I saw Kyle Conner talking about how Mercedes has gone to a smart adaptive cruise and ADAS system where the car knows when to coast, and when to apply regen. It seems to me more manufacturers should look at this type of smart cruise, ADAS system. While not much of a difference it certainly would add up. No reason to scrub off energy and try to recoup it if you can use it coasting. Interesting comparison. The Bolt still does a modest regen even with OPD turned off. On the Tesla we don't have that option to turn it off, but hopefully Tesla will possibly do a software update to implement a smarter cruise/autopilot method. Looks like low hanging fruit to get more efficiency.
I spent many years driving manual transmissions, and I think that's the source of my preference for one-pedal driving. For me, it's the feeling of being more connected to the driving experience. This topic is one of those often debated topics in EV land, and as such, it was a great choice to do a video on. I do suspect if one was a purely urban commuter, the difference between the two modes would be more pronounced. That said, again, I drive in one-pedal simply because I prefer it.
My experience with a Bolt is that, anytime you're just cruising down a road and not needing to actively slow down, having one pedal driving on or off has absolutely no effect on efficiency. You can observe this firsthand by turning one pedal driving on and off while you are cruising (yes, this is safe to do, even at 70 mph, if you know what you are doing), and seeing that the real-time power level, as displayed on the dashboard, remains exactly the same in both modes - the one difference between them is the foot position needed to maintain your speed. So, to have any chance of observing an impact, you would want a test that is 100% city driving, filled with stop signs and stoplights, rather than constant-speed cruises. For a route with lots of starts and stops, I would expect one pedal driving to offer some benefit, but how much will depend a lot on driver habits. For instance, if you brake very gently throughout, and/or make heavy use of the regen paddle, I would expect one pedal driving to still have very limited impact. On the other hand, if you do a lot of medium-hard braking and don't use the regen paddle, I would expect one pedal driving to have a bigger impact. My personal preference is to drive with one pedal driving on almost all of the time, although I will occasionally turn it off on long highway cruises to rest my foot a bit when I don't want to use cruise control. Over time, I've grown to especially like one pedal driving while parking, as I feel I have more control over the fine movement needed to get into or out of a parking space with one pedal driving on. Absolutely agree with the video that people should drive however they find most comfortable and not worry about efficiency in choosing to drive with one pedal driving on vs. off.
Plus, there's no difference in regen between 1-pedal, regen paddles, or just using the brake pedal...It's all the same. Braking kills efficiency because you only "regen" a fraction of the energy it took to get up to speed. No matter what driving mode you prefer, coasting to stops and slowly accelerating to speed is most efficient. If you're not coasting during 1-pedal driving, you're wasting the kinetic energy it took to get the vehicle in motion.
Coming from driving a 5-Speed manual transmission, I LOVE 1-Pedal driving. It's sooo much easier!!! And, immediately, I adapted to using it. My husband was surprised how quickly and smoothly I came to a complete stop; and, accurately -- not too short or too long -- just right.😘 I don't ever want to drive without 1-Pedal. BTW, we own the 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV. Thank you for the insightful efficiency comparison; Enjoyed the video. Hope y'all have a nice road trip and look forward to that video.
We love the Bolt EUV! Five weeks ago, I purchased our second EV-a 2023 Bolt EUV with 15K miles-from Hertz Car Sales in Katy, TX. The total cost was $18,600, including taxes, registration, etc. Great Value Purchase!! This is our second Bolt EUV, and my son, who drove my one yr old Bolt EUV Premier, absolutely loved it! Recently, my son and I embarked on a 1,300-mile road trip from Houston to Fort Lauderdale in his Bolt EUV for college. With overnight stops in Mobile and Orlando, the journey was smooth thanks to careful planning. We used the ABRP app to strategically plan our charging stops around breaks, meals, and overnight stays. We chose charging locations with at least four stations to avoid wait times and always had backup stops in case of issues. We primarily relied on the Electrify America and FPL Evolution networks and, thankfully, didn’t encounter any major charging problems.
Wrong. It's not even close. 1-Pedal driving should just be called "1-Pedal Braking" People seem to think that regen puts 100% of the energy you put to get the vehicle up to speed - back into the battery. Nope. If you really want to drive for efficiency, drive like a big rig...coast to stops, anticipate red lights, and preserve momentum. Braking kills efficiency.
