Regenerative Breaking

[Samson16]

Is there a way to discern when the conventional brakes begin augmenting the motor/generators' effort to slow the vehicle? Is it possible to apply pressure to the brake pedal without engaging the discs?

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[Oxford_Powerboost]

Yes and yes! I try to always brake without using disc brakes (not always possible due to the not super strong electric motor)

The screen you’re looking for is called “EV coach.” I added it to MyView and keep it up as the main screen. It will have a bar at the bottom that will show you both the amount of accelerator you can use before switching the engine on as well as how much brake you can use before blending the disc brakes in.

For braking, it will show the word “Charge” along with a green bar that fills up and a green line. The line represents how far you can fill the graph before using disc brakes. If the Charge word is green, then you are in regen. If it turns white, you’re blending service brakes. Here’s a photo of the ev coach:

 

[thebigdu]

Yes and yes! I try to always brake without using disc brakes (not always possible due to the not super strong electric motor)

The screen you’re looking for is called “EV coach.” I added it to MyView and keep it up as the main screen. It will have a bar at the bottom that will show you both the amount of accelerator you can use before switching the engine on as well as how much brake you can use before blending the disc brakes in.

For braking, it will show the word “Charge” along with a green bar that fills up and a green line. The line represents how far you can fill the graph before using disc brakes. If the Charge word is green, then you are in regen. If it turns white, you’re blending service brakes. Here’s a photo of the ev coach:

I use Eco Coach frequently, but never noticed the word "Charge" changing color. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Samson16]

Thanks! I'll begin using it with that in mind now

I'm curious if I'm going highway speeds and lightly touch the break will the Eco Coach zoom past the green? Also, what if the battery doesn't require further charging? Will the electric motor clutch still grab and slow the vehicle, or does it just not engage? I find this technology fascinating.

 

[imnuts]

You will see the size of the green bar slowly shrink if you're reaching "fully charged". If you do get to the max charge and are still braking, the engine will come on and help you slow further.

Just gently touching the brake, regardless of speed doesn't automatically start mechanical braking, unless you are outside of normal or eco drive modes. I know slippery mode will use mechanical braking first. If you have 4A and are in that mode, it also limits charging.

 

[discothan]

My wife thinks its a video game to turn on the 360 cameras while she back into parking, parallel parks or plays 'how close can i get to the lazy cat before it jumps away'. Luckily we don't have a PB yet......she would make this GREEN PARK another video game.

 

[Samson16]

You will see the size of the green bar slowly shrink if you're reaching "fully charged". If you do get to the max charge and are still braking, the engine will come on and help you slow further.

Just gently touching the brake, regardless of speed doesn't automatically start mechanical braking, unless you are outside of normal or eco drive modes. I know slippery mode will use mechanical braking first. If you have 4A and are in that mode, it also limits charging.

So, let's say we're going down a mountain, can I keep a light touch on the brake to increase regen without heating up the brakes? It's not natural to me to ride the brakes like that. Conventionally I'm on the brake or off, not part way until they melt lol.

 

[Samson16]

Ok. First ever thread and it worked better than my forum search efforts. Similar threads section is chock full of hints and tips and explanations that you guys are repeating to me now. Thank you for the education. It seems yes regen will help slow me down to a point, then off the brake because my HVB is not accepting further charge.

 

[Oxford_Powerboost]

Ok. First ever thread and it worked better than my forum search efforts. Similar threads section is chock full of hints and tips and explanations that you guys are repeating to me now. Thank you for the education. It seems yes regen will help slow me down to a point, then off the brake because my HVB is not accepting further charge.

Welcome to the forum! Yep - you’re exactly right. I live in a fairly mountainous area and experience this often - you can safely “ride the brakes” to regen until the bar shrinks to nothing indicating a full battery. Once that happens, “charge” will be white with any braking and the engine will come on to assist with engine braking since regen is no longer available. At this point I tend to switch to my more traditional roots of pulsing the brakes and then letting off to give them a chance to cool as opposed to riding them. Definitely cool tech!

