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So this is my first EV. Not my first pick up but I guess technically it is my first EV pick up too 🤪

Coral did a lovely post on things to keep in mind for those of us that are new to EV driving. One thing that I’m unsure of is when is it more efficient to use one pedal versus two pedal driving?

I feel intuitively that traditional two pedal driving is probably better when you’re on the highway and one pedal better around town. Is that correct?

Are there other better parameters? for instance, if you’re in a hilly area is one pedal still better because you may regenerate more on your downhill than you would on the downhill with two pedals?

Can anyone give me some pointers?

 

[VTbuckeye]

With blended brakes in theory it should not matter. Essentially opd is changing the mapping of what the skinny pedal all the way to the right does. The zero point is not at the testing point of its travel, but at a place somewhat depressed. It is much more efficient to use regenerative braking than friction braking. It is slightly more efficient to glide than to regenerate, then accelerate. I do not know if the regeneration during opd is the maximum regeneration available at a given speed, or if there is still more available with the wide pedal before friction braking engages.
If you are constantly speeding up and slowing down due to traffic then opd will likely get you the most regeneration (assuming you do not need the wide pedal to aid in your speed control). You could achieve the same exact results with two pedal driving, but this may require a conscious effort to be less aggressive with the brakes (you may already be an efficient breaker requiring no changes in your behavior).
At constant highway speed with cruise control (whichever variety) there will likely be no difference. If manually driving, 2pd is likely more efficient because stepping off the skinny pedal will result in coasting vs braking and necessitating acceleration to get back up to the speed that you intend to travel.
A hidden benefit to opd may be in emergency/panic situations. When emergency braking you will likely be using friction braking to slow down. There is the brief time when your foot is transiting between the skinny and wide pedals. With opd the car is already slowing by the time your foot is on the brakes. How much distance does this save? Who knows, but it may make a difference in an emergency. On the other hand if roads are slippery and you just want to glide through a turn or other obstacle opd will require more finesse than simply stepping off the skinny pedal, though it can be done.
What I hope is that it is easy to switch between opd and 2pd (super easy when we had a Chevy bolt. Two taps, one scroll, then one more tap in our Volvo xc40 EV, though in the Volvo you can ask Google to turn opd on or off, but I detest talking to my car).

 

[ChasingCoral]

What I hope is that it is easy to switch between opd and 2pd (super easy when we had a Chevy bolt. Two taps, one scroll, then one more tap in our Volvo xc40 EV, though in the Volvo you can ask Google to turn opd on or off, but I detest talking to my car).

Two taps on the main screen.

 

[ChasingCoral]

The short answer is it depends. The long answer is the set of dependencies. Here are a few off the top of my head:

• Coasting can be very efficient
• 2 pedal drive uses blended braking, just like 1PD
• Blended braking turns to excess friction braking if you brake hard
• 1PD will brake optimally but may brake when you would rather be coasting
• Both 2PD and 1PD efficiency will improve with practice
  • 2PD training is to maximize braking efficiency and there is a coach for that
  • 1PD training is learning when to let off the accelerator and where that sweet spot for coasting is found
• 1PD can provide a sporty, manual-transmission feel but regenerative braking is not 100% efficient
• Most highway driving uses cruise control and it doesn't matter if you are in 1PD or 2PD

 

[SmartElectric]

Most highway driving uses cruise control and it doesn't matter if you are in 1PD or 2PD

^ This! Highway is when range/efficiency matters. You can change the efficiency massively by dropping speed. Changing your driving style WRT braking or regeneration will matter very little at 70 mph.

For non-highway driving, the range will fantastic as the aerodynamic drag of the pickup shape will affect range very little and any changes you make to regen won't make much difference to efficiency.

Personally, we've got two different EV's, a Tesla which has two settings for regeneration which we leave on the maximum possible, and an Ioniq with "paddle selectable regen" which we default to maximum as well.

My son drives the Ioniq now and he preferred minimum regen initially, and then switched to maximum because he spent so much time in stop and go traffic and felt it was more pleasant to let the car slow down when off-accelerator then hit the brakes.