Exactly this. Coasting is always better than regen. Regen is always better than braking. Regen is for times where you would otherwise use the brakes but can take the time to scavenge some energy back. Especially useful for things like where you would normally use engine braking to coast at a speed down a hill. It helps a bunch in city and stop/go traffic situations too, since you are going to be decelerating anyway you may as well use the motor drag rather than brakes.
One pedal driving is not more efficient. It is the most efficient to coast whenever slowing. Whether one pedal is enabled or not you will capture only 'some of the energy', when breaking in d mode or lifting your foot in 1 pedal mode, that was used to initially reach the speed you are slowing from. If you are aggressively lifting your foot in 1 pedal, or aggressively breaking when coming to a stop in d mode you are capturing more energy at that moment at the expense to total distance you will get from a trip.
Very gradual stopping is the most efficient whether it's using Coast, very light touch on the brake pedal or a light touch on the regen pedal, although it's almost impossible to completely replicate coast
I disagree totally that OPD is less efficient. You just need to know how to use it. Also, I don't understand why so many people think it needs to be 100% on or off. The most efficient way to drive (at least in the Bolt EV's) is to use OPD where best and turn it off when not needed.
I like the one pedal driving after two days of driving now I really don't like the feeling driving in the regular mode. it feels like I don't have as good control. great video!
At first one pedal driving had too much braking when I took the cruise off but it was better when I learned to have my foot on the "gas" pedal when using one pedal driving. I seldom replaced brakes on my ICE cars as I coasted to stops or turns long before I got to them which is easier to do in the rural area I live in. I leave OPD on all the time.
Yeah, it would be nice to have a knob to adjust how aggressive the regen is. One potential down-side to using one-pedal all the time is that your brakes will start to rust if you don't use them regularly.
Not too surprising, since using the brake pedal in the Bolt still utilizes regenerative braking up to a certain point before engaging the friction brakes. I mainly use OPD, but I think you have to stomp on the brake pedal pretty hard to actually engage the friction brakes (unless the car is in neutral).
Great video! I'm just a few weeks into my Bolt EUV ownership. I always drive in 1-pedal mode. My wife has commented, when she is in the passenger seat, that the ride feels "very jerky" to her. But is that maybe because of me (as a beginner) and my driving skill with the 1 pedal? So I'm assuming that I will probably improve my skill and drive more smoothly over time?
The first time I rode in my uncle's GWM Ora, I got carsick from the constant jerky acceleration and deceleration from the one-pedal driving. I personally think that using regen unnecessarily decreases efficiency. Conservation of momentum also conserves energy. If I had an EV I would set it to regen when I hit the brake pedal, and just have mild regen when I lift off the accelerator.
Great video guys. I also prefer one pedal driving but my daughter, who is using the Bolt while their car is in the shop, prefers one pedal drive off! I appreciate the choice as the Tesla does not offer the choice. Stay safe my friends.
I believe Tesla actually does offer the choice; it's just buried in the touchscreen menus, rather than the Bolt, where you can turn it on or off with one button.
I am not a fan. I prefer to coast up to the traffic light/stop sign. and not expect than when I take my foot off the throttle pedal there a noticeable decline in forward motion. YMMV. My brake pedal activates the regen. It is good enough to give me 4.2 on a recent trip. Speaking of trips, whether you do a 25 mile test trip or a 2000 mile trip, it will all average out. On a trip to Boise I got 52 mpg, on the return trip, I did 62 mpg. Using the EV side I am running 104 MPGe, and nearly half my miles driven in this car are EV miles. My mpg’s at 63 for a Ford Fusion Energi pale to the new record holder, who recently scored 93 mpg in a Prius Prime. Guinness just verified it last week. Long live hybrids!!
On the regular Bolt EVs the lights are on the railgate until it is opened. Then they switch to the lower bumper lights (like the EUV). I saw this in another video and tried it out on our daughter's 2020. It's true!
I have a ‘23 EUV, same Ice Blue metallic. I drive 87-95 miles round trip to work every day depending on what route I take. The route depends on traffic, and so does efficiency. The trip to work is mostly uphill, with a 150’ change in elevation, so my efficiency is lower in the morning. I’m typically 3.9 kWh for the RT. This mimics your results. I haven’t tried turning 1 pedal off for the highway portion to see if that is more efficient. What has really increased my efficiency is learning what kW output will manage speed up the hills. My best days, I apply the right amount of power to only lose 1-3 mph when climbing a hill. You don’t want to accelerate uphill, and you don’t want to hit the hill too weakly, and lose too much speed that you will have to regain on the down side. It also makes other people on the road really upset.
