Driver inititated regenerative braking without brake pedal

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jumper

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2016
Messages
51
Typically, when letting of the gas pedal the car will regen brake enough to more or less maintain the current speed. That's fine when needed. But what if you want to slow down instead?

I found when in Drive (not Sport) mode that if I pull the Shift-Down paddle once on the left side of the steering wheel instead of using the brake pedal that the car enters an aggressive regenerative braking mode. The display shows "Mx" for the gear it hits, will shift down itself as you slow down, and will then return itself to Drive either when you stop or nearly stop. Or, if you speed up enough to call for the next gear it will also return to "Drive" mode. If you don't need the next higher gear and just back off for the next slowdown, then the regen braking mode persists. Brilliant!

This seemed to give the battery noticeable new life during a congested 5-30 MPH crawl when otherwise reading 0 miles remaining. Clicking the shift-down paddle once also works well to minimize using the friction brakes when exiting a turnpike/motorway/highway/freeway/toll-road.
 
jumper":1ag4zv0v said:
Typically, when letting of the gas pedal the car will regen brake enough to more or less maintain the current speed. That's fine when needed. But what if you want to slow down instead?

I found when in Drive (not Sport) mode that if I pull the Shift-Down paddle once on the left side of the steering wheel instead of using the brake pedal that the car enters an aggressive regenerative braking mode. The display shows "Mx" for the gear it hits, will shift down itself as you slow down, and will then return itself to Drive either when you stop or nearly stop. Or, if you speed up enough to call for the next gear it will also return to "Drive" mode. If you don't need the next higher gear and just back off for the next slowdown, then the regen braking mode persists. Brilliant!

This seemed to give the battery noticeable new life during a congested 5-30 MPH crawl when otherwise reading 0 miles remaining. Clicking the shift-down paddle once also works well to minimize using the friction brakes when exiting a turnpike/motorway/highway/freeway/toll-road.

If you put the shifter on Manual mode (in EV mode) without doing anything else, you can pretty much drive one pedal driving like an electric car. The e-tron automatically upshifts or downshifts.
 
Hey Jumper, you should know that when in drive, removing your foot from the accelerator does not engage the recuperative breaking in favor of plain coasting (which is more efficient than trying to regenerate potential energy from the kinetic energy), unless you happen to start coasting down a hill.

The car will always engage the recuperative braking before the brake pads when the decelerator is pressed, and only engages the brakes when pressing the pedal firmly or at very low speeds (stopping).
 
revaric":1i0al75e said:
Hey Jumper, you should know that when in drive, removing your foot from the accelerator does not engage the recuperative breaking in favor of plain coasting (which is more efficient than trying to regenerate potential energy from the kinetic energy), unless you happen to start coasting down a hill...

Unless you have it in manual mode, then it will engage recuperative breaking.
 
I've noticed, even in drive that if the car begins accelerating while coasting down a hill, the regen braking seems to engage to more or less maintain the speed at which I've lifted from the accelerator pedal.
 
by default, the car will coast in "neutral" - better gas milege

you can force re-gen (good for red lights) by engaging the transmission either by selecting S mode (via shift knob) or dynamic mode (via audi select) or manually put it in gear with the pedal shifter
 
Does anyone knows if the brake lights turn on when regen braking without pressing the brake pedal?
 
Yes, I've watched the red reflection on vehicles behind me when in regen-mode, the brake lights do come on.
 
The brake lights do not come on with regen braking in the UK spec e-tron. This may be a USA legal requirement but is not a UK legal requirement.
 
