Coasting Downhill Maximum Recharge

[trichard83]

Hey Lightning Owners,
Does anyone have good experience with "coasting" out of the mountains to maximize recharge? I'm about to go on my first camping trip with my new Lighting (extended range battery), and I legitimately have range anxiety. I'm obviously going to burn most of my range on the way up the canyon into the mountains but am hoping to regenerate a lot of charge on my way down to make it home or to a charger. I'm just not certain what drive mode I should be in to maximize the recharge on the way down. I typically drive in 1-pedal, but this would obviously bring me to a stop, so not planning on using that one. Anyone have experience with coasting out of the mountains using Sport, Tow, or Regular drive modes? I'll probably have around 1,000 lbs worth of gear in the bed, and I won't be towing a camper or anything.

Thanks!


Update:
Took the family camping this past weekend and experimented with all the options you all listed. Thank you for all the insight.
When I left the campsite, the truck indicated 189 miles-to-empty. Coming down the mountain I used both the Tow/Haul and Sport Mode (1-pedel turned off) to check my speed so I wasn't burning up my hydraulic brakes. Sport Mode would still coast but had more friction and generated more stopping power and regen, so I used this on the steeper sections requiring more slowing. On the less steep sections I would switch over to tow/haul mode and coast longer but was still able to check my speed without touching the hydraulic peddle and still had good regeneration. By the time I dropped out of the canyon, I had watched my miles-to-empty increase from 189 to 202. Pretty fun to watch actually. It'd be nice if Ford came up with a "down shift" ability to adjust the regen coming out of the mountains to slow down and not go full 1-pedel. I did really good, probably only touching my hydraulic brakes 5-10 times, using the method above. Made it home without having to stop and recharge anywhere.
Again, I appreciate all the insight you all provided.

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[KurtsRPMGarage]

You’re putting way too much thought into this. I towed a boat up to a lake in the mountains with my standard range pro and made it easily (sea level to 7000 feet). Normal mode with one pedal is great (one pedal doesn’t force you to stop? You can just hit the accelerator a little to keep moving). Hardly used the brakes at all on the way back.

 

[spadesaspade]

If you use cruise control, it keeps the truck at a constant speed and regens any extra energy. I prefer not using one pedal drive as I can control the regen in most situations much better, to each their own. When you apply the brake to slow down, you also regen, but then you keep changing speeds when coming downhill. On steeper grades+highway, I prefer cruise control. On local streets, I use the brake pedal and still regen with 100% efficiency most of the times.

Edit: I realize regen is not 100% efficient. What I meant was I can regen with the meter showing that I regained 100% efficiency. That is also a major reason I do not use 1 pedal drive since regen is 70% or so efficient and I would rather coast that regen brake if I do not need to. I'm comfortably averaging between 3.2-3.5 miles/kwh in city driving (summer) with a lot of hills in the area. Highway is usually 2.2-2.4 with cruise control on.

 

[Karlos]

I find the Sport mode gives a nice approximation to a standard transmission & will decelerate/regen nicely without brakes on, additional light braking will increase regen. Seems the last resort is for the actual brakes to engage, hence optimizing the regen. Now, if they'd just fix the system to STAY in Sport mode with each restart

 

[trichard83]

You’re putting way too much thought into this. I towed a boat up to a lake in the mountains with my standard range pro and made it easily (sea level to 7000 feet). Normal mode with one pedal is great (one pedal doesn’t force you to stop? You can just hit the accelerator a little to keep moving). Hardly used the brakes at all on the way back.

There's no doubt I'm probably overthinking this, but I have yet to see an even remotely accurate reading on my miles-to-empty reading as compared to actual miles driven. Additionally, I saw considerable range drop this past winter, so the range anxiety has me (over)thinking. I just want to be as prepared as possible for my first family camping trip.