'23 Bolt euv Lt. I don't like the one-pedal feature, and don't use it except in heavy traffic, which I'm very seldom in. I don't tell anyone to not use it, I just don' t like it. I like the regen when off the accelerator, and the extra at the top of the brake pedal. Then there's the left paddle if I want more. My summer driving averages 5.0-5.2 miles/kwh. I have plenty of screenshots of the dash to show if anyone wants to see them.
Mate, one pedal driving is intuitive, even kids take to them in toy cars, naturally. So for adults new to it, it’s a walk in the park. Yes, it’s more fun, more relaxing not having to use 2 of your feet in a crammed space , to drive. I hardly have to use the brakes! My car come to a stop way more smoothly. The bonus is there’s regeneration of electricity too. ( We drove 16km on roads in a hilly area and we just couldn’t use up our battery charge, it regenerated every time we had to go down slopes ! So it was charge neutral after 16km of driving! Try doing that in a ICE car! )
The best efficiency is to be light on the peddles, low on the climate settings, and slow on the highways. I have dumb cruise, not adaptive. I’m pretty sure cruise helps my efficiency because without it, I tend to go faster.
Wow that's awesome. But it's a known fact that almost all EVs use regenerate breaking to stop. Even when you turn off one pedal driving. All EVs use blended breaking. It's just a little different feeling. But one pedal is easier for the car and newer drivers. My ID.4 doesn't have one Pedal driving. But has B mode which makes it slow down like One Pedal driving. You just have to use the brakes to get the car to fully stop. This is why the hybrid cars are more efficient than ICE cars. Blended breaking.
With my Bolt EV, I use one pedal drive all the time. However, there is no true answer to if it's best to use it or not. It absolutely does increase the efficiency, but it's also not good to use it 100% and it should be used in specific times. Myself, under most driving I leave it on. When I am on the highways or freeways going over 40 MPH, I turn it off. That's me and I'm running an average of 4.8 miles per KWH over 6,000 miles on this Bolt. On the other one where I put 16,000 miles on it, that one was averaging 4.7 MPKH. Now, an example of where being on a freeway at higher speeds and going through mountains, you are making it worse when going down the mountain with the one pedal drive on. Why? The one pedal drive holds the car back too much and your speed drops, thus needing to actually push the accelerator to maintain speed. In that case, it takes the car out of regen and uses power. In that same example, by turning the one pedal drive off allows the car to coast more without losing speed. Although the regen isn't as high in this case, it's still in regen rather than using power to keep your speed. Also in that scenario, if your speed starts to pick up (going too fast), you would apply the brakes and that would create more regen as well or you could push the one pedal drive button (turn on) for a very short amount of time to reduce the speed and then turn it back off. Bottom line? It isn't about turning it on or off and leaving it there. It's about reading the specific situation and turning it on/off as needed. After all, you won't break it by turning on/off too much.
OPD (B-mode) can only be measurably more efficient if you really have very frequent stop and go situations. Recuperation is associated with losses that are barely or not at all noticeable during normal driving without frequent stop and go situations in B and/or D mode. A noticable increase in efficiency that is not lost in measurement inaccuracies can only be achieved by the so called sailing mode, which is neither B nor D mode. This, in turn, requires very foresighted driving in order to be effective. A restless foot on the pedal greatly influences or even destroys any efficiency.
It took me a couple of days of ownership before I tried out the one pedal driving. I remember going around the neighborhood to get a feel for it and by the next day trying it out on the highway. I like it very much and keep it on at all times.
One pedal driving is the absolute best. My BMW i3 has a AWESOME regenerative braking can't live without it after driving with it for the last 4 years. Thanks for making this video - super fun test
I watched your video with Ty Houseman while I was in Thailand on a business trip in Jan 24. We were not in the market for a EV until I saw that and priced other gas small cars to replace my wife’s Renegade. It had been a good car 4WD 6 sped ave 28 or so around town but at 100k on it I decided to replace it before a turbo or clutch went out as my wife was starting a new job out of the house and back to a outside location of 30 miles per day round trip. Our gas in Memphis TN now is 2.45-2.89 and at that rate the jeep was 10 cents per mile for fuel. The Kilowatt price here is 11 cents. The Bolt has done 4.4 miles Kw over 12 k driving since Feb 24. Or 2.5 cents per mile charging at home. On the road not so good price wise as DC fast charging has run 40-60 cents Kw or same cost as gas car. We prefer one pedal driving and I prefer with any vehicle to use cruise as much as possible even around town. My wife doesn’t like cruise as much. So with one pedal driving it feels a little jerky to me when she drives. It is jerky dropping off cruse to foot throttle unless I time it just right. We had the main battery replaced a month ago under warranty at 34k. We have done 3 road trips of 150 to 200 miles one way so far. Later this month we will do a 400 plus one way with hopefully 1 stop en route. Any further I would take my gas hog truck or antique 92 Buick 30 mpg as I don’t like to stop much. I frequently make 1000 mile trips in one day. We like your posts. We are trying out route planners but have had better luck just using google maps with ev settings to show chargers and winging it.
