One Pedal Drive

[Mendojen]

A left hand hydraulic brake may allow handicap access?

[CreativeGuy]

I have over 3,000 miles driving Goldie. I rarely use the hydraulic brake in the normal course of driving. Except to hold me at a stop if I’m on an incline. You will find that 99% of braking can be handled with just the regen. I’ve had 2 instances of needing to make a panic stop. Stomping on the hydraulic brake and applying full regen stopped my FUV so fast, I thought I might go through the windshield if I had not had the full harness seatbelts on. Granted road surface conditions were clear and dry, Goldie did not swerve at all.

[gregbinahurry]

I have over 3,000 miles driving Goldie.  I rarely use the hydraulic brake in the normal course of driving. Except to hold me at a stop if I’m on an incline. You will find that 99% of braking can be handled with just the regen.  I’ve had 2 instances of needing to make a panic stop. Stomping on the hydraulic brake and applying full regen stopped my FUV so fast, I thought I might go through the windshield if I had not had the full harness seatbelts on. Granted road surface conditions were clear and dry, Goldie did not swerve at all.

Thanks for posting.  It is so good to hear about these first hand experiences.  On my test drive, I was being very careful so obviously the FUV drove very nicely.  Good to know that an emergency stop is the same.

[SparkE]

Once I had owned an EV, one with "one pedal driving" and aggressive regen braking (a Spark EV), I never wanted to go back. My wife and I actually change our schedules around on a daily basis so that we can both drive the one electric that we have. And every time I have to drive the gas-mobile I curse to myself under my breath at least 10 or 20 times during the drive. (Well, not today - I had a 150-mile roundtrip and that's mainly why we still have a gas-mobile, the longer trips.) Two years ago we only drove about 3500 miles in the gas vehicle, and I know for a fact that almost half of that mileage was done on 3 specific, long-distance drives (a tad over 1500 miles). Otherwise it's generally only driven when both of us have to be out of the house at the same time.

Once you go electric, you will start cursing any time you have to go back to gas (unless you have to : long trip, need it for a specific task : pickup bed or a minivan, etc). I am just too cheap (I'm sorry, cost conscious) to jettison a vehicle that works just fine. I have been saying for years now that "my next gas vehicle will be electric". When the other one dies (and at 3-4K miles a year that will be quite a while from now) I will buy a plug-in hybrid with at least 30 miles electric range. Electric for almost all driving, but able to jump in and drive 600 miles at a moment's notice (there's nothing like the convenience of a gas fill-up : takes 3-5 minutes, then you're good for another 400 miles). And gas pollutes the most around town - speed up, slow down stop, repeat. On the freeway, I just set the cruise control (at around 56) get 6-10 seconds behind a big rig (for the drafting effect) and listen to the radio. I've gotten 40 mpg in a car that was officially rated 32 mpg (but then I'm only driving at 55-60 mpg).