrs normal braking??

[jaapv]

No, they don't, but I assumed one would use the foot brake if the paddles do not provide enough braking power.

 

[maddogsetc]

No, the brake pads will wear the same, as the brake pedal does exactly the same regenerative braking as the paddle does (actually a bit more effectively), only when you reach the limit of regenerative braking the disk brakes will come in additionally.

Are we sure that's the case? I'm not convinced. There would have to be some clever engineering in the background to determine if there is actually any regenerative braking available in order to decide at what point in the pedal travel to bring in friction braking and (as has been posted earlier) that would imply brake by wire. And in that case what would happen if the regen braking failed? Even more clever algorithms and hardware.

I think it's more likely that the two work in parallel on the pedal and in that case you could save considerable wear on the brake pads and discs by using regen for those occasions when it's safe to do so. In that respect there's a close analogy with using engine braking like us old 'uns were also taught to do. Certainly I use the PHEV's pedal probably 50% less than I did in my previous car (granted it did weigh nearly 3 tonnes though!).

 

[jaapv]

You're over thinking this IMO. The first part of the pedal travel is regenerative, push it deeper and it brakes by friction. It is regulated by the coordination between your brain and your foot.
It should be fairly simple to link the amount of regeneration to the (electrical) brake servo too.