Great content from both you and Dylan. Here is San Francisco, I only use OPD, since we have such steep terrain. I gain an average of 10 miles of range every day in my morning commute, all downhill. On the way back, use up those 10 miles, but still average 4.3 miles per kilowatt. Significantly worse when I turn OPD off.
So, understand you're not driving a perpetual motion machine. At best, regen recovers 60-70% of kinetic energy (or much less depending on how you drive). The most efficient regen is the regen you never use. The highest energy efficiency use of that kinetic energy is effectively 0% loses via coasting, where 100% of the kinetic energy goes towards pushing air out of the way and overcoming rolling resistance (or conversion to potential energy by climbing a slope) as you very gradually come to a stop. Also, regardless if you use 1-pedal, regen paddles, or the brake pedal...regen happens the same way
I love the blended braking system on the bolt and bolt EUV … even without one pedal u will be using regen to stop to a certain point … completed a 3k road trip this summer with fam and used one pedal on most county highways where speed limits and traffic were an issue and no one pedal on highways with adaptive cruise on … the biggest loss of efficiency was when it rained , noticed a big difference in efficiency then … and in the winter, of course, like any EV, but especially because there’s no heat pump
I used 1 pedal driving in my 06 Nissan Titan in 4x4 low while 4-wheeling even on steep downhills. If you can’t 1 pedal in your 4x4 this way you don’t have a good 4-wheel drive setup.
There is no efficiency gain, more a control thing. I love 1-pedal driving in my EV too, even though I have the iD.4 it significantly brakes in B mode as good as you need for normal driving, in D it coasts like a MF’er when you let off the go pedal which is unnatural.
Yes! I have a bolt, Fiat 500e and BMW I3 rex. I think all have regen blended with barke pedal use, using friction brakes if you press hard OR fast. You may get a little regen on coast, it's almost irrelevant. And either mode you're using region, probably the same amount. No noticeable difference on brake wear or range, therefore no battery health diff. Ideally use the brake pedal gradually, start early and feather the pedal on one pedal Driving habits and preference.
Despite all the excellent engineering BMW I3 % Fiat 500e have seemed to have about the same efficiency, maybe even better for the Fiat, the payoff is the bigger interior on the i3
One thing that increases efficiency that you might have missed was using cruise control. That's one variable. Coasting on the highway (I can adjust regen from standard to low - older Tesla Model S) seems to work for me. I keep it in standard in the city and drive like an old man. Chevy needs to redesign those brake lights on the next gen Bolt.
I can't agree with cruise getting better efficiency. In fact, although I'm a cruise user and have always loved it, I tend to turn if off (stop using it) in my EV because it's just not nearly as smooth at acceration and braking as I can do on my own. Note: I have the adaptive cruise. I understand that many may not have the ability to hold a steady speed and/or be more smooth in the process, but for me my efficiency does better when not using it.
I saw Kyle Conner talking about how Mercedes has gone to a smart adaptive cruise and ADAS system where the car knows when to coast, and when to apply regen. It seems to me more manufacturers should look at this type of smart cruise, ADAS system. While not much of a difference it certainly would add up. No reason to scrub off energy and try to recoup it if you can use it coasting. Interesting comparison. The Bolt still does a modest regen even with OPD turned off. On the Tesla we don't have that option to turn it off, but hopefully Tesla will possibly do a software update to implement a smarter cruise/autopilot method. Looks like low hanging fruit to get more efficiency.
Chevy has one of the best blended braking systems on ev. That’s why there is a small difference between one pedal on or one pedal off
I spent many years driving manual transmissions, and I think that's the source of my preference for one-pedal driving. For me, it's the feeling of being more connected to the driving experience.
This topic is one of those often debated topics in EV land, and as such, it was a great choice to do a video on. I do suspect if one was a purely urban commuter, the difference between the two modes would be more pronounced. That said, again, I drive in one-pedal simply because I prefer it.
