LeftieBiker said:
The fact that brake lights automatically come on in E Pedal is a plus that most seem to want to neutralize.
Translation...?
Brake lights come on when a certain level of deceleration is achieved and stays on until you apply power to accelerate. In B mode, brake lights only come on when you have your foot on the brakes. Some people consider this to be a complete non issue and I find that very strange.
I blogged about why everyone should use E Pedal all the time and got a lot of flak over it including things like "E Pedal uses too much braking"
"I don't like the feeling of driving underwater" "I can drive much more efficiently in X Mode" and so on.
So its all about personal preference really. You can drive just as efficiently in any mode but some modes require a lot more work and concentration. I am lazy and E Pedal is quite frankly the easiest mode by quite a large margin.
But my detractors refused to accept that the primary reason for them was personal claiming that it was easier to be more efficient in their mode. They made similar claims with Eco mode. FYI; no one had a comeback when I pointed out the higher GOM in Eco
So to be fair (and have quantifiable data) I said "OK. we shall find out which is more efficient" So I started testing B mode instead of just running 100% E Pedal. Now I had already tested the regen levels in various modes and E Pedal is the clear winner by a 50% margin.
https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2018/11/e-pedal-verses-b-mode.html
And...
One thing I discovered that you can check out as its very repeatable is the awkward transition from regen to friction braking in E Pedal when braking manually.
Since I got my LEAF, it has been my personal goal to go one entire month without touching the brake pedal while driving. As hard as I have tried, the best I could do so far is the 24th which I have actually hit twice. Most of the time its closer to the 15th. I guess this is why I hadn't noticed this before recently.
But I was zipping along the road one day with someone who was turning right in front of me and after completing half the turn, decided to go straight instead...rather slowly. Since maintaining speed is what I try to do as much as possible, I had timed their turn so I could hit the intersection just after they had cleared. Well since they didn't clear, this required me to slow down and E Pedal didn't have enough room to slow me sufficiently with a 40 mph differential (speed limit 50) so I slowly applied friction braking and when I did, I felt a release (of regen I assume) before the braking took over.
This reminded me of the feeling I got in my 2011 when going over raised railroad tracks in the rain.
I was able to repeat the feeling several times and found it was more noticeable when you were easing on the brakes "oldstyle" to maximize regen and yeah, E Pedal was already max regen so the easing was in vain really.
But anyway, getting sidetracked. E Pedal is simply an easier way to drive. Its great in stop and go traffic. Not having to hold your foot on the brakes while stopped is a Godsend! but some people simply don't want to get accustomed to it. I find it strange. I had 2 different people try it and they FREAK OUT over the lack of creep. I was quite shocked at their shocked reaction...
But its all about what you know. Some people are comfortable with what they are doing I guess.
As far as the testing of modes; that is still ongoing but prelim results are pretty much the same. You can drive efficiently in any mode but it takes a lot more concentration and yeah, Eco does feel sluggish. I took it off and the zippiness in even moderate maneuvers is simply more than I want to deal with full time.