I briefly took "left seat" in a friend's very new Model Y today, because he seemed to be all confused about regen and pedal modes and the like. I wanted to try an experiment, to see if I could implement *my* preferred driving style in his car when it would otherwise do it best to annoy me. Full disclosure: I'm a Kona driver, and like the "long glide" that zero regen gives me. With fully blended braking that takes brake'pedal input and stays completely *off* the hydraulics until absolutely needed, there are little to no inefficiencies in braking "normally" -- unlike Tesla, where the only regen available seems to come from one-pedal style. The feel of which I absolutely *loathe*. I was done with having to lock my foot in a narrow range for highway glides after becoming a master of "warp stealth" in my beloved Prius, where failure to stay in a tiny deadband would leave the engine wastefully running again. So the experiment was this: does dropping to Neutral give me the kind of glide I want? Now, I had never driven one of these, so it took a little preflight to figure out the shift stick syntax. Okay, half-stick UP and hold for half a second for Neutral. Beauty. Short answer, then, is yes on free glide. But back in D, the car has a *very* aggressive foot-lift regen, which of course I had no practice modulating. The owner was trying to remember / figure out how to tailor the regen levels, but neither of us could find any menu items other than the "pedal mode" for hold, roll, or creep. That's a different beast. The regen annoyance was ever-present, with the car anywhere above about 8 MPH falling on its face on the lift-off no matter what. That's just freakin' *dangerous*, see the current General thread about "brake lights don't work". I got home and a little googling turned up that apparently Tesla actually *disabled* settable regen in the Y and possibly others a while back. Huh? WTF? Deliberately refuse to cater to a wide range of driving preferences, and force everyone into this zombie-lurching high regen nightmare? At least the Neutral hack gives kind of a workaround. If there *is* a way to tailor regen in these things, I'd love to know how. And truly blended, brake-pedal driven regen-to-hydraulics transition has been an established science since the oughties, I'm astounded that Tesla, of all makers, never implemented it properly. _H*
My Model 3 and Model Y have the same drivetrain. So 99% of the time I am using cruise control and adjusting the speed with the right-hand stick. Hard press is +/- 5 mph and half press is +/- 1 mph. This still gives smart lane changing. But there is one place I often use "N", the freeway exit to the turnoff to my home. Asending the last overpass, I am in the right lane and enter "n" to let gravity slow me down. Cresting the overpass, I am slow enough closely following traffic is already shifting to pass: By now my speed is constant and just 5-10 mph faster than the 40 mph access road. So I steer to the exit lane: At the end of the exit lane, my speed matches the access road traffic and I've identified where I will merge in if needed: Here I am signaling and beginning to merge into access road traffic if any is there. A touch of mechanical brake may be needed to decelerate: At the far side of this parking lot entrance, I shift into "D" and the car rapidly decelerates to a safe turning speed. Minor adjustments to the accelerator as needed: Sometimes there is traffic backed up blocking my right turn. Other times, no problem. Use the accelerator as needed: There are two sets of speed bumps ahead so I use cruise control to maintain 25 mph: Otherwise, I fine tune cruise control to adjust speed and minimize regeneration as possible with feet on the floor. I also use "chill" mode on the accelerator as this reduces the hard stop and start behavior. I only use "standard" mode when along side someone with a loud, stinking vehicle that needs humility training. Bob Wilson
There's another reason why being able to turn off regen and coasting would be handy. It would be nice to do the last few stops when coming home without the regen. This would heat the brakes up and help dry them off. They get coated with brine under sloppy winter conditions with salted roads or just plain soaked driving in the rain. Every seasonal tire change my mechanic finds sticking calipers so he cleans and lubes the brakes. Costs me an extra $80 along with the tire/wheel change. The dealers charge $300 to "service the brakes" so my private mechanic is a bargain in comparison.
I think the accel was in "normal" mode, but it felt nicely smooth and "slow bottom" from a standstill so I didn't think to try "chill". Does that adjust the pedal curve, like "eco/normal/sport" in some other cars? Does it affect regen response? I would never try to use CC in a scenario where I'm expecting simple momentum to play out, though. Talk about "unintended acceleration" ... _H*
'Chill' has the effect of derating the motor slowing acceleration and it softens regen. I've not measured it but I perceive a very, very slight delay compared to 'standard.' 'Standard' mode is a little too frantic for what I consider comfortable driving. But it has all the ponies. Bob Wilson
BTW, tapping the brake on cruise control slowly, 10-15 seconds, brings back full regen. It is an easy transition. Bob Wilson
