Why is e-pedal so detrimental to efficiency?

[ztev]

I understand that you lose efficiency every time you engage the friction brake; however, according to Nissan, e-pedal will (supposedly) only engage the friction brake near the end to bring you to a complete stop. When driving, I do my best to regulate the accelerator that I coast whenever possible.

I much prefer the convenience and experience of e-pedal; however, last night I decided to try driving without it, in D mode after reading other people's reported efficiencies of around 4mi/kwh or more. I've always struggled to consistently reach 4, and typically get 3.5 or below. Last night though, a short trip resulted in an average of 4.7! I was shocked! Outside temp was about 55F, and I didn't run any climate control. Similar conditions with e-pedal usually result in at least an entire mile less per kwh, which seems insane.

Maybe I'm just not as good at coasting as I thought?

[LeftieBiker]

Welcome. e-Pedal does make coasting very difficult, because you have to carefully modulate the braking effect with your foot. I think that most people use the mode for stop & go driving, and one of the other modes for more continuous driving. Those who do use e-Pedal or B mode on the highway put a lot of effort into feathering that accelerator pedal...

[frontrangeleaf]

Not a fan of e-pedal. It's not a feature that fills some unmet need for me.

Our son loved it for a while, then got tired of it too.

I think it's oversold. We use D mostly now. Occasionally B in heavy traffic. If they dropped the e-pedal feature, I'd never miss it.

-b

[GerryAZ]

I rarely use e-pedal because it seems to use friction brakes (and flash brake lights) more than I want in my typical driving conditions. That is probably why I too get lower efficiency when using it. I thought it sounded interesting and was looking forward to using it while I was waiting for the 2019 to be delivered, but soon found that I did not care for it. I usually just use B-mode (wish I could set B-mode as default for one pull of the shifter). I do sometimes use e-pedal in really heavy stop/go driving because it saves moving foot back and forth from accelerator to brake.

[GRA]

While I've never driven a LEAF which offered e-pedal, I've driven a Bolt which offered D and B (B mode is one-pedal driving), plus extra regen on a paddle mounted on the steering column usable in either mode. As others have noted, I found B mode was best for surface streets with lots of traffic/signals/lights, or else heavy freeway stop-and-go, also driving very fast on tight two-lanes, and roads with very steep descents. I used D with paddle as needed the rest of the time, and was able to maximize efficiency. I really liked the Bolt's mode options, as it made it easy to coast a lot and regen only when needed, and it seems like the LEAF could use something similar.

[alozzy]

I haven't driven a Hyundai EV nor a newer LEAF, but the regen paddles behind the steering wheel in an Ioniq seem like an excellent solution to me. I'd rather be able to select among 5 levels of regen vs e-pedal and D/B/ECO.

[Stanton]

So are you guys saying that e-pedal is yet another thing I don't miss on my Gen1 Leaf vs Gen2?

[LeftieBiker]

So are you guys saying that e-pedal is yet another thing I don't miss on my Gen1 Leaf vs Gen2?

That probably depends on whether or not you have to drive in heavy traffic often. You probably also don't miss your car getting somewhat hysterical when you try to back up past other cars, kids toys, or suspicious-looking flaws in the pavement.

[Marktm]

So are you guys saying that e-pedal is yet another thing I don't miss on my Gen1 Leaf vs Gen2?

Putting 20,000+ miles on Gen 1 2012 and almost 7000 miles on Gen 2 2021, I'm definitely a fan of e-pedal for around the town driving of all types. It took a while of learning to "feather", but won't go back. Similarly, it took lots of "learning" to use ProPilot effectively on the 90 mile trip to my cabin - mostly highway at 65 mph, but will always use it - but without e-pedal due to hard breaking when off cruise!

Using e-pedal, I consistently get 4.4+ m/kWh, but admittedly have not made a real effort to compare with any other mode.

Very encouraged that the "cabin" trips netted 4.12 m/kWh and 3.93 m/kWh recently - which results in completing the round trip without a charge should be possible for some time.

[fester]

"e-pedel" is a novelty, but for me that's pretty much it. "eco-mode D" is still my go to, and years of letting off the accelerator and moving to the brake are hard wired.