What do the markings on the power/charge meter mean for charge?

[MNSteve]

So light to moderate pressure on the foot brake (the regular brakes) still does not press the brake pad to the rotor but rather invokes the regen braking? Only heavy foot braking will cause the ‘regular’ brakes to engage?

That is my understanding.

Let me say it this way. I believe that if I am slowing down for that traffic light that changed a thousand feet ahead, I will see the same indication on the power meter (in the "charge" part) whether I use the paddles or light pressure on the brake pedal. My goal is to change the car's velocity from X to zero in the distance to the light. Assuming that it's possible to do that using only regenerative braking, in both cases I am capturing as much of the kinetic energy of the vehicle as the technology supports. There are folks on this forum who know a whole lot more about the inner workings of the car than I do, but none of them have contradicted this basic premise.

 

[DucRider]

The regen paddles and the brake (not break) pedal are two ways to control the same function - using the electric motor to provide braking (not breaking) to the drive wheels.
The seamless nature of the switch (or probably more correctly - addition) of friction braking when using the pedal is testament to Honda's engineering. When the Fit EV came out in 2012, their regen to friction brake transition was noted to be far ahead of the competition.

It is worth noting that regen works only on the drive wheels. Using the brake pedal may introduce some rear wheel braking earlier in the process - a good thing in snow or icy conditions. As a side note, electronic parking brakes have removed the option of using the parking brake to modulate rear wheel only brakes when dealing with ice and snow.

An early fit EV owner tracked energy used on his commute for a relatively long period using "L" mode (full regen) and normal (using more brake pedal to stop). He found that the "L" mode was slightly more efficient. Using the regen paddles on the Clarity will never engage the friction brakes - how and when they are added when using the brake pedal is unknown.

Bottom line is using the regen paddles will never result in less energy recapture than using the brake pedal.

 

[Bina12834]

Bottom line is using the regen paddles will never result in less energy recapture than using the brake pedal.

This wasn't the initial thought that brought this discussion on. The discussion stemmed from the question of whether using the regen paddles to assist in stopping would help to slow brake pad wear versus not using the regen paddles.

 

[DucRider]

This wasn't the initial thought that brought this discussion on. The discussion stemmed from the question of whether using the regen paddles to assist in stopping would help to slow brake pad wear versus not using the regen paddles.

The regen paddles will never engage the brake pads, but using the brake pedal will - how much depends on many factors. If stopping rate/time/behavior is the same, there will be little to no discernible difference in brake pad wear. The car will use as much regen as possible when using the pedal in order to put as much energy as possible back into the battery.

EV's (PHEV and BEV) put very little wear on pads since when using the "brakes" (pedal or paddle) since the first engagement is the electric motor (regen) and not the physical pads. I don't know of anyone that has ever needed to do brake pads on their EV, even after 100K+ miles.

Drive how you are most comfortable (paddles or pedal), there will be no significant difference in efficiency or wear. My wife dislikes heavy regen (she finds it "jerky") and uses the pedal - I prefer "one pedal driving" (but the Clarity doesn't really have this option). Don't know if its correlated, but my motorcycles have always been 2 cylinder with heavy engine braking, hers high revving 4's with much less.

 

[KentuckyKen]

I'm saying that once you apply maximum regen through the paddles, if you need more deceleration, you are using the break pads.

I don’t think that is quite right. When in max (4 chevron) regen, you can press the brake pedal and see the charge indicator dip further into the green thus proving you can get more regen with the pedal (on top of the paddle regen). So I think that if you are careful not to pedal brake excessively that you can get more regen and not wear out the brake pads. Of course Honda has done such a great job of making the transition seamless that we can’t really tell when it’s friction vs regen. But as long as you don’t bottom out the power meter with no green left, then I am thinking you are not significantly using any more friction brakes than using the paddles.
I doubt any of us will need brake pads in the next 10 years and most of us not at all.

 

[leop]

I don’t think that is quite right. When in max (4 chevron) regen, you can press the brake pedal and see the charge indicator dip further into the green thus proving you can get more regen with the pedal (on top of the paddle regen). So I think that if you are careful not to pedal brake excessively that you can get more regen and not wear out the brake pads. Of course Honda has done such a great job of making the transition seamless that we can’t really tell when it’s friction vs regen. But as long as you don’t bottom out the power meter with no green left, then I am thinking you are not significantly using any more friction brakes than using the paddles.
I doubt any of us will need brake pads in the next 10 years and most of us not at all.

I think that the rears will need replacing first. The regen braking only works on the front and, given the weight distribution of the Clarity, rear braking is needed in all but very moderate braking to maintain a good balance and front/rear stability. The friction brakes do some work as my rotors are finally polished after starting out fairly rough (the rotor surfaces were machined and not ground when manufactured) when the car was delivered last February.

LeoP