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

The tick marks represent some arbitrary power level, I don't think anyone has figured out exactly how much or if they are linear. The wider arc is probably just a style feature.

So if the battery is not all the way charged and you brake while driving at speed you will see the regen max out. My hunch this is around 50 kW of power briefly, but just making educated guess.

On the power side the scale is different and spread out over the range to make it more speedo like.

 

I don’t think they have any intrinsic qualitative meaning. I just consider them to be place markers to show how fast I’m accelerating or draining the battery. In normal traffic in town, I never go past 12:00 in Econ and I can easily keep up with most traffic from a red light stop. I can’t say that they do much for me except maybe to keep me from lead footing it as much.

 

I agree with KentuckyKen that it probably has no absolute meaning, but - just thinking out loud here - I wonder if it may be somewhat bad for the battery to go past that first tick mark on the Charge side. Part of my commute has a long downhill off-ramp and it usually results in about 1 - 1.2 miles of added range after about 30 seconds of deceleration (just a guess) which is hovering around that first tick mark IIRC. That's about 120 mph of recharge power (approaching Tesla supercharger rate?), which is ok for occasional short recharge stints like mine, but probably not healthy for long term battery life to routinely recharge that aggressively.

All speculation on my part ...

 

I use the bottom, green, regen part to tell me when I’ve maxed out the regen and am into the friction brakes. As I understand it, as long as you don’t bottom it out, you’re regening and not using any more friction brakes than using the paddles. You’re just able to get more regen braking than paddles alone.
I attribute my better than average range and MPGe to “coasting” up to stops in regen 1 and not pedal braking so hard that I bottom out the regen and call for friction brakes. I think that it is all or almost all regen until the very last few mph to a full stop. Another plus of this strategy is that I am not getting the ICE start up at full charge/limited regen that I got twice when I had to brake hard to avoid someone who pulled out in front of me right after leaving home.

 

How did you come by this understanding? It would be great if there was an OBD-II signal that shows when the calipers are activated, then we (or at least AnthonyW) could validate this understanding. Either that or wait years for when the brake pads wear out and start making noise.

 

I assume (and you know the old saw about when you assume you make an a** out of u and me) that as long as harder pedal effort increases the regen, then it’s choosing regen over friction and I haven’t reached the point where I’m calling for so much deceleration that it needs the friction brakes. But you are correct that I have no hard evidence on this. Based on this assumption, then if I bottom (or max) out the green regen, then it must then go to predominantly friction braking. But then I’m assuming (again without hard proof) that before then it’s greatly favoring regen over friction braking. It just seems logical that it is doing this.
I too would very much like more information. What I really want would be an indicator you could call up that would show the ratio of regen to friction braking. Maybe a simple meter like an efficiency indicator in reverse; swings into red zone as friction brakes activate and staying the green is regen braking. Or even just a red idiot light that comes on when you go under 90% regen and deactivates under 5 mph. Then you could coach yourself into high efficiency driving/braking.

 

I don't know what the "tick" marks are but I use them to help me make sure my foot isn't getting too heavy on the go pedal. Around town I usually try to keep acceleration below the 10 o'clock tick (1st longer tick on the Power side).

 

Since unfortunately we can't do "1 pedal driving" in the Clarity I use the regen as much as I can when coming to a stop. It may accomplish the same amount of regen as just using the breaks, but I figure at the very least I'm saving some wear on the break pads.

 

So what you're saying is that cranking up the regen to 4 chevrons (by using the steering wheel - pedal) to slow the car down to almost a complete stop and using the foot break pedal to complete the stop will amount to the same break pad wear as only using the foot break pedal to come to complete stop?

 

So far, I’m enjoying the extra involvement the paddles allow.

I’ve been gradually increasing regen, trying to time it so brake is only needed at the very end. That, combined with brake hold, has been a pleasant diversion. It may lose its novelty after a while, but for now it’s fun.

 

Here is how I look at the regen v braking: 4 chevrons = no break pads regen (which is maximum regen without using break pads). When you are coming to a stop using maximum paddle regen and you find that you need additional help to stop (even a little) you are then applying the break pads. Also, as a side note, has it been determined that break lights come on at a certain amount of regen (1 v 2 v 3 v 4 chevrons)?

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I understand that we cannot come to a complete stop only using regen (ie. 1 foot driving as it is know in the EV community). What I'm saying is that using the regen breaking to help slow the car down to an almost complete stop, then using the foot break to finish the stop logically has to be easier on the break pads (thus less wear) than solely using the foot breaks to bring the car to a complete stop.

 

I am agreeing with you, that it should be easier on the break pads. I'm just questioning some of the other posters when they theorize that light pressure on the breaks is not initiating the break pads but is giving us more regen than the paddles can give us. I'm saying that once you apply maximum regen through the paddles, if you need more deceleration, you are using the break pads.

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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?