Does regenerative braking work? I did a test

[@robertdoyle7399]

1:22, I hate the sensation as well, the Prius has it but it’s not as aggressive like it most definitely wouldn’t have the same amount of power than the normal brake pedal. Especially on motorways I’ve noticed because our Prius doesn’t have cruise control so we’re constantly adjusting the speed and that’s where I felt it most

[@doolanbrian]

I think Prius will have a B mode ?? So in that case for sure you will feel the restriction ! I have to go to optician Friday from 9:30 to 10:30 Robbie so is 10:30 ok for Friday ?? 🙂

[@robertdoyle7399]

Yep it does have the b mode, you do feel it even more, it wouldn’t be as strong as like level 2-3 on Kona. Yep 10:30 is fine for Friday 👌🏻

[@leebrown3895]

Except petrol is about 25pc cheaper than electric, that's why no car sellers advertise anymore you save money by electric cars

[@caraziegel7652]

I also love freewheeling, as you call it - but i use the paddles to brake with regen braking when i'm ready to slow down. I also hate having to push harder on the accelerator when the regen is on. I havent had a chance to test it because i dont have a regular commute right now

[@doolanbrian]

I totally understand what you mean, thanks for watching!

[@rodden1953]

i have a Kona and i love strong regen .

[@doolanbrian]

I totally understand why people do it now just for me, I prefer zero regen , but it looks like a strong regen is the most efficient!

[@rodden1953]

@@doolanbrian i like it because i feel safer and emergency stopping is a bit faster. PS im in England and i went to Ireland last August but i only used one charger at a Liddle i think because it was PAYG and i hate apps . lovely holiday though .

[@doolanbrian]

@@rodden1953 I understand what you mean .. on that topic of stability one thing I will say is, if you are cornering quickly, the car feels a lot more stable with the level three regeneration on, you get better feedback as to what the vehicle is doing on the road 💪🙂

[@smaracibre]

@5:20. It is actually 14% better if you have regen. Do the math. So it is a lot and it matters. 😉

[@doolanbrian]

I normally find it’s better to underpromise and overdeliver 🙂👍 when doing sales presentation

[@DanT10]

I find I am not "fighting the car" so much I just find the balance point where you are freewheeling. But you do whatever makes your drive better for you.

[@doolanbrian]

Of course, everyone will have different opinions and feelings, so I totally understand what you mean, thank you for watching!!

[@pauld6967]

Your end results are the "on balance" or "all things being considered" value. During the drive at level 3 you likely are using (consuming) more energy from the battery with acceleration at those moments and normal consumption during the normal drive portion. However, the deceleration regeneration is putting enough electrons back into the battery to show that net improvement. If you had the correct "downhill all the way" trip with regeneration on you could theoretically arrive at your destination with near zero energy loss (some systems are always going to be drawing power) from the battery. Of course, the same would be true for a gasoline powered car that coasted downhill all the way.

[@doolanbrian]

Fairpoint, thanks for watching! It’s not a mathematical certainty. It’s just an observation based on two journeys, but there was always going to be confounding variables.🙂

[@pauld6967]

@@doolanbrian You are welcome and, of course Happy New Year. I also found it very odd at first to do "one pedal driving" where you allow the regeneration process to slow/stop the car. However, one does get used to it. It can even be a satisfying feeling to properly plan ahead on when to let up on the accelerator. A pat on your own back for having good foresight.

[@silviuguseila2552]

can you go downhill without regen though, since every time you use the brakes, regen kicks in? So even if you are not in B mode, you would still end up with a net gain (not just near zero energy loss, but an actual gain)

[@pauld6967]

@@silviuguseila2552 My PHEV can essentially coast downhill while in 'D' and get a bit out back into the battery. Shifting to 'L' will more aggressively restore the charge but, sadly, it will never exceed the normal hybrid upper limit and start filling the plug-in portion. Once the plug-in electrons are used up, they are gone until the next plug-in and I am driving around as a hybrid. I don't mind that though as hybrid mode tends to average near the 45 miles per gallon mark. Far better than my previous gasoline-only car that would only get 22 m.p.g. under ideal conditions. Or was your question meant for the author of the video? ;-)

[@williamnorth5277]

Thanks. That was helpful

[@doolanbrian]

@@williamnorth5277 thanks for the kind words!

