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Before talking about the single pedal mode, we need to have a deep understanding of what the brake energy recovery system is. Nowadays, electric vehicles basically have a brake energy recovery system.
Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, during the entire braking process of electric vehicles, instead of directly stepping on the brake pedal as in the past, the vehicle is decelerated first through the reverse torque provided by motor braking. During
, the heat energy that had to be dissipated to the outside due to physical friction braking is effectively converted into electrical energy and the battery is charged.
In this way, the opportunity when the car really needs physical friction braking is often the last step of braking and the parking stage after it has stopped. In other words, most of the time we can meet the car's deceleration requirements just by relying on motor braking.
Some friends may still not understand it. Well, we might as well regard the battery and motor as two connected balloons. At first, the battery balloon is bulging and the motor balloon is deflated; when the car starts, the air from the battery balloon flows into the motor balloon, and the two ebb and flow; when braking energy is recovered, it is equivalent to pinching a handful of motor balloons, and the motor Part of the gas in the balloon returns to the battery balloon, and the battery balloon becomes bulging as a result. This part of the converted gas can be used to drive the motor again, making the motor balloon bulge again. However, during the whole process, the gas in the two balloons as a whole becomes is reduced.
I just said that kinetic energy recovery plays a partial braking function, so this leads to many car owners who have just driven Tesla to easily mistakenly press the accelerator as the brake, which is what everyone calls the single pedal mode. Single pedal does not There is not really only one pedal, but two pedals, the accelerator and the brake, like an automatic car. However, the current single-pedal mode is that the deeper you press the accelerator pedal, the faster the vehicle speed. When you lift the accelerator pedal, the vehicle speed will increase due to the kinetic energy. Recovery decreases rapidly, and the intensity of deceleration is related to how much you lift the accelerator.
But everyone, please note that releasing the accelerator only slows down your car. When emergency braking is needed, you must step on the brakes. This is no different from driving a fuel car. Especially when the car is very fast, for example, when the speed is as high as 180, if you completely release the accelerator, the car will not slow down significantly. At this time, the deceleration effect brought by kinetic energy recovery is very limited.
Therefore, when driving normally, your feet should be placed near the accelerator most of the time, and the degree of retraction of the accelerator is used to control the intensity of vehicle deceleration. I believe many friends will think after seeing this, isn’t this a very good function? It not only reduces the number of switching between the accelerator and brake pedals, giving my right foot more rest time, but also reduces brake maintenance. frequency. But everything has advantages and disadvantages. Even if you adjust the energy recovery of Model 3 to the weakest gear, the dragging feeling after lifting the accelerator pedal is still strong.
This is nothing. In the past, when we drove a fuel vehicle, we would develop the habit of putting our foot on the brake without stepping on the accelerator. But after switching to the single-pedal mode of an electric vehicle, your right foot will become accustomed to it. Leaving it on the accelerator pedal has led to some emergency situations where the accelerator pedal was pressed, causing a car accident.
For example, some time ago, a Tesla owner's car suddenly accelerated to 170, and after hitting 4 cars in a row, he saved his life with the help of an airbag. Tesla’s final investigation result was that the owner pressed the accelerator as the brake. The car owner said that he was a veteran driver with 30 years of driving experience. How could he keep pressing the accelerator for nearly 1 kilometer?
Whether the brake failed or the accelerator was mistaken for the brake, we don’t know the real situation.But what we can be sure of is that once you get used to using the accelerator pedal to control the intensity of the brakes, you will increase the possibility of accidentally pressing the accelerator in an emergency. This is a stress reaction, and everyone may make such mistakes. Especially for an experienced driver who is used to driving fuel-powered vehicles, his feet have already formed the muscle memory of using the left brake to decelerate and the right accelerator to accelerate. If you ask him to suddenly drive a Tesla, the chance of making the wrong step will be greater. .
Of course, the single-pedal mode is not only used by Tesla, but also by BYD and new power Wei Xiaoli. But why do I only say that the chance of making the wrong pedal is greater when driving a Tesla? Because the single-pedal mode of other brands not only has a linkage structure between the brake pedal and kinetic energy recovery, those who are not used to the single-pedal mode can switch to the normal mode, and can also freely choose the intensity of kinetic energy recovery. The higher the intensity selected, the greater the braking force will be obtained after releasing the accelerator pedal. Tesla's brake pedal and kinetic energy recovery are not only not linked, but the new Model 3 and Model Y have canceled the selection button since last year, and the default is a stronger kinetic energy recovery mode. This method of forcibly changing the driving habits of car owners is really unflattering. Is it so difficult to allow users to choose freely?
