I have seen some debate recently on various EV websites concerning
regenerative braking and one-pedal driving. It also came up this week on a
podcast I listen to called *EV News Daily*. I shared my thoughts about
this with the program's host, Martyn Lee, and I wanted to share this with
you, too:
Hi Martyn,
You recently discussed regenerative braking on your podcast, and I just
wanted to share a slightly different perspective on the topic.
I have been a paramedic instructor for more than twenty years. Like
everyone else who works in a public safety profession, I have seen more
than my fair share of injury and death. The most difficult calls always
involve children, and I have responded to several incidents where a child
has been struck by a vehicle, usually after the child ran out into the road
without looking.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the difference between life and death
in these instances is measured in milliseconds. If you are driving a
typical car and a child runs out in front of you, your car will not slow
down until you apply significant pressure to the brake pedal. During the
time you are lifting your foot off the accelerator, moving it across from
the accelerator to the brake pedal, and beginning to press on the brake
pedal, your car is not slowing down in any significant way. Those are
milliseconds that are lost at a time when you have none to spare.
However, if you are driving an electric vehicle with maximum regenerative
braking, the moment you begin raising your foot off the accelerator your
car starts to slow down. It continues to slow as your foot moves from the
accelerator to the brake pedal. It continues to slow as you begin to push
on the brake. By the time you have depressed the brake pedal enough to
pressurize the brake fluid in the lines and force the calipers and pads to
begin squeezing on the rotors, the speed of your car has already slowed
significantly due to the regenerative braking of the magnets in the
electric motor.
And this can make an enormous difference. Why? Because physics tells us
that the energy at the moment of impact is most dependent upon speed. In
the formula for kinetic energy (the energy of motion), velocity is
squared. In other words, by reducing the speed at impact by half, you
reduce the impact energy by a factor of four. And that can be the
difference between life and death.
For this reason, I always advise everyone with an EV to drive with the
regenerative braking at its maximum. This is a superpower that your car
possesses! Use it!
You can do this and still drive smoothly. You simply have to slightly
change the way you think about driving. You will soon learn that lifting
your foot off the accelerator is the same thing as pressing on the brake.
Therefore, to stop smoothly, you simply lift your foot slowly and smoothly
off the accelerator. With just a little practice, your passengers won't
feel any difference.
Martyn, as you often say, EVs are just better in every way. And this is
just one more way in which they are better.
*Please* encourage your listeners to learn to drive with maximum
regenerative braking. *Please* don't turn off one of the most important
safety features of an EV just so it will behave like an ICE car.
Thank you,
Marty Young