[@therandomtester9561]

The motor turns opposite direction when in reverse, NOT in regen. At any given speed, the motor will always have the same rpm no matter how much power it uses or if it regens, i.e. rpm will always be 8.000 at 30 km/h. You can simply not compare a drive A-B to B-A, on different days with different weather. Dirve mode in it self is not more or less efficient, but the difference in drivingstyle. Less regen is more benefitial because you'll tend to let of the throttle earlier. But that will only be true if when you do brake, you regenbrake (rather than fricitionbrake) with brake-pedal.. Throttle (using energy) is about 90% efficient (10% loss), and regen is about 90% efficient (10% loss). More regen normally means you spend more time using energy, and easy math says that gives higher losses (dubble losses as Porsche correctly states). But, it's all down to drivingstyle, not the mode...

[@doolanbrian]

So what your saying is regenerative braking has almost no effect on efficiency ?

[@therandomtester9561]

​@@doolanbrian well.. I'm saying it depends. It all comes down to driving style, type of road etc etc. If you have to brake, i.e. down a steep hill, regen is much better than using friction brakes. In general, it's better to avoid regen, go off throttle early, coasting down to an optimal speed instead of relying on regen to slow down. But this is not always possible, and may conflict with your drivingstyle, resulting in more use of brakepedal and thus more use of friction brakes. My result with Leaf was better efficiency in D (low regen), and thus higher consumption in B (max regen) because I was "forced" to plan my driving better not to touch the brakepedal as often. Difference was about 10% in my test.

[@TheDiablosniper]

Hi brian, iv just bought a 2024 hybrid kona, can you tell me if i need to turn on the regen braking everytime i start the car because when i turn it on its not turned on whenever i start the car after after turning it off, Thanks

[@geoffj]

I thought the general advice was to us regen in towns, and on faster roads turn it off and allow the car to coast down

[@doolanbrian]

I understand what you mean… my observation was that for some reason the consumption seems to be better with regen on even on the motorway. One thing I noticed, however is that if you use cruise control, the regeneration seems to be disabled which would link up with your theory.

[@davor92k]

​@@doolanbrian Its not disabled, its just not controlable manually with the cruise control, because the car is controling it in that moment and take the exact ammount of regen that it needs to keep the set wanted speed, also like it controls the ammount of acceleration.. Cruise control is the best way to drive because its coasting and takes only the excess energy to the battery better than anyone can do it mannualy with pedal

[@verynick]

If you have a RWD EV, does it only regen the rear wheel?

[@doolanbrian]

@@verynick the car will be a single motor so my understanding would be that the rear wheels, turning in turn, turn the motor to facilitate regen braking

[@MrTipperX]

Nice vid Brian but it'd more accurate if you did the same journey both times not a there and back comparison.

[@doolanbrian]

Yes of course you are right 🙂👍

[@bsinghgill]

We just bought a secondhand KONA 2021 Petrol Hybrid Ultimate in the UK. The brake pedal really needs to be pressed hard to get it to stop. Before going back to the dealer and ask why it’s like this, I thought I ought to try the regen brake mode. How do I switch on/increase the brake regen? The manual says put the car in ECO mode and use the left steering wheel paddle to increase the brake regen? Do I do this when moving or stationary? Can I not have it set automatically? Seems a bit of a faff to be fair, coming from a non-hybrid car where the brakes were super sharp. Any help would be greatly appreciated 🤞

[@doolanbrian]

Okay, this video might be helpful, even though it’s to do with a hybrid it will show you how to engage the regenerative braking using paddles kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqOxh4augZx0Y5Isi=fkHK059pOIy5aOIq , does it make sense? The regenerative braking can be engaged at any time while driving. The car just needs to be in drive. Let me know if this makes sense. If not then I will try and get a video done to help you.

[@bsinghgill]

@@doolanbrian many thanks! I’ll give it a go when I get to drive it next and report back 👍

[@doolanbrian]

@@bsinghgill do indeed, and if you are still stuck, then I will do a video

[@bsinghgill]

@@doolanbrian much appreciated 👍

[@bsinghgill]

@@doolanbrian , Hi, I just tried the regen braking on our KONA Hybrid by pulling the left paddle to increase and right paddle to decrease the level. I’m not sure if there’s a way to have it set on a specific level when you start the car? Otherwise, you have to consciously remember to engage it. I know for a fact, this will be a faff for my wife, but hey ho, such is life 🥴

[@DeniseBreen]

How does this compare with the I-pedal on the ioniq 5? I tend to drive with that on . Curious