 

[FTMS]

So, let's say we're going down a mountain, can I keep a light touch on the brake to increase regen without heating up the brakes? It's not natural to me to ride the brakes like that. Conventionally I'm on the brake or off, not part way until they melt lol.

I actually use cruise control when coming down stepper hills even when towing the boat. It goes right into regenerative braking and i don't have to touch the brakes. I tried manually down shifting but it is not as effective as setting cruise control.

 

[Aron]

Welcome to the forum! Yep - you’re exactly right. I live in a fairly mountainous area and experience this often - you can safely “ride the brakes” to regen until the bar shrinks to nothing indicating a full battery. Once that happens, “charge” will be white with any braking and the engine will come on to assist with engine braking since regen is no longer available. At this point I tend to switch to my more traditional roots of pulsing the brakes and then letting off to give them a chance to cool as opposed to riding them. Definitely cool tech!

I haven't tried it yet with the F150 because I haven't yet towed in any mountains, but with my Expedition, if you were in Tow/Haul mode, the engine would downshift when you hit the brakes as well. Very useful when towing a trailer down a mountain (though you'd still need to use the mechanical brake some). I'm assuming that with a Powerboost in Tow/Haul mode, you might benefit from all three when you hit the brakes.

 

[Samson16]

I've concentrated on flow control and the This Trip screen to learn the PB's ways until now. I put EV Coach and ECO Coach in my view back in January, and finally used EV Coach all the way in to work this morning. It was fun to watch the HVB charge and discharge according to my inputs. I understand why some PB enthusiasts here want more battery storage capacity for the large amount of energy that must be scrubbed while bringing this 6000lb. behemoth to a stop from highway speeds lol. We could light up a small town for a minute or two!

Solution? Ultra light weight temperature stable high current battery packs!

Hey chatgpt, stop manipulating us and do something useful for a change. Design a battery according to those specifications.

 

[Oxford_Powerboost]

I haven't tried it yet with the F150 because I haven't yet towed in any mountains, but with my Expedition, if you were in Tow/Haul mode, the engine would downshift when you hit the brakes as well. Very useful when towing a trailer down a mountain (though you'd still need to use the mechanical brake some). I'm assuming that with a Powerboost in Tow/Haul mode, you might benefit from all three when you hit the brakes.

No need for tow haul - I leave mine in normal mode and it grade shifts well enough for me. Usually holds me in the 2500-3500 rpm range once the engine comes on and that’s enough for the empty truck in the our east coast hills. Now the “real” mountains out west might be a different story haha

 

[Snakebitten]

The ECO Coach is a bit vague, but it does Graphically mimic the actual PIDs that are measuring the exact values of regenerative braking.

The PID that absolutely reflects regenerative braking is "Hybrid/EV Battery System Current" and is measured in Amps.

If you watch that PID, it's a bit surprising how subtle the difference is with the brake pedal to get ~130 Amps VS say ~60 Amps of regen. And it's not just by pressing harder, because you can easily press past the highest potential regen, and thus friction braking is introduced while regen braking reduces.

I'm not sure why regen reduces when friction braking increases, but I assume there's a reason beyond my understanding.

What I don't know, and I don't think there's any way to verify, is if friction braking is already in play when regen braking is generating 130 amps of current.

 

[Samson16]

You mentioned 130A and my first thought was at 283V or so...yikes! Then I calculated 37kW and darn it if that isn't the output rating lol. Thanks for even more clarification. I imagined the EV Coach was using a data point like the one you describe to create the graphic, and that's fascinating pressing harder isn't always the trick to maximize regen. Sounds more like threading the needle. Perhaps we need PB regen competitions to see who really has the touch!

"Check this out! Snake is braking blind without his PIDs and still pulling 130A for over 30 seconds! It's a new record Bob!"

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