PLs":1vm5jocx said:
Does anyone knows if the brake lights turn on when regen braking without pressing the brake pedal?
Yes. I wonder if the car behind me is puzzled why I keep pressing the break pedal.
 
wonglukjp":1du34d80 said:
by default, the car will coast in "neutral" - better gas milege

you can force re-gen (good for red lights) by engaging the transmission either by selecting S mode (via shift knob) or dynamic mode (via audi select) or manually put it in gear with the pedal shifter

Using dynamic drive mode didn't initiate regen when removing the foot from the accelerator (in D while in Hold e-tron mode).
 
revaric":3biylxhc said:
wonglukjp":3biylxhc said:
by default, the car will coast in "neutral" - better gas milege

you can force re-gen (good for red lights) by engaging the transmission either by selecting S mode (via shift knob) or dynamic mode (via audi select) or manually put it in gear with the pedal shifter

Using dynamic drive mode didn't initiate regen when removing the foot from the accelerator (in D while in Hold e-tron mode).
That's because when you switch driving modes, the transmission automatically comes out of "S" mode back to "D" mode. You need to manually switch back to "S" mode.
 
bruintoo":25j0i8c6 said:
revaric":25j0i8c6 said:
wonglukjp":25j0i8c6 said:
by default, the car will coast in "neutral" - better gas milege

you can force re-gen (good for red lights) by engaging the transmission either by selecting S mode (via shift knob) or dynamic mode (via audi select) or manually put it in gear with the pedal shifter

Using dynamic drive mode didn't initiate regen when removing the foot from the accelerator (in D while in Hold e-tron mode).
That's because when you switch driving modes, the transmission automatically comes out of "S" mode back to "D" mode. You need to manually switch back to "S" mode.

That is also not the case in my e-Tron. As best as I can tell, drive mode in the e-Tron only manages steering.
 
Yes for e-tron driving dynamics that can be changed is only "steering."

However the original question was how do you force re-gen? To force re-gen, you can do it 3 ways: press the brake pedal in any driving mode (D,S,M); drive in Sport mode (S) and let go of the accelarator pedal; or drive in Manual (M) while in "EV" mode.
 
Thank you bruintoo. We are close to buying an e-tron so I am not familiar with the modes. But it was a question I've had all day about recharging. You just answered it in one simple sentence.
 
So Bruintoo, based on your response, I wonder about my strategy of shifting into manual mode to slow down. It's not that I don't want to put on the brakes, but it seems to activate regeneration the quickest by shifting to manual. Or is that my imagination and there is really no difference? With this strategy the only problem is forgetting, occasionally, to return to drive.
 
I have been wondering every time I hit the paddle for regen braking if the rear stop lights come on.... Driving the other night I noticed in the rear view mirror the reflections of the stop lights when regen activated so they do.... which is what you would expect....
 
OwDeEtron":156nvqt4 said:
So Bruintoo, based on your response, I wonder about my strategy of shifting into manual mode to slow down. It's not that I don't want to put on the brakes, but it seems to activate regeneration the quickest by shifting to manual. Or is that my imagination and there is really no difference? With this strategy the only problem is forgetting, occasionally, to return to drive.

Pressing the brake pedal in a slow controlled manner is the same as downshifting in "M" mode. So there really is no point in dropping it in "M" mode everytime you want regeneration. According to the e-tron manual page 104:

"If the brakes are applied early and evenly, the electric motor will break the vehicle. By doing this, a large amount of kinetic energy is recovered and may be stored as electric energy in the high-voltage battery."


Basically, you want to brake early an evenly with short pedal movements.
-Ben
 
bruintoo":37yihknu said:
Pressing the brake pedal in a slow controlled manner is the same as downshifting in "M" mode. So there really is no point in dropping it in "M" mode everytime you want regeneration. According to the e-tron manual page 104:

"If the brakes are applied early and evenly, the electric motor will break the vehicle. By doing this, a large amount of kinetic energy is recovered and may be stored as electric energy in the high-voltage battery."

Slip of the fingers typing "break?" Not to worry, the May 2015 version of the manual does say "brake," not "break." ;)
 
estrong":evju751w said:
bruintoo":evju751w said:
Pressing the brake pedal in a slow controlled manner is the same as downshifting in "M" mode. So there really is no point in dropping it in "M" mode everytime you want regeneration. According to the e-tron manual page 104:

"If the brakes are applied early and evenly, the electric motor will break the vehicle. By doing this, a large amount of kinetic energy is recovered and may be stored as electric energy in the high-voltage battery."

Slip of the fingers typing "break?" Not to worry, the May 2015 version of the manual does say "brake," not "break." ;)
LOL. God I hope it doesn't BREAK the car! Ooops.
 
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