[@doolanbrian]

Sorry I never saw this !! The i-Pedal is marginally more effective but the principle in my opinion remains similar to regen braking on settings 1-2-3 if you get me … iPedal is almost like having a setting 4 per Se 🙂

[@Gixer750K2]

I have a Kona EV 2022, and use Regenerative breaking dependent on where I am driving. In town with lots of traffic then level 2 or even 3 suits me better, since I can allow the regen to slow me down rather than keep using the brake peddle. This is something you get used to, and also pulling and holding the left paddle to stop. It's all about modifying your driving to suit. Instead of letting off the accelerator pedal and freewheeling like in a standard ICE Car, you feather the throttle instead. This allows you to still "freewheel" when you want to. (using the right Power dial display to hold the line if you cant feel it) This also means the regen will kick in by lifting off the throttle more. Kind of like 1-Pedal driving but not full 1-pedal driving like in some other EV's. Depressing the brake pedal gently also uses regen braking, it's only when you press harder on the brake peddle that the normal friction brakes come in. This is the same as in the Prius (my previous car) as well. In fact my old Prius did over 120,000 miles on it's original Pads and Discs :) In your test you also had Automatic Regen set (The little Lightening bolt) so this would have caused regen to kick in a varying strength dependent on how close you were to other cars etc. You can turn this off from the settings, or hold the Right paddle until the little bolt light goes out. Auto regen can be a bit jarring at times, until you learn to understand and actually preempt it.

[@doolanbrian]

Hey, that’s brilliant information, thank you for taking the time to write this and that’s a really interesting point at the end I have never heard of that before so I must investigate that, I appreciate the tip!

[@donnachalyons3904]

Brian, is it the same on the Tuscon Hybrid?

[@doolanbrian]

It’s not, on the tucson , the paddles only change gears!

[@donnachalyons3904]

@@doolanbrian I find when I take my foot off the accelerator going down hill it slows down doesnt want to free wheel too much

[@doolanbrian]

@@donnachalyons3904 It does have regenerative braking but it’s much less aggressive and you can’t control the amount but you’re right it is there! It’s just a different level I suppose, sorry I thought you meant can you change it from the paddles !!

[@MarkRiddellRacing]

On the Tucson the amount of regen is controlled by how much you brake which you see on the eco display on the dashboard

[@doolanbrian]

@@MarkRiddellRacing I understand what you mean. but it’s not a setting like an EV .. so you don’t have a choice whether to disable or enable it at different levels compared to an EV .. thanks for watching🙂🙂

[@ahmadyk2]

How much it takes to charge frome 20% to 90% using fast charger?

[@doolanbrian]

Depends on the size of your fast charger ! It can accept up to 50kw every hour if that helps 🙂🙂

[@ahmadyk2]

@@doolanbrian which is the best .. to charge till 90% or 100% ? Cus i heard that it's better for the battery to control your car to charge up to 90% only . Please help .. many thanks

[@doolanbrian]

@@ahmadyk2 it’s a regular debate .. and I don’t have a set rule from the manufacturer for this 😞 we advise people to not allow the battery to drop under 20 , but to charge to 100 . I could be wrong but hyundai have given us no guidance to say not to charge to 100 % in ireland

[@ahmadyk2]

@@doolanbrian many thanks 👍

[@davet3804]

Use smart regen ! Best of both worlds.

[@doolanbrian]

Good point, thank you for watching!

[@pintokitkat]

Don't you need to compare two trips home not one trip home and one back to work? The hills make a difference.

[@doolanbrian]

@@pintokitkat technically you’re covering the same distance and the same rise and fall , but as I said, it’s not completely free off confounding factors that can affect it👍

[@pintokitkat]

@@doolanbrian well, not really. If you work at the coast and live up a mountain, it's all uphill going home and all downhill going to work. It only balances out if home and work are at the same elevation.

[@doolanbrian]

@@pintokitkat ok I get you yes , so for me I love and work at the same elevation , skryne in Meath and Kildare town 👍

[@TheDiablosniper]

Hi brian, iv a 2024 hybrid kona, do i need to turn on the regen braking everytime i start the car? I turn it on before driving and when i turn off the car and then start it again its turned off

[@doolanbrian]

@@TheDiablosniper I also find the same 👍 , I need to examine the options menu on the car to be sure of this , I am away for 1 week so ill come back to you 😉