FORGET THE BRAKE. YOU’LL DRIVE ELECTRIC CARS WITH ONE PEDAL




WITH THE PRODUCTION of Tesla’s mass-market Model 3 now underway, and first deliveries due on Friday, electric cars are about to hit the mainstream. For people driving EVs, it means a raft of changes: plugging in at night instead of hitting the gas station, keeping an eye on a battery meter instead of a fuel gauge, and most importantly, a change in the way they drive.
To get the maximum benefit out of driving an electric car, the accelerator (you can’t call it a gas pedal anymore!) controls both the speeding up and slowing down. Pressing the pedal makes the car go, as usual, but lifting your foot makes the car slow down, hard, not coast.

It’s a quirk that takes some getting used to. At first, it can feel like the parking brake has been accidentally left on. But most drivers eventually prefer it because it makes inching forward in traffic much easier than swapping your foot back and forth between pedals.
In a conventional car, brake pads clamp onto a metal disc, with friction converting the kinetic energy of a speeding car into wasted heat. But when electric cars slow down, the electric motor runs as a generator, recovering some of that previously wasted energy to top up the battery. Depending on how much regeneration the software engineers allow when designing the car, the force can be powerful enough to slow the car most of the way to zero, meaning drivers only need to use the brake pedal to come to a full stop.

Nissan will become the first automaker to introduce full one pedal driving in the latest iteration of the electric Leaf, due later this year. It will have an “e-Pedal” option. The pedals will still look the same, but the brake will be pretty much redundant, and computer controls will give the traditional accelerator extra functions. Lifting off won't just slow the car with regen, but will bring the car to a full stop, and will even hold without rolling backwards on hills.

“I think this is the logical next step,” says Jeffrey Miller, an engineering professor at USC. In a Tesla, owners can already choose exactly how much lifting off the accelerator slows the car on the giant touchscreen. In Chevrolet’s Bolt, drivers have a paddle behind the steering wheel to request extra regeneration, just as they’d tap to downshift and slow down with a sporty automatic gearbox.

A next-gen Leaf driver will never need the brake pedal, although it will still be there, for those “aggressive braking situations” according to Nissan. (In other words, panic stops.)

The advantages of maximizing regen braking are huge. Maintenance costs are lower because barely-used brake pads last for many thousands more miles. There are fewer particles of dust created which pollute the air and waterways. Stopping distances will be shorter too, as the car will start slowing down as soon as the driver begins to lift off the accelerator, rather than when he moves his foot to another pedal.

Most importantly, energy is recaptured rather than wasted, so the range in electric cars is improved. (A Tesla engineer described the experimental regen braking system on the Roadster in 2007, and calculated it was around 65-percent efficient at recapturing energy.)
Regenerative braking does mean electric car owners need to take extra care on slippery roads, because slowing the car aggressively can cause the tires to slip. For drivers, learning to ease off the accelerator rather then jerk a right foot over to the brake means forgetting many years of expecting a car to coast.

The concept isn't new. Engineers experimented with regen brakes on the very earliest horse-free carriages, and it’s widely implanted on electric trains. A boost in the number of electric cars on the roads is going to make it much more common though, and mean a modern generation of drivers is going to have to forget what they know about pedals and learn a new way to stop.


https://www.wired.com/story/look-ma-no-brake-youll-drive-electric-cars-with-one-pedal?mbid=synd_digg&mc_cid=b64cf828cd&mc_eid=11978db777

Marvelous!

Nice

The world is advancing...

What happens if the electric brake fails. Means both acceleration and braking is lost already Making you completely stranded.

mayor2013:
What happens if the electric brake fails. Means both acceleration and braking is lost already Making you completely stranded.

The normal break system wil still be there, but it will only be for emergency situations because as you release the leg from accelerator,the car will naturally slow down.

doubleportion:

The normal break system wil still be there, but it will only be for emergency situations because as you release the leg from accelerator,the car will naturally slow down.

Just one pedal which is electronic does all. I didn't read where it had a conventional brake pedal. Don't forget by virtue of kinetic energy the battery pack gets charged

if pedal malfunction na carry go enter lagoon b that,abi oba akiolu no b so?

creative

Shout Out to those who believe this.

It will be very interesting and soon, we will only have to drive like holding game pads

At least pressure that comes from d use of oil will reduce

hucienda:
wahala dey o ... how much oil go com bi in di not too distant future? Hope governments at all levels are thinking strategically about this future.

Nigeria should start preparing for the seen future. Oil money is going into history

mayor2013:


Just one pedal which is electronic does all. I didn't read where it had a conventional brake pedal. Don't forget by virtue of kinetic energy the battery pack gets charged

The brake would still be there, only that this time it would be for the car to come to halt.



Depending on how much regeneration the software engineers allow when designing the car, the force can be powerful enough to slow the car most of the way to zero, meaning drivers only need to use the brake pedal to come to a full stop.

hucienda:
wahala dey o ... how much oil go com bi in di not too distant future? Hope governments at all levels are thinking strategically about this future.

Nice comment. I've said it before, we will drink the remaining oil reserves in this country.

Ok

Will this work in traffic?

mayor2013:


Just one pedal which is electronic does all. I didn't read where it had a conventional brake pedal. Don't forget by virtue of kinetic energy the battery pack gets charged

U didn't read it carefully. The report says the conventional braking system will still be available although u will rarely need it.

U go fit drive dis for Naija or....

So, no cruising?
Having a brake pedal which is not used regularly, by reflex, during emergencies, one won't use it cos you ain't used to it. Some accidents would have been saved by the arm brake but many don't use it.

Nice development, am just wondering what will start happening when we start having made in China electric cars,where battery go charge, 101%, just to die after 10mins.

dont8:
The brake would still be there, only that this time it would be for the car to come to halt.



Depending on how much regeneration the software engineers allow when designing the car, the force can be powerful enough to slow the car most of the way to zero, meaning drivers only need to use the brake pedal to come to a full stop.

Epic

I really can't wait to buy this Tesla model 3

If as u remove your leg it decelerates or slows down it will now be like racing games that when you remove your hand from the accelerate button the car slows down...
It will take people time to master it sha

Stop making it sound like rocket science... This happens in all cars. When you remove your leg from the accelerator, it definitely slow down because there is no more force.

Definitely, it will still have the brake pedal. Stop all this rubbish articles. The people who manufactured it, won't make it so complex, if not, they will drive it themselves.

Relax jare

mayor2013:
What happens if the electric brake fails. Means both acceleration and braking is lost already Making you completely stranded.

stranded or dead

hucienda:
wahala dey o ... how much oil go com bi in di not too distant future? Hope governments at all levels are thinking strategically about this future.

we still dey find oil in d north

So...no coasting? That will be annoying.

Thank God I've not bought a car yet. Now I'll just save the money for an electric car

Technology take over