Driving Modes and Impact on Battery

I don’t think I’m a dick, but people driving large vehicles (pickups and SUVs) tend to view drivers of smaller cars (or they anthropomorphize the small cars themselves) as dicks just for sharing the road with them. I don’t know what it is about these people that makes them dawdle along until I try to pass them, which is when they decide to speed up. It is insanely gratifying to be able to put them in their place with this little car, just by catching them off-guard with a bit more of the right pedal.

 

I really love the dicks who blow past me, then slow down to below my cruising speed. Or even better, brake hard for an exit. Then there are the regular passholes who sit in the left lane at exactly the same speed as right lane traffic. I could go on, but you know what I'm talking about. Yep, they irritate me, too.
If you don't plant the fun pedal too often, the SE can get good mileage without dropping to Prius speeds.
I had an emergency at work the other night to attend. Even at 75-80 most of the way, I managed 3.6

 

There's a cure for that.

 

They try to abuse me as I driving in SE bc small car but I’m so pi’s off I don’t give them a chance to pass me to show them my advantage in this bullet car in speeds 60- 85 M/H and I 3 I did the same just put them in line to respect small speedy go cart .All SUVs have no chance to pass me with blinking lights behind me I make them like joke when I take of like a rocket.

 

I had a great way to mess with tailgaters that sadly doesn't work in an SE.
Take an ICE manual transmission car, insert an obnoxious tailgater way up it's rectum.

Step 1. Take foot off throttle. Watch mirror.
Step 2. As soon as you see him drop below your speed, reapply throttle. Watch mirror.
Step 3. As soon as you see him start to gain, go to step 1.
Step 4. Repeat.

This will drive any serious tailgater absolutely nuts. They will be constantly yoyoing between throttle and brake. With practice, it's not hard to also maintain a safe distance from whoever is in front of you. The tailgater will eventually stop trying to drive 10' behind you.

Sadly, the SE turns on it's brake lights when you take your foot off the throttle, which ruins it as they will know when you are slowing.

I once inadvertently did this to a cop in heavy traffic and poor light.
He realised what I was doing pretty quickly and backed off. A little while later, I was able to move over and he passed me, he gave me a thumbs up!

 

How the hell did they fit one in that box?

 

Wait, what? Was this a real promo?! I need this!

 

Yes but you need to have a fellow MINI colleague who went to MINI United 2022. Inside are vegan gummy "electro-fries" that safely made it over the border.

Kinder Surprise is apparently banned in USA for choking hazard.

 

Yeah, I think I know. They're the ones that buy a four-door truck (that they never use as a truck), jack it up, and add bright lights that are eyeball height.

 

Oh, truck shaped cars. A plague upon 'murica.

I was following one at 130 6 months ago. After he failed to outrun me, he started throwing stuff out the windows.

 

I was so sure no one in the MINI promotions department had heard that the company makes an electric car.

 

I’m generally don’t get involved in traffic light Grand Prix as even with fairly light accelerator the instant torque of an EV has you ahead of everyone without any effort (in fact it’s hard not to be).
But last week some “sporty” looking Camry (never thought I’d see those words together in a sentence) was clearly on a mission to be the guy in front so when he started to come by at around 30mph after leaving the light thinking the Mini was floored and this was somehow a race, I then actually floored it and easily left him behind. The light ahead went red so we lined up again, this time I flicked it to sport mode and when we got green gave it the full launch. To be fair I think he’d already decided he wasn’t getting involved a second time as he and everyone else rapidly disappeared in the rear view mirror as I took the ramp to the freeway.
I’m assuming he and everyone else were quite puzzled by how a Mini took off as it did…

It can be fun to be a child from time to time, lol!

 

Same thing here; I don’t normally hoon about — and I think I’m the only person in this city who keeps below the posted 40 and 25 km/h (25/18 mph) limits in residential and school zones, making all my stops — but I did a bit of “safe” Pole Position in flowing traffic on the freeway the other day with a younger dude in a modified S4… I think he didn’t expect me to easily get around him the first time, but then we traded the lead a bunch of times over five or six km before both exiting. I was grinning as he went by and gave me a thumbs-up before turning off to wherever he was headed.

 

On my way home there is a set of lights with a left turn onto a fairly steep ramp onto the i40.
Lots of people try to beat me to the merge, few succeed. Some look very annoyed about it. I rarely launch at full go, I floor it if I see some hopeful start to come past. A race up that ramp is good way a drop a few points from my economy.

Can't be having crappy cars and trucks beat me, though. The trucks always make laugh.

The SE is better at this than the R53. If I'm not trying to go fast in the r53, I'm often in the wrong gear. If I've already shifted by the time I notice someone racing me, my success rate drops dramatically.

 

Ironically, I find that taking off quickly may in fact be slightly better for efficiency. A 2 ish second blast to 50-60kph and then sitting on the limiter means I get 250-270km per charge around town. I pretty much take off at full throttle (it is fun) at every chance, I am in sport mode exclusively, *but* religiously use the speed limiter. It not only saves your license, but save many an electron which would be wasted by continuously accelerating/decelerating when you manually control your speed. The limiter keeps you at a constant speed (most efficient way to travel). I have come to the conclusion that this is the secret to my range figures. I seem to be way ahead of most people with between 155miles and 170 miles around town. This obviously drops with high speed freeway driving. I get my fun from the acceleration, not the speed - oh except for corners I don't slow down for them.....

 

Fantastic! Thanks for the anecdotal (but dare I say empirical) evidence, @vader ! I also use the limiter almost everywhere that isn’t a motorway/freeway/autoroute (I’m in the francophone part of Canada), and on the “tanks” that are almost all local streets, I’m getting well over 230 km calculated range. It’s when I blast down the on-ramps and express lanes (and the power needle gets buried) that my average plummets!

 

Not slowing down for corners saves quite a few electrons. ICE cars get better mileage with brisk accelerating to the desired speed and driving as if you don't have brakes. Electric motors + batteries may have similar acceleration inefficiency.... dunno.

 

I don’t know if it’s the rate of velocity change, but for a fact, the Limiter allows the needle to find the most efficient spot. At city speeds, that’s somewhere in the 1-10% segment, with little or no fluctuation. So, me leaving the light on the boulevard while heading to work at 4 am, briskly getting up to 40 mph and then just leaving it there (yes, similar to cruise, but easier to use) through all the synchronized green lights for the next two miles… efficient!

 

The limiter is a fine idea.
But hard acceleration or regen is not good for range as the more amps involved the higher the losses to heat Im afraid…

 

@F14Scott drew a neat graph that purported to show accelerating quickly doesn't use more power than accelerating slowly.

However, in the same thread, @vader posted a graph that indicates quickly accelerating to a given speed does use more power than slow acceleration.

Happily, I stopped reading the thread before I got to @vader's post.