 

[FM_Jack]

My son drives the Ioniq now and he preferred minimum regen initially, and then switched to maximum because he spent so much time in stop and go traffic and felt it was more pleasant to let the car slow down when off-accelerator then hit the brakes.

That's when I like 1D, stop and go -_-. Honestly, less stress on the foot. Though technically I'll use CC for the majority of the time.

 

[GDN]

If your foot is on the brake you are likely not recapturing as many electrons as you can. Still not a lot of hands on reports, but maybe light braking does use regen before applying physical brakes, but if you get to the point of physical brakes then you are wasting power. Ford has implemented a blended regen/braking however, so they are doing it from the factory, I just don't know to what extent.

 

[ChasingCoral]

If your foot is on the brake you are likely not recapturing as many electrons as you can. Still not a lot of hands on reports, but maybe light braking does use regen before applying physical brakes, but if you get to the point of physical brakes then you are wasting power. Ford has implemented a blended regen/braking however, so they are doing it from the factory, I just don't know to what extent.

Analysis by Kyle Connor in his test videos indicated that braking to a stop in the Lightning starts with friction braking, blends in regeneration until the end, finishes with friction (of course). This is different from the Mach E that doesn't seem to use friction in the initial braking if brake pressure is light.

 

[dlat48]

The short answer is it depends. The long answer is the set of dependencies. Here are a few off the top of my head:

• Coasting can be very efficient
• 2 pedal drive uses blended braking, just like 1PD
• Blended braking turns to excess friction braking if you brake hard
• 1PD will brake optimally but may brake when you would rather be coasting
• Both 2PD and 1PD efficiency will improve with practice
  • 2PD training is to maximize braking efficiency and there is a coach for that
  • 1PD training is learning when to let off the accelerator and where that sweet spot for coasting is found
• 1PD can provide a sporty, manual-transmission feel but regenerative braking is not 100% efficient
• Most highway driving uses cruise control and it doesn't matter if you are in 1PD or 2PD

I used 1PD for a while but ultimately went back to 2PD. The deciding factor for me was my constant use of CC. When i stop CC the truck would lurch forward when the 1PD took over from the CC and i would need to get back on the "gas" immediately to stop that. I drove 5k miles both ways and 2PD got me an avg of .1M.KwH more. So to me, its personal preference.

 

[ChasingCoral]

If there is a need to coast, 2PD is more efficient. However, most of the need to coast for increased efficiency comes in situations when cruise control is the most efficient. I drive entirely in 1PD and use Cruise Control much of the time. Using cruise control also means your full safety systems are operating (lane centering, adaptive speed control). Because of the way Ford has implemented blended braking in the Lightning, the Lightning uses more friction braking than the Mach E does. This means 1PD may be more efficient in the Lightning because it is relying entirely on regenerative braking to slow the truck until the stop is initiated.

1PD and maximum use of Blue Cruise (either hands-on-wheel or hands-free) is probably the most efficient way to drive. However, it may not make much real world difference in efficiency as long as you avoid a lot of hard braking.

 

[Dave’sNotHere]

If there is a need to coast, 2PD is more efficient. However, most of the need to coast for increased efficiency comes in situations when cruise control is the most efficient. I drive entirely in 1PD and use Cruise Control much of the time. Using cruise control also means your full safety systems are operating (lane centering, adaptive speed control). Because of the way Ford has implemented blended braking in the Lightning, the Lightning uses more friction braking than the Mach E does. This means 1PD may be more efficient in the Lightning because it is relying entirely on regenerative braking to slow the truck until the stop is initiated.

1PD and maximum use of Blue Cruise (either hands-on-wheel or hands-free) is probably the most efficient way to drive. However, it may not make much real world difference in efficiency as long as you avoid a lot of hard braking.

