Regenerative Braking

[Mike Watterson]

A hybrid needs a regular gearbox, which could be manual, automatic or DAF variomatic, but surely a purely electric vehicle could be designed without gears, though traditionally many electric motor powered things have gearboxes, even if only a set of pulleys and a belt.

You could have a motor for each wheel, or just for two wheels, and have different sets of windings and variable frequency AC drive.

Keyless entry is a separate issue, nothing to do with engine type and is often less secure on more expensive cars.

Touch controls or screen based controls are an ergonomic disaster compared to real knobs, levers and buttons. The reason for them is a combination of fashion and perceived cost saving if there is a screen for reversing and/or satnav.

I've still to be convinced that SatNav should be more than user supplied option. Also I think the demise of easily swapped radio/entertainment boxes is sad. Both my previous Ford Fusion and current Toyata Yaris use custom radios not sensibly swapable. Also with poor ergonomics. What is the stupidity of clocks and radios that lose all settings if battery is too low and then are harder to reprogram than a VHS? Or the Cigar socket turns off with ignition, meaning phone stops charging, but headlamps stay on (Yaris)?

[peter scott]

At the opposite extreme you have keyless entry/start (on IC cars too) and touch screens for almost everything. Not sure I'd know immediately how to effectively drive a car like that. IC or electric.

My car back home in keyless entry/start & IC.

This Audi is the same although being automatic it has caught me out several times with me not understanding why it wouldn't start. It won't start if it's not in P (park) mode.

I do like the single pedal operation now that I've found it although I don't think it applies the brake lights when slowing down unless I put pressure on the brake pedal (which isn't very often).

Peter

[Cobaltblue]

A hybrid needs a regular gearbox, which could be manual, automatic or DAF variomatic, but surely a purely electric vehicle could be designed without gears, though traditionally many electric motor powered things have gearboxes, even if only a set of pulleys and  a belt.

That's not always the case.

My Mitzi doesn't have a "regular gearbox" as such even though all the Car magazines claims it has a CVT.

It does have a series of clutches and fixed ratio gearing.

Watch this video to get a better understanding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ__5-V6CTI

I haven't driven an electric vehicle with a variable gearbox although they do have Diffs and fixed gears ratios.

The video is for the older version my 2019 model works the same way but has everything uprated, bigger battery, bigger (Atkinson cycle) engine etc.

Cheers

Mike T

[PerdioPal]

As to "one pedal" mode, I have a large 600cc "twist and go" motorcycle (Honda Silverwing) . I still have to use brakes (by hand lever) for sharp stopping. Having a roll back against spring pressure for braking would make riding it even easier. Hard to do a roll back with a car type peddle unless you lift it up by going underneath. I think it is best to leave the vehicle doing all the mechanical thinking so us drivers can concentrate more on the road. Cars these days have far too many functions available, all I have for luxury is heated handlebar grips and a radio all under control by (blind) thumb movements. I take pride in riding well and not having to think about the minutiae of the oily bits makes it easier/better.

[Richard_FM]

At the opposite extreme you have keyless entry/start (on IC cars too) and touch screens for almost everything. Not sure I'd know immediately how to effectively drive a car like that. IC or electric.

My car back home in keyless entry/start & IC.

This Audi is the same although being automatic it has caught me out several times with me not understanding why it wouldn't start. It won't start if it's not in P (park) mode.

I do like the single pedal operation now that I've found it although I don't think it applies the brake lights when slowing down unless I put pressure on the brake pedal (which isn't very often).

Peter

My Yaris has keyless entry, it needs the brake pressing before the ignition can be turned on, & displayed an error message along with some beeps if you try to turn the engine off before putting it in park!

The creep took a bit of getting used to when manoeuvring after years of dipping the clutch!

