Levenkay
Well-known member
It's kind of interesting that it took two years of LEAF driving to notice this, but I took my 2012 LEAF up into some nearby hills that were logged a decade or so ago to go berry-picking yesterday, and was surprised that the car only allowed one bubble's worth of regen on the way back down. None of the factors that I know affect regen seemed to be in play: the car only had about seven bars' worth of charge, and the battery was at six temperature bars. Still, I had to use friction brakes to hold speed below 20-25MPH coming down the gravel road. Dumbfounded, I brought the car to a complete stop and turned it OFF for half a minute or so, but got the same behavior after turning it back on. Pressing the traction control override button didn't change anything either. All the regen bubbles had double-circles, though.
About a mile later, the road surface became asphalt again, but still with about the same slope, and it was quickly apparent (and reassuring) that the car lit up four regen bubbles when I applied the B pedal on *that* surface. I guess I can accept that this must be a design feature, but I'm a little puzzled at why it would matter so much where the braking force comes from. I mean, nothing kept the *friction* brakes from working, and *they* were still effective at slowing the car (I didn't feel any ABS activity). So why make the regen system sit on the bench? I was also kind of impressed that the car could distinguish between the surfaces; apart from the noise and dust, the footing felt pretty stable, I thought. Only thing I can come up with is that regen only uses the front wheels, while the friction brakes use all four; is there a fear of inducing a spin by stopping just the fronts?
The owner's manual doesn't have much information about the car's regen feature to begin with, and doesn't mention anything about it depending on road surface quality.
About a mile later, the road surface became asphalt again, but still with about the same slope, and it was quickly apparent (and reassuring) that the car lit up four regen bubbles when I applied the B pedal on *that* surface. I guess I can accept that this must be a design feature, but I'm a little puzzled at why it would matter so much where the braking force comes from. I mean, nothing kept the *friction* brakes from working, and *they* were still effective at slowing the car (I didn't feel any ABS activity). So why make the regen system sit on the bench? I was also kind of impressed that the car could distinguish between the surfaces; apart from the noise and dust, the footing felt pretty stable, I thought. Only thing I can come up with is that regen only uses the front wheels, while the friction brakes use all four; is there a fear of inducing a spin by stopping just the fronts?
The owner's manual doesn't have much information about the car's regen feature to begin with, and doesn't mention anything about it depending on road surface quality.
