As previously mentioned in other Mini E posts, the brake regeneration really slows down the car when the throttle is lifted. My commute from and to work last night and this morning, I played a little game. It's similar to another game I play when I ride a motorcycle on my seven-mile commute, where I try to never take my feet off the pegs. In the Mini E, I tried to never touch the brake pedal. As it turns out, it's easier than I thought, since the brake regeneration can bring the Mini E to a complete stop. When I was done, I ended up touching the brake pedal only three times for each commute. Impressive, when you consider L.A.'s notorious traffic and "special" drivers. Even more impressive is that the only reasons I had to hit the brakes was because I was on a slight incline and the Mini would roll forward or backwards. OK, it's not the most exciting game - nothing like racing Photo Editor Niebuhr online in Forza 3 - but it helps to make the commute seem less oppressive.
Mark Takahashi, Associate Editor @ 4,450 miles
soareyes says:
03:32 PM, 01/29/10
A recent survey of 57 Mini E drivers done by UC Davis showed that all the drivers enjoyed the aggressive regenerative braking and being able to use one pedal for both stop and go. And we still call the throttle the "gas" pedal, but now "g.a.s." stands for "go and stop" pedal.
Stan
Mini E #059
[url]http://web.me.com/soareyes/Stans_Mini_E/Mini_E_Blog/Mini_E_Blog.html[/url]
charlesb says:
10:22 PM, 01/29/10
Your "no brake" game sounds like a recipe for getting rear ended.
tomm250 says:
12:08 PM, 01/30/10
Charlesb: I'm not sure if you know, but the brake lights come on when the regen is active. Not if you only slightly lift your foot off the accelerator, because you are only slightly slowing down, but if you lift up about halfway the car will slow like you are braking and the tail lights come on. If you just poll your foot completely off the accelerator, the car slows dramatically and the brake lights come on instantly. It really isn't any more "dangerous" than regular braking. The tail lights warn cars behind you if the car is slowing down. I've always worried (not that I really care though) that the cars behind me must be thinking "God I hate it when people like that constantly hit their brakes" when I'm really not touching the brakes. I think my taillights come on more frequently that they would if I had conventional brakes so if anything, the rear drivers are more alert to the jerk who's "riding the brakes"
Tom M
MINI-E #250 @20,025 miles
http://minie250.blogspot.com/
cr_driver says:
01:57 PM, 01/30/10
Now thats a silly game!
I know its because of how this car drives/brakes you may be tempted, but nonetheless silly, especially if you "play" it more than once.
ahightower says:
05:21 AM, 01/31/10
That sounds like a fun game. I try to do the same thing in my car which is a manual transmission Mazda3. I often find myself behind another MT driver doing the same thing. I feel that we're doing everyone a service by smoothing out stop-and-go traffic into just go-pretty-slow traffic.
charlesb says:
07:45 AM, 01/31/10
tomm250, I didn't know that and maybe that is true on my Honda Civic Hybrid too, I don't know.