electric cars and frosty roads

[Tim+]

It?s not always practical to coast to a stop in normal driving. I take it you *do* occasionally use your brake pedal?

Tim

[Tim+]

Gentle breaking is automatically done using regen. You?d might be surprised to hear that EV manufacturers have actually thought about all this stuff and didn?t rely on USENET misinformation for info on how to build their cars.

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

The whole point about regen braking is that you don't need to coast to save fuel

Until you actually have to use the pads the thing should recover at least some of the energy it took to get up to speed

[fred]

On the contrary I very quickly learned to anticipate a dead stop and back off the pedal in time. Its surprising how rarely I use the brake pedal. Coasting to a stop is a different kettle of fish. A game I used to play with the kids years ago. If you ever wondered how far you car would travel on sheet ice try guessing how far it will go while coasting to a stop. You may be surprised

[Dave Plowman (News]

I certainly don't want the brakes to come on as soon as I come off the throttle. Which some say happens (effectively) on an electric car with regeneration.

[Dave Plowman (News]

I'm only replying to what I read on here...

[Tim+]

So you?re relying on the ignorance of non-EV owners here?

<yawn>. It?s a driver selectable option.

Tim

[Tim+]

And if it wasn?t obvious before, even you must be beginning to realise that when it comes to EVs, this group is NOT a good source of accurate information. Great place for plenty of anti-EV prejudice though.

Tim

[F]

It uses regen when you brake using the pedal. If you need more than it is providing it will add in friction.

[F]

If you want it to coast with your foot off then you don't use regen mode.

In 'coast' mode, with your foot off the accelerator you do just that: coast. Put your foot on the brake and it uses regen to slow. If regen isn't enough it will add in friction.

[The Natural Philosopher]

That's how I would design it from the get-go. Foot off = brakes on is too different from normal car behaviour.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Perhaps you should tell the OP to learn about his EV, then.

I know as much as I want to about them already. That I can't replace my current car with one like for like. Despite the likes of you telling me how wonderful they are.

[Dave Plowman (News]

What I'd expect. So explain to Fred why his car skidded.

[F]

No idea: I'm not responsible for Fred or his car.

[Dave Liquorice]

aquaplanes.

Sipes as in very narrow and probably wiggly cuts in the faces of the blocks don't shift much water comapred to 1/4" wide groove. I also have a vague memory that the sipes on my winter tyres don't reach the edges of the blocks but stop short. Buggered if I'm going out un burying a tyre from the snow plastered up the side of the car and paddling through the foot plus drifts to get there.

block

increased

Can't use studs or chains on tarmac. So as very few roads can be guaranteed to be always packed snow studs/chains are a bit of a PITA in the UK. Lots of sipes make a heck of difference over an ordinary tyre.

[Tim+]

Maybe you should stop believing everything you read on Usenet?

Yep, closed mind syndrome.

They are in many ways but I?ve never claimed that they are ?like for like?.

Tim

[Tim+]

He?s already said that he had regen on, very probably at too high a level for prevailing conditions. People make mistakes. It happens.

Tim

[Tim+]

It?s different for sure but it can be a useful option around town. Note, I said ?option?. It?s driver selectable. As I?ve said before, EV manufacturers have actually thought about this stuff.

If you?ve never tried driving a car that offers full ?one pedal mode? you ought to. The Honda E can do this (by which I mean bring the car to a complete stop without touching the brake pedal). I dare say some other EVs offer ?full one pedal mode?.

Honda dealer are falling over themselves to give test drives so fill yer boots. It?s an interesting experience.

Tim

[NY]

How well do the "socks" work that are a ring of cloth over the tread area, held in place by straps across either side of the wheel?

Are they better or worse than bare tread? Is the order of effectiveness (worst to best)

summer tyres summer/winter tyres with socks winter tyres chains

I carry a length of old carpet in the boot of my car. ON several occasions when I've parked on a snowy road and then come to set off later, I've found that one of the front tyres has insufficient grip to climb out of the rut in the snow/ice - and it only takes one wheel to lose traction and the other one loses traction.

So I lay the carpet on the snow and ram it between the tyre and the snow on the side which is slipping. Then I can set off (using minimum throttle that will not stall the engine - which is typically foot off accelerator since I've got a diesel engine, letting in clutch gradually) enough to get back onto grippier road further from the verge where I can stop and retried the carpet. Occasionally the carpet just shoots backwards because the tyre grips the carpet more than the carpet grips the ice, in which case I get a willing assistant to stand on the carpet alongside the tyre to anchor it to the ice.

That's saved my bacon a few times. The only time it failed was when the underside of my car got grounded on deep snow in a slight dip in the road where the snow was deeper than everywhere else. The tyres lost grip because the snow between the tyre tracks was pushing the car off the road :-( That took a bit of digging away off snow from the sump guard (thank goodness I had my snow shovel) and a lot of pushing from me (with my wife driving). Luckily it was only one spot that was like that. I made sure that I kept up a reasonable speed rather than going too slowly, so the car would glide over any patches of deep snow and hopefully get far enough for the tyres to grip again. At least I didn't have to resort to plan B and dig tracks right down to the tarmac.

[Dave Plowman (News]

You continually praise what you consider their merits. Just accept that others have different priorities.