Regenerative Breaking - Explained

[anko]

... when in effect you are just increasing the B level through to 5 before the friction brakes kick in.

To level 5 and beyond, as you explained yourself ;-)

 

[maby]

My disks are going rusty!

 

[jaapv]

So just to recap....
The brake pedal activates regenerative braking in certain circumstances.
The brake discs etc are then doing little work because of this. You would think the discs would be smaller if this was the case.
It makes you wonder why it has got brakes/discs at all or is that a legal requirement.

Is all this actually real information or just what seems logical-ish, personally I thought the brakes would work just as normal as in any car and this brake mode of operation seems a bit OTT. I would think certain features like ABS and traction contol would be a bit of a nightmare if this is the case. If the system is so advanced then why does it just have a mechnical and not an electric handbrake.
I would think braking and regeneration are two independent different systems and are not really interlinked at all TBH. I have personally have no proof of this otherwise.

It has a mechanical handbrake because of legal requirements in some countries.

 

[gwatpe]

As the battery becomes less effective, all PHEV drivers will be thankful that Mitsubishi engineers designed the mechanical brakes at the present size. Most drivers will only experience the lack of REGEN with a full battery, as the battery effectiveness as an energy absorber diminishes, like my original PHEV. Present owners will become very aware of the importance of the mechanical components as the battery changes with aging.

 

[greendwarf]

I still don't understand how driving everywhere in B5 is helpful. I've tried it and its like having the handbrake on - every time you lift off the car quickly slows down whereas in B0 you get to coast. Apart from wearing the brakes down faster in B0, surely the Regen from B5 won't balance the extra fuel wasted by missing out on the coasting, or am I missing something :?

 

[anko]

You are missing the point that the gas pedal is not an on-off switch.

In B5 you can coast or even slow down you acceleration but still accelarate, by properly dosing the amount of lift. You can decellerate actively (regenerate) by lifting the gas pedal more. When you need more decelleration than you get with a fully lifte gas pedal, then you need to apply the break pedal.

In B1 - B4 you can do exactly the same. Except that the amount of decelleration with a fully lifted gas pedal is less, so you will need to apply the break pedal more often.

In B0 you can do almost the same. But you cannot actively decellerate (regenerate) just by lifting the gas pedal. As soon as you want to decelerate more than you do while coasting, you need to apply the break pedaal

 

[jaapv]

Which will start off by applying regenerative braking - so you do not even wear the brakepads down more

 

[Ozukus]

I still don't understand how driving everywhere in B5 is helpful. I've tried it and its like having the handbrake on - every time you lift off the car quickly slows down whereas in B0 you get to coast. Apart from wearing the brakes down faster in B0, surely the Regen from B5 won't balance the extra fuel wasted by missing out on the coasting, or am I missing something :?

greendwarf,

Try setting the car to B5 with the energy flow monitor shown on the dash and ensure your battery is not 100% charged (as no regen occurs at 100% as there is nowhere for the energy to go). Now while driving slowly decrease the pressure on the accelerator. As you do this you will see that the energy flow goes from battery to wheels, to nothing, then from wheels to battery and the regen/power dial will start to enter the regen zone.

As long as you lift your foot slowly you will notice that the amount of regen breaking increases the more you decrease pressure on the accelerator until you have fully lifted your foot off the accelerator at which point you are in B5 mode.

You can effectively control the amount of regen with the accelerator pedal.

 

[greendwarf]

I still don't understand how driving everywhere in B5 is helpful. I've tried it and its like having the handbrake on - every time you lift off the car quickly slows down whereas in B0 you get to coast. Apart from wearing the brakes down faster in B0, surely the Regen from B5 won't balance the extra fuel wasted by missing out on the coasting, or am I missing something :?

greendwarf,

Try setting the car to B5 with the energy flow monitor shown on the dash and ensure your battery is not 100% charged (as no regen occurs at 100% as there is nowhere for the energy to go). Now while driving slowly decrease the pressure on the accelerator. As you do this you will see that the energy flow goes from battery to wheels, to nothing, then from wheels to battery and the regen/power dial will start to enter the regen zone.

As long as you lift your foot slowly you will notice that the amount of regen breaking increases the more you decrease pressure on the accelerator until you have fully lifted your foot off the accelerator at which point you are in B5 mode.

You can effectively control the amount of regen with the accelerator pedal.

Maybe in theory but when I've tried this at speed (30mph) the point at which the energy flow switches to regen is too narrow to allow you to coast without spending all your time watching the display rather than the road, and so you almost instantly go into regen when you try to lift off. So, in practice, driving everywhere in B5 ends up as a constant movement up and down on the accelerator with no "free" mileage.