Sport Mode creates a sensation of drag when you ease up on the accelerator in 2 pedal drive. I have assumed that this drag sensation is 100% due to regeneration. Do you know if this is the case? I was surprised while reading this thread to learn that ordinary braking in 2 pedal drive initially uses friction braking before the regenerative braking is applied. If that is truly the case, is Sport Mode more efficient from a braking standpoint, in that it begins slowing the vehicle before the actual brake pedal is used?

 

[ChasingCoral]

Sport Mode creates a sensation of drag when you ease up on the accelerator in 2 pedal drive. I have assumed that this drag sensation is 100% due to regeneration. Do you know if this is the case? I was surprised while reading this thread to learn that ordinary braking in 2 pedal drive initially uses friction braking before the regenerative braking is applied. If that is truly the case, is Sport Mode more efficient from a braking standpoint, in that it begins slowing the vehicle before the actual brake pedal is used?

I don’t know for sure. However, I expect Sport on the Lightning is like Unbridled on the Mach E. If so, it simply increases pedal response for both acceleration and regenerativere braking. It should not use friction braking.

While I use Unbridled all the time in my Mach E, I use Normal mode in my Lightning. Normal mode provides feedback on % energy recovered in braking. When only regeneration is used in Normal mode, 100% of energy is recovered.

 

[Dave’sNotHere]

I don’t know for sure. However, I expect Sport on the Lightning is like Unbridled on the Mach E. If so, it simply increases pedal response for both acceleration and regenerativere braking. It should not use friction braking.

While I use Unbridled all the time in my Mach E, I use Normal mode in my Lightning. Normal mode provides feedback on % energy recovered in braking. When only regeneration is used in Normal mode, 100% of energy is recovered.

Thanks! That helps because I find it much easier to get 100 from the Brake Coach in Sport Mode than I do in Normal Mode. If 100 from the Brake Coach means it was achieved completely through regeneration then I think Sport Mode is the better option for me, particularly around town in the Bay Area with plenty of hills.

 

[Ezbeekeepr]

I always used one pedal, today I turned it off while driving on a snow covered road, with the foot lightly on the gas pedal. When I turned it off I immediately felt less drag. Try it yourself and let me know what you feel. It feels like I have brake on while driving with one pedal? Is this possible?

 

[jurrasicsailor]

Analysis by Kyle Connor in his test videos indicated that braking to a stop in the Lightning starts with friction braking, blends in regeneration until the end, finishes with friction (of course). This is different from the Mach E that doesn't seem to use friction in the initial braking if brake pressure is light.

I am not sure that is correct. Darren Palmer in an interview with Tom Moloughney on State of Charge stated that regen on the 2 pedal driving is exactly the same as with one pedal. I would think if 1 pedal starts with regen braking, while 2 pedal starts with friction braking, he would not have been so adamant about it. But is possible I misunderstood.

 

[KElkhorn]

I always used one pedal, today I turned it off while driving on a snow covered road, with the foot lightly on the gas pedal. When I turned it off I immediately felt less drag. Try it yourself and let me know what you feel. It feels like I have brake on while driving with one pedal? Is this possible?

Yes, that is the idea behind one pedal, you press down to go, up to stop. When you turn it off, you are back to a more typical experience, where you press accelerator to go, press brake to stop.

I have found 1 pedal to be the way to go on snow/ice, as you are always engaged at some level with your accelerator, so you can slow down/speed up with a minute adjustment vs. moving your foot back and forth, and moving each pedal enough to engage, which in my opinion then makes it more likely to press a little too far and break free.

This also uses regen to slow down/stop instead of friction brakes, as noted above, so would certainly increase driving efficiency in frequent stop/go.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I am not sure that is correct. Darren Palmer in an interview with Tom Moloughney on State of Charge stated that regen on the 2 pedal driving is exactly the same as with one pedal. I would think if 1 pedal starts with regen braking, while 2 pedal starts with friction braking, he would not have been so adamant about it. But is possible I misunderstood.

It is possible that both 1PD and 2PD in the Lightning starts with some initial friction braking. Kyle's videos may clarify that issue. His point was that there was an initial friction braking in the Lightning that is not present in Mach E braking.