Same 👍
My experience with a Bolt is that, anytime you're just cruising down a road and not needing to actively slow down, having one pedal driving on or off has absolutely no effect on efficiency. You can observe this firsthand by turning one pedal driving on and off while you are cruising (yes, this is safe to do, even at 70 mph, if you know what you are doing), and seeing that the real-time power level, as displayed on the dashboard, remains exactly the same in both modes - the one difference between them is the foot position needed to maintain your speed. So, to have any chance of observing an impact, you would want a test that is 100% city driving, filled with stop signs and stoplights, rather than constant-speed cruises. For a route with lots of starts and stops, I would expect one pedal driving to offer some benefit, but how much will depend a lot on driver habits. For instance, if you brake very gently throughout, and/or make heavy use of the regen paddle, I would expect one pedal driving to still have very limited impact. On the other hand, if you do a lot of medium-hard braking and don't use the regen paddle, I would expect one pedal driving to have a bigger impact.
My personal preference is to drive with one pedal driving on almost all of the time, although I will occasionally turn it off on long highway cruises to rest my foot a bit when I don't want to use cruise control. Over time, I've grown to especially like one pedal driving while parking, as I feel I have more control over the fine movement needed to get into or out of a parking space with one pedal driving on.
Absolutely agree with the video that people should drive however they find most comfortable and not worry about efficiency in choosing to drive with one pedal driving on vs. off.
I switch to two pedal on a Long Freeway Exit I know well
Plus, there's no difference in regen between 1-pedal, regen paddles, or just using the brake pedal...It's all the same. Braking kills efficiency because you only "regen" a fraction of the energy it took to get up to speed. No matter what driving mode you prefer, coasting to stops and slowly accelerating to speed is most efficient.
If you're not coasting during 1-pedal driving, you're wasting the kinetic energy it took to get the vehicle in motion.
Coming from driving a 5-Speed manual transmission, I LOVE 1-Pedal driving. It's sooo much easier!!! And, immediately, I adapted to using it. My husband was surprised how quickly and smoothly I came to a complete stop; and, accurately -- not too short or too long -- just right.😘 I don't ever want to drive without 1-Pedal. BTW, we own the 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV.
Thank you for the insightful efficiency comparison; Enjoyed the video. Hope y'all have a nice road trip and look forward to that video.
We love the Bolt EUV! Five weeks ago, I purchased our second EV-a 2023 Bolt EUV with 15K miles-from Hertz Car Sales in Katy, TX. The total cost was $18,600, including taxes, registration, etc. Great Value Purchase!! This is our second Bolt EUV, and my son, who drove my one yr old Bolt EUV Premier, absolutely loved it!
Recently, my son and I embarked on a 1,300-mile road trip from Houston to Fort Lauderdale in his Bolt EUV for college. With overnight stops in Mobile and Orlando, the journey was smooth thanks to careful planning. We used the ABRP app to strategically plan our charging stops around breaks, meals, and overnight stays. We chose charging locations with at least four stations to avoid wait times and always had backup stops in case of issues.
We primarily relied on the Electrify America and FPL Evolution networks and, thankfully, didn’t encounter any major charging problems.
I traded in my Bolt after 3 years, 60,000 miles and the breaks looked brand new!!
Only thing you forgot is that light pressure on brake pedal uses regen anyways. It’s called blended brakes
Wrong. It's not even close.
1-Pedal driving should just be called "1-Pedal Braking"
People seem to think that regen puts 100% of the energy you put to get the vehicle up to speed - back into the battery. Nope.
If you really want to drive for efficiency, drive like a big rig...coast to stops, anticipate red lights, and preserve momentum. Braking kills efficiency.
Exactly this. Coasting is always better than regen. Regen is always better than braking.
Regen is for times where you would otherwise use the brakes but can take the time to scavenge some energy back. Especially useful for things like where you would normally use engine braking to coast at a speed down a hill. It helps a bunch in city and stop/go traffic situations too, since you are going to be decelerating anyway you may as well use the motor drag rather than brakes.
One pedal driving is not more efficient. It is the most efficient to coast whenever slowing. Whether one pedal is enabled or not you will capture only 'some of the energy', when breaking in d mode or lifting your foot in 1 pedal mode, that was used to initially reach the speed you are slowing from.
If you are aggressively lifting your foot in 1 pedal, or aggressively breaking when coming to a stop in d mode you are capturing more energy at that moment at the expense to total distance you will get from a trip.
