Reduced Regen Braking Force

Roughly speaking, maximum regen braking force is inversely related to speed. The faster the car moving, the smaller the braking force needed to reach the maximum permitted battery recharge rate.

Put another way, regen is limited by battery power. Power = Force * Speed.

Could this be confusing the matter?

 

How can you tell? Do you have instrumentation, or is this a seat-of-the-pants thing?

Tom

 

Quantitatively can you see a difference in the charge section of the HSI?

 

At 60mph it's very hard to feel full regen... as Fuzzy1 pointed out as speed goes up it takes much less slowing to reach maximum regen (battery charging.)

There would be no way to tell what is going on with your car unless you have a Scangauge -- with that you can see exactly how many amps are going into the battery and how much friction brake is being used.

What you are feeling is correct -- regen only really takes the place of the brakes below 30mph. In fact, it's around 15-10mph where regen really can slow the car.

I commute mostly at 35mph or below and typically my brakes are barely used. When I get home the rotors are still cold to the touch. But I purposefully brake slowly to maximize regen.... At 35mph as soon as I start slowing regen is full on the HSI. I fill up the bar and then back off slightly to keep it just under max regen. Keep applying more force to the pedal as you slow down to ramp up regen.

 

Has it got much colder in the last week? the battery can accept less regen when it's very cold (don't know the specifics of thresholds or amperage)

 

I personally think the regen isn't as good as it was PRIOR to the recall software update back in February time.

 

Has your fuel economy suffered?

 

No, it's actually better but brake wear is worse.

 

Full regen requires the ability to -fully use- the battery. You will not be allowed to do that if:
1. The charge level is too high.
2. The battery temperature is too high (I don't think it's limited by low temps as the battery will heat up during charging anyway).

If the car is sitting in the sun on a hot day the battery -may- be warm. At the very least it will be warmer than on a cool day and therefore will warm up in less time. I say all this because the OP first posted in June, as the weather was warming in the maritimes.

 

I haven't had the recall done ..... so when I do, I will be able to see empirical differences on my ScanGauge II.

 

Maybe the regen is unchanged but the friction pads are used more than they were resulting in increased wear? I'm sure I noticed more black dust on the wheels ever since the update.