Brake Coach - Why Do I Need This?

[HeyBales]

I've owned the truck for almost two years and I never knew that. I always tried to use coasting for braking whenever I could. It feels like the friction brakes are being applied even when the brake coach is in the green zone. That is some really good information, thank you for explaining.

You can cause a surprising amount of braking force while staying totally with the motor generator recharging the battery.

Test with no one behind you what the almost bottom of the green feels like.

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[HeyBales]

Thanks. Do i read this right? Pushing the brake pedal does not use friction braking 100% of the time. Brake pedal will try to use Regen braking while the meter is inside the green box....once lines leave the green box and turn gray, that means the gray is the friction brake pads at work.

While the needle is in the green recharge area - it is causing regen - whether by coasting (your mode decides how aggressive on that - Eco, Nor, Slippery), or by braking (again mode decides how aggressive).

Once you bottom out the needle at max because you need faster braking, max regen possible is still going on along with friction brakes robbing some of the potential time.
The Coach after the stop shares that %.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

They know how much energy could be gotten from a certain speed coasting/braking.

It is indeed merely a measure of you got this % of what we calculated was potential.

Or maybe easier - measure how much the real brakes were engaged robbing from the recharge rate. But I don't think that happens since some recharge still possible laying into the real brakes.

Only reason I've left mine on is curiosity after some needed short stop which I was never in to anyway. I had to change my braking style barely any.
Though going to Slippery mode always gets me - very hard to adjust to that potentially longer stop for me not doing it in awhile.

With accurate control of brake and go pedals in normal mode a driver can beat any of the other modes mainly because he can anticipate the next needed mode and adjust the current pedal finessing for what's coming up.. Like coasting over the top of the hill before coasting downhill. Maybe using the L button while coasting down hill to help get max regen without any hydraulic brake waste.

 

[HeyBales]

I don't think I saw it stated, just referenced. In one reply I think incorrect idea given.

When you hear the engine spinning (though no gas so not running) on a long coast - that is done when the HVB is at max charge (just over 70%), and now the energy that could have gone to it needs to be wasted somewhere.

It is a waste - so not a good thing if you hear it or can drive in a way to cause it to be used that way.

The generator motor will change the eCVT gearing depending on how much energy from the traction motor needs to be wasted, changing the rpm's of the ICE in the process.

It's that process that causes some interesting final friction brake effects on slow down, either engine being spun up just as you are about to stop, or after a long stop it's disengaged.

I think their method of reading how much energy is going to it for getting the gearing right just as you are doing slowdown for a stop doesn't always work great.
I've not had the downhill highway exist effect as others report.
But I can have daily the long slower downhill just before I stop effect.

 

[Tbone289]

With a gas only vehicle every time you use the brakes you’re burning fuel.

Because, you slowed down and now you need to accelerate back up to speed.

Technically, when you use the brakes you're converting forward momentum into waste heat. You had already burned the fuel to create the forward momentum before you hit the brakes. That heat energy generated by the brakes has no connection to the fuel that you will burn to accelerate back up to speed.

At least, that's the way that physics and conservation of energy works in this universe.

 

[Yossarian]

They know how much energy could be gotten from a certain speed coasting/braking.

It is indeed merely a measure of you got this % of what we calculated was potential.

Or maybe easier - measure how much the real brakes were engaged robbing from the recharge rate. But I don't think that happens since some recharge still possible laying into the real brakes.

Only reason I've left mine on is curiosity after some needed short stop which I was never in to anyway. I had to change my braking style barely any.
Though going to Slippery mode always gets me - very hard to adjust to that potentially longer stop for me not doing it in awhile.

I am not finding the braking methodology to be much different than my previously normal habits.

 

[HeyBales]

I am not finding the braking methodology to be much different than my previously normal habits.

That's when you know you at least were helping gas mileage on prior ICE autos.
Well, obviously the jack rabbit start being the other major thing to avoid.

I always wondered for city driving how bad would the mileage be with one of the aggressive yahoos driving my RAV4.

 

[Edge Haley]

With accurate control of brake and go pedals in normal mode a driver can beat any of the other modes mainly because he can anticipate the next needed mode and adjust the current pedal finessing for what's coming up.. Like coasting over the top of the hill before coasting downhill. Maybe using the L button while coasting down hill to help get max regen without any hydraulic brake waste.

I may be wrong but my understanding that pressing the "L" Lower Gear option turns off regenerative battery function. At least the regenerative needle goes down.

 

[Master Blaster]

I may be wrong but my understanding that pressing the "L" Lower Gear option turns off regenerative battery function. At least the regenerative needle goes down.

Nope, The exact opposite. It turns it into essentially one-foot drive mode. If you get off the gas pedal, it will brake at maximum regenerative braking.

 

[Edge Haley]

Nope, The exact opposite. It turns it into essentially one-foot drive mode. If you get off the gas pedal, it will brake at maximum regenerative braking.

Thanks I will try that. Does make sense. Never taken my foot off with L button in.

Checked Google AI and you're right:

On the Ford Maverick, the "L" button (or "Low" mode) activates maximum regenerative braking, which helps slow the vehicle down without using the brake pedal, primarily when descending hills or in stop-and-go traffic. It can also be used for engine braking when towing or off-roading.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Maximum Regenerative Braking:
In "L" mode, the vehicle's electric motor works as a generator, converting kinetic energy into electrical energy to recharge the hybrid battery. This process slows the vehicle down, acting like a strong engine brake.

 

[Meeka]

Nope, The exact opposite. It turns it into essentially one-foot drive mode. If you get off the gas pedal, it will brake at maximum regenerative braking.

Nothing to do with the EcoBoost trucks tho, right?

 

[HeyBales]

Nothing to do with the EcoBoost trucks tho, right?

No.

 

[HeyBales]

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Maximum Regenerative Braking:
In "L" mode, the vehicle's electric motor works as a generator, converting kinetic energy into electrical energy to recharge the hybrid battery. This process slows the vehicle down, acting like a strong engine brake.

In every mode, not just L mode, the traction motor causes regen when you take your foot off the gas, and at some level of brake press.

AI's phrasing there makes it sound like just in L mode, which is incorrect.

 

[Master Blaster]

In every mode, not just L mode, the traction motor causes regen when you take your foot off the gas, and at some level of brake press.

AI's phrasing there makes it sound like just in L mode, which is incorrect.

You have some level of regen braking in all modes, but it is strongly enhanced in L-mode and your foot off the gas. In Slippery mode the regen braking is diminished to try to retain grip on ice, while in Eco mode it is somewhat enhanced.

 

[Edge Haley]

No.

My daily driver has a PDK transmission and it's a different world, and basically the opposite.

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