Well put. These are EV owner myths as opposed to anti EV myths
Very gradual stopping is the most efficient whether it's using Coast, very light touch on the brake pedal or a light touch on the regen pedal, although it's almost impossible to completely replicate coast
I disagree totally that OPD is less efficient. You just need to know how to use it. Also, I don't understand why so many people think it needs to be 100% on or off. The most efficient way to drive (at least in the Bolt EV's) is to use OPD where best and turn it off when not needed.
I like the one pedal driving after two days of driving now I really don't like the feeling driving in the regular mode. it feels like I don't have as good control. great video!
Agreed
At first one pedal driving had too much braking when I took the cruise off but it was better when I learned to have my foot on the "gas" pedal when using one pedal driving. I seldom replaced brakes on my ICE cars as I coasted to stops or turns long before I got to them which is easier to do in the rural area I live in. I leave OPD on all the time.
Yeah, it would be nice to have a knob to adjust how aggressive the regen is. One potential down-side to using one-pedal all the time is that your brakes will start to rust if you don't use them regularly.
Not too surprising, since using the brake pedal in the Bolt still utilizes regenerative braking up to a certain point before engaging the friction brakes. I mainly use OPD, but I think you have to stomp on the brake pedal pretty hard to actually engage the friction brakes (unless the car is in neutral).
Yes! I suspect it's hard OR fast engages the friction breaks, if it thinks you have an emergency stop
Driving with regen braking is a great feeling.
Great video! I'm just a few weeks into my Bolt EUV ownership. I always drive in 1-pedal mode. My wife has commented, when she is in the passenger seat, that the ride feels "very jerky" to her. But is that maybe because of me (as a beginner) and my driving skill with the 1 pedal? So I'm assuming that I will probably improve my skill and drive more smoothly over time?
It’ll get smoother the more you get used to it.
The first time I rode in my uncle's GWM Ora, I got carsick from the constant jerky acceleration and deceleration from the one-pedal driving. I personally think that using regen unnecessarily decreases efficiency. Conservation of momentum also conserves energy. If I had an EV I would set it to regen when I hit the brake pedal, and just have mild regen when I lift off the accelerator.
Great video guys. I also prefer one pedal driving but my daughter, who is using the Bolt while their car is in the shop, prefers one pedal drive off! I appreciate the choice as the Tesla does not offer the choice. Stay safe my friends.
I believe Tesla actually does offer the choice; it's just buried in the touchscreen menus, rather than the Bolt, where you can turn it on or off with one button.
It's been suggested you keep your foot on the brake pedal at a stop in case you get rear-ended, I don't do it though
I am not a fan. I prefer to coast up to the traffic light/stop sign. and not expect than when I take my foot off the throttle pedal there a noticeable decline in forward motion. YMMV. My brake pedal activates the regen. It is good enough to give me 4.2 on a recent trip. Speaking of trips, whether you do a 25 mile test trip or a 2000 mile trip, it will all average out. On a trip to Boise I got 52 mpg, on the return trip, I did 62 mpg. Using the EV side I am running 104 MPGe, and nearly half my miles driven in this car are EV miles.
My mpg’s at 63 for a Ford Fusion Energi pale to the new record holder, who recently scored 93 mpg in a Prius Prime. Guinness just verified it last week.
Long live hybrids!!
On the regular Bolt EVs the lights are on the railgate until it is opened. Then they switch to the lower bumper lights (like the EUV). I saw this in another video and tried it out on our daughter's 2020. It's true!
I have a ‘23 EUV, same Ice Blue metallic. I drive 87-95 miles round trip to work every day depending on what route I take. The route depends on traffic, and so does efficiency. The trip to work is mostly uphill, with a 150’ change in elevation, so my efficiency is lower in the morning. I’m typically 3.9 kWh for the RT. This mimics your results. I haven’t tried turning 1 pedal off for the highway portion to see if that is more efficient. What has really increased my efficiency is learning what kW output will manage speed up the hills. My best days, I apply the right amount of power to only lose 1-3 mph when climbing a hill. You don’t want to accelerate uphill, and you don’t want to hit the hill too weakly, and lose too much speed that you will have to regain on the down side. It also makes other people on the road really upset.