[joebog1]

My bro owns a Honds MBVRZ/XYZQRX/ summit or other. Its norna-maddick cause his wife cant change gears.
ANYWAY. it wouldnt start. New "keyless ( Clueless ??? ) " ingnitron and human importage , needs you have the key in your pocket.
YES, it has a key, BUT no key holes' ( WTF ??? ) SO UNDER warranty, mere $980 for new SHOVE PUTTON onna da dashing bord. ( UNDER warranty !!! )
Once called a "dash board, where dash pots were fitted ". CANT beat nodern udvances ( NO spello's ).
Mneh, rattler coils on a model T sure worked !!. CHEAP to replace back then, about $500 Au today.

I am I getting old ???


Joe

[peter scott]

Another interesting fact about the Audi clueless entry is that you can lock the doors by pressing a button on the remote but the car unlocks them just by your presence so you can't check that you locked them because they just open for you. I suppose you could check by dropping the key out of range.

Peter.

[Cobaltblue]

The Mitzi is a bit more forgiving.

If you turn the car off it automatically puts on the parking brake. If you forget to turn the parking brake off and you take off slowly it will disengage it for you. If you try to take off suddenly it stays on and beeps at you furiously. There is a hold feature which effectively put the brake on when you stop and releases it as soon as you move.

You cannot select drive or reverse until the start button has been pressed with your foot on the brake pedal.

The most useful feature in this current cold snap is that you can program the car to heat the whole cabin or just the windscreens using the electric motor battery.

In the summer you can turn on the AC, this is why its important to keep the battery topped up by recovering what energy you can with the regen braking especially on short trips.

I am sure the missus will be glad of it tomorrow morning at 05:40 when she sets off to work (The cabin heating will come on at 05:20). (I set it up on my Mitzi remote control App on my smartphone).

Despite how mature the technology looks, charging and range will be things to contend with on full electric cars for some time to come.

In the mean time if they suit your needs and lifestyle your in luck!

Cheers

Mike T

[Cobaltblue]

Since last posting on this topic I have gone full electric.
We kept the Mitzi as well since my wife's car was due for replacement (10 years old) and she needed a larger car for our Grandchildren other family duties.

The new car has surprisingly few options on the regenerative braking (unlike the Mitzi) but for 95% of the time you drive the car with a single pedal you virtually never use the brakes.

Range is quoted as 331 Miles real world and I have done 3 trips which are 280 mile + at motorway speeds and I didn't need to charge or turn off AC. and still had 20+ miles of range left.

I mostly charge it at home but when I need to use the public network it charges at the 200KWH rate where available.

Just like the Mitzi when the Battery is rammed there is no regenerative breaking which means you actually need to use the brake pedal.

It has a decent size boot and the Frunk is a useful size.

Its really designed for kids and the lack of some features is B annoying (you have to search through the on screen options).

However its pretty quick and pretty quiet.

Cheers

Mike T

[Mark Hennessy]

We've recently gone from a normal 1.0 Ecoboost (125 BHP) to a 1.5 Ecoboost with 150 BHP. The bigger engine obviously has better low-down torque, so is much easier to "launch" and is basically effortless in traffic. Still does between 40 and 50 mpg. We got a peak of 58 mpg from the 1.0 on a long run once.

Re-reading this thread, my wife has just repeated her various summer holiday journeys, and the 1.5 got the same 58 mpg that the 1.0 got. I think that's really impressive given the boost in torque you get from the bigger engine. We were lucky to see 40mpg on a journey like that in my 2001 equivalent of the same car, despite it having a lot less power and weighing less. Things have come a long way recently...

If we did go back to 2 cars, the second would definitely be an EV. There are lots of s/h options now for sane prices (relatively speaking, compared to ICE of similar ages - of course the market is still quite high this side of the pandemic). I quite like the idea of the original Ionic, as it is one of the most efficient EVs around, in terms of miles per kWh, though the later 38kWh ones are having a bit of an issue with their coolant crystallising and blocking passageways - that should be sorted out by a recall, but it seems prudent to hold off to see how that pans out. They have relatively small batteries and the range is a bit limited (just shy of 200 miles), but for our use-case, it could be a good fit. Charging from a 13A socket at home is quite feasible with the smaller batteries - anything bigger would require a dedicated charger, and that would mean digging up the garden (again!) to run a beefier supply.

So, what did you go for, Mike?