dwf123 said:
So for my commute and when I am in the midst of traffic, I am constantly shifting from drive to neutral if I want to coast down the back side of the bridges and then if I need to slow down, I'll go back to drive, and if a light changes and I need to stop, I drop to low.
It is very effective and saves wear and tear on the brakes and appears to improve my efficiency.
Wood, BINGO! You are exactly right. In 3500 miles or probably less you quickly figured out that basically you DO NOT WANT AUTOMATIC REGEN.
The OEMs put this auto regen when you lift off the acclerator pedal to replicate the feel of a gasser. Well a gasser does that because of engine braking and because the brakes are literally engaged all the time. We have neither in an EV.
I play the D to N shift games as well but eventually you realize "hey why don't they just let me decide when I want regen with the brake pedal...duh!"
Or let the amount of auto regen in D be user selectable.
There are many, many instances where you are having to shift into N to be more efficient. One of the most common is when trying to time your arrival at a light just as it turns green. In a gasser of course most people drive like hell to race up to the red light and then ride the brakes hard to a stop.
In an EV most people gravitate to timing the arrival with the light turning green if possible, or at least not wasting energy racing to the light then riding the brakes.
I found that if a began coasting in D, many people would be on me before they realized and be aggravated. However, if I shift into N the decel is so moderate that they have time to decide to go around or slow with me without getting aggravated. So I try to do the former.
I wish someone would get it this point through the the thick skulls of the knucklhead engineers, people don't want their EVs to replicate the "drag" of their gassers automatically.
If it was possible to hack my Volt and the FFE ( when it arrives) to have zero auto regen in D, I would definitely do it.
And that might be a possibility in the near future. Interesting blurb on EVTV about a can bus interface that is in the works.