'23 Bolt euv Lt. I don't like the one-pedal feature, and don't use it except in heavy traffic, which I'm very seldom in. I don't tell anyone to not use it, I just don' t like it. I like the regen when off the accelerator, and the extra at the top of the brake pedal. Then there's the left paddle if I want more. My summer driving averages 5.0-5.2 miles/kwh. I have plenty of screenshots of the dash to show if anyone wants to see them.
Mate, one pedal driving is intuitive, even kids take to them in toy cars, naturally. So for adults new to it, it’s a walk in the park. Yes, it’s more fun, more relaxing not having to use 2 of your feet in a crammed space , to drive. I hardly have to use the brakes! My car come to a stop way more smoothly. The bonus is there’s regeneration of electricity too. ( We drove 16km on roads in a hilly area and we just couldn’t use up our battery charge, it regenerated every time we had to go down slopes ! So it was charge neutral after 16km of driving! Try doing that in a ICE car! )
The best efficiency is to be light on the peddles, low on the climate settings, and slow on the highways.
I have dumb cruise, not adaptive. I’m pretty sure cruise helps my efficiency because without it, I tend to go faster.
Wow that's awesome. But it's a known fact that almost all EVs use regenerate breaking to stop. Even when you turn off one pedal driving. All EVs use blended breaking. It's just a little different feeling. But one pedal is easier for the car and newer drivers. My ID.4 doesn't have one Pedal driving. But has B mode which makes it slow down like One Pedal driving. You just have to use the brakes to get the car to fully stop. This is why the hybrid cars are more efficient than ICE cars. Blended breaking.
With my Bolt EV, I use one pedal drive all the time. However, there is no true answer to if it's best to use it or not. It absolutely does increase the efficiency, but it's also not good to use it 100% and it should be used in specific times. Myself, under most driving I leave it on. When I am on the highways or freeways going over 40 MPH, I turn it off. That's me and I'm running an average of 4.8 miles per KWH over 6,000 miles on this Bolt. On the other one where I put 16,000 miles on it, that one was averaging 4.7 MPKH.
Now, an example of where being on a freeway at higher speeds and going through mountains, you are making it worse when going down the mountain with the one pedal drive on. Why? The one pedal drive holds the car back too much and your speed drops, thus needing to actually push the accelerator to maintain speed. In that case, it takes the car out of regen and uses power. In that same example, by turning the one pedal drive off allows the car to coast more without losing speed. Although the regen isn't as high in this case, it's still in regen rather than using power to keep your speed. Also in that scenario, if your speed starts to pick up (going too fast), you would apply the brakes and that would create more regen as well or you could push the one pedal drive button (turn on) for a very short amount of time to reduce the speed and then turn it back off.
Bottom line? It isn't about turning it on or off and leaving it there. It's about reading the specific situation and turning it on/off as needed. After all, you won't break it by turning on/off too much.
OPD (B-mode) can only be measurably more efficient if you really have very frequent stop and go situations.
Recuperation is associated with losses that are barely or not at all noticeable during normal driving without frequent stop and go situations in B and/or D mode.
A noticable increase in efficiency that is not lost in measurement inaccuracies can only be achieved by the so called sailing mode, which is neither B nor D mode.
This, in turn, requires very foresighted driving in order to be effective.
A restless foot on the pedal greatly influences or even destroys any efficiency.
It took me a couple of days of ownership before I tried out the one pedal driving. I remember going around the neighborhood to get a feel for it and by the next day trying it out on the highway. I like it very much and keep it on at all times.
One pedal driving is the absolute best. My BMW i3 has a AWESOME regenerative braking can't live without it after driving with it for the last 4 years. Thanks for making this video - super fun test
Not sure but in my Volvo its unnerving to turn off one in pedal. Car holds speed for awhile and feels faster once Im off the accelerator.
I love the Chevy flexibility in this regard. Hope mullosk is taking notes
Thanks for the shout-out, Spinner! Hi Dylan, hi Fiona!
There are some great deal at Hertz Sales on Chevy Bolt. Below 20K 👍
I watched your video with Ty Houseman while I was in Thailand on a business trip in Jan 24. We were not in the market for a EV until I saw that and priced other gas small cars to replace my wife’s Renegade. It had been a good car 4WD 6 sped ave 28 or so around town but at 100k on it I decided to replace it before a turbo or clutch went out as my wife was starting a new job out of the house and back to a outside location of 30 miles per day round trip. Our gas in Memphis TN now is 2.45-2.89 and at that rate the jeep was 10 cents per mile for fuel. The Kilowatt price here is 11 cents. The Bolt has done 4.4 miles Kw over 12 k driving since Feb 24. Or 2.5 cents per mile charging at home. On the road not so good price wise as DC fast charging has run 40-60 cents Kw or same cost as gas car. We prefer one pedal driving and I prefer with any vehicle to use cruise as much as possible even around town. My wife doesn’t like cruise as much. So with one pedal driving it feels a little jerky to me when she drives. It is jerky dropping off cruse to foot throttle unless I time it just right. We had the main battery replaced a month ago under warranty at 34k. We have done 3 road trips of 150 to 200 miles one way so far. Later this month we will do a 400 plus one way with hopefully 1 stop en route. Any further I would take my gas hog truck or antique 92 Buick 30 mpg as I don’t like to stop much. I frequently make 1000 mile trips in one day. We like your posts. We are trying out route planners but have had better luck just using google maps with ev settings to show chargers and winging it.
Thanks for the story! We’ll be driving through Memphis in a couple of weeks on our way home from Virginia.
Great content from both you and Dylan. Here is San Francisco, I only use OPD, since we have such steep terrain. I gain an average of 10 miles of range every day in my morning commute, all downhill. On the way back, use up those 10 miles, but still average 4.3 miles per kilowatt. Significantly worse when I turn OPD off.
So, understand you're not driving a perpetual motion machine. At best, regen recovers 60-70% of kinetic energy (or much less depending on how you drive). The most efficient regen is the regen you never use. The highest energy efficiency use of that kinetic energy is effectively 0% loses via coasting, where 100% of the kinetic energy goes towards pushing air out of the way and overcoming rolling resistance (or conversion to potential energy by climbing a slope) as you very gradually come to a stop.
Also, regardless if you use 1-pedal, regen paddles, or the brake pedal...regen happens the same way
I love the blended braking system on the bolt and bolt EUV … even without one pedal u will be using regen to stop to a certain point … completed a 3k road trip this summer with fam and used one pedal on most county highways where speed limits and traffic were an issue and no one pedal on highways with adaptive cruise on … the biggest loss of efficiency was when it rained , noticed a big difference in efficiency then … and in the winter, of course, like any EV, but especially because there’s no heat pump
This was a great video, thx!
I used 1 pedal driving in my 06 Nissan Titan in 4x4 low while 4-wheeling even on steep downhills. If you can’t 1 pedal in your 4x4 this way you don’t have a good 4-wheel drive setup.
There is no efficiency gain, more a control thing. I love 1-pedal driving in my EV too, even though I have the iD.4 it significantly brakes in B mode as good as you need for normal driving, in D it coasts like a MF’er when you let off the go pedal which is unnatural.
Thanks for doing that test. I am surprised by the highway outcome. Were you driving with cruise control on the highway?
We were
Yes! I have a bolt, Fiat 500e and BMW I3 rex. I think all have regen blended with barke pedal use, using friction brakes if you press hard OR fast. You may get a little regen on coast, it's almost irrelevant. And either mode you're using region, probably the same amount. No noticeable difference on brake wear or range, therefore no battery health diff.
Ideally use the brake pedal gradually, start early and feather the pedal on one pedal
Driving habits and preference.
I started using two pedal, switch to one pedal, no noticeable difference
Despite all the excellent engineering BMW I3 % Fiat 500e have seemed to have about the same efficiency, maybe even better for the Fiat, the payoff is the bigger interior on the i3
I think we overestimate how much regen gets back to the some of it is just electrical braking
My question. Have you replaced the tires? Wondering if I ought get another tire when due.
Put a new set on at the end of June. Continentals.
@@SpinnerEV model of tire? What difference have you noted?
@pasoroblesbruce7370 Continental Control Contact Tour. They replaced tires with over 40k miles, so the car felt noticeably smoother.
@@SpinnerEV do they track better on the highway?
@pasoroblesbruce7370 they do
One thing that increases efficiency that you might have missed was using cruise control. That's one variable. Coasting on the highway (I can adjust regen from standard to low - older Tesla Model S) seems to work for me. I keep it in standard in the city and drive like an old man. Chevy needs to redesign those brake lights on the next gen Bolt.
I can't agree with cruise getting better efficiency. In fact, although I'm a cruise user and have always loved it, I tend to turn if off (stop using it) in my EV because it's just not nearly as smooth at acceration and braking as I can do on my own. Note: I have the adaptive cruise. I understand that many may not have the ability to hold a steady speed and/or be more smooth in the process, but for me my efficiency does better when not using it.