 

[trichard83]

I find the Sport mode gives a nice approximation to a standard transmission & will decelerate/regen nicely without brakes on, additional light braking will increase regen. Seems the last resort is for the actual brakes to engage, hence optimizing the regen. Now, if they'd just fix the system to STAY in Sport mode with each restart

Thanks for the input! I'll start with Sport mode and see how it goes.

 

[KurtsRPMGarage]

There's no doubt I'm probably overthinking this, but I have yet to see an even remotely accurate reading on my miles-to-empty reading as compared to actual miles driven. Additionally, I saw considerable range drop this past winter, so the range anxiety has me (over)thinking. I just want to be as prepared as possible for my first family camping trip.

I totally understand. A common misconception though is that stronger regen equals more energy in the battery. That’s not necessarily true. Regen is about 80% efficient whether strong or weak. So long as you stay out of the friction brakes the end result will be about the same. So drive it how you want and stay out of the friction brakes and you’ll be a winner.
Edit (quick correction: I believe regen is more like 60-70%. Point still stands though).

 

[HaroldCal]

I have done numerous trips similar to this, and find that allowing the cruise control to regulate speed will have the desired effect. It will basically perfectly manage the regen on the way down to make the most of it. Trying to do it yourself with the pedal is of course possible, but why bother? The CC will allow it to coast up to the speed you set, then lightly engage regen enough to keep the speed from climbing above your set point. Works like a champ!

 

[Maquis]

I have yet to see an even remotely accurate reading on my miles-to-empty reading as compared to actual miles driven..

Ignore the GOM.

 

[MM in SouthTX]

No hills where I am, but this is an interesting topic to me. Seems to me the best way to extend range is to bleed speed off uphill, using less energy, then shift to neutral downhill and regain that speed. Of course on long, steep declines, you would gain way too much speed. So, putting it in gear would add a small amount of regen, shifting to sport mode would add more regen, and finally using 1-pedal if you really need to slow down would add the most. You can regulate how much you slow down with the accelerator.

Again, no experience with the Lightning in big hills, but you might try the above. Using 1-pedal might be kind of like downshifting to avoid excessive braking. Added benefit of getting some regen.

 

[dirtdiver]

My experience is you wont get back that much on the downhill run. I guess it depends on how fast you went up and how fast you go down. Subtract out the wind resistance then subtract the ~30% conversion inefficiency and you get the energy that goes back in the battery. As a point of reference, I have a pretty steep mtn run that I do regularly. 10 miles up a steep paved incline and then 10 miles down the same road. In total I get less than the 2.2-2.3miles/KW than I usually get driving around town on level-ish roads. Like 2.1KW/mile or even 2.0. So anyway my .02 would be to be careful with assuming you get a bunch back. YMMV of course. I agree with others that 1 pedal is hard to beat.

 

[RickLightning]

Shifting to N means zero regen, don't do that. Sport mode is what I would use.

With our Mach-E on a steep s-curve road in GA, we added kWhs on the way down.

 

[Calvin H-C]

Shifting to N means zero regen, don't do that. Sport mode is what I would use.

Shifting to neutral is a great way to put some wear on your brake pads and rotors!

Seriously, regular braking will use regen as much as possible and little wear on the friction braking components occurs. After five years of driving a Focus Electric my front brakes needed work because the rotors were pock-marked while the pads were still over 4 mm. Perhaps the odd stop in neutral every month or so might have kept the rotors in better shape and delayed the work another year.

The regen does recover a good amount of energy, just don't start your downhill trip with a 100% SOC. The charging system is inhibited from starting (for plug in or regen) when nearly full to prevent overcharging the battery. I don't know the actual threshold, but it can be checked and changed with the right interface and software. It's likely around 95-97%.

 

[MM in SouthTX]

Shifting to N means zero regen, don't do that. Sport mode is what I would use.

With our Mach-E on a steep s-curve road in GA, we added kWhs on the way down.

Did you add more kWh than what you would have used accelerating? Any time I can make a car go faster without pushing on the accelerator (I.e. spending kWh) that’s kinda like adding kWh to the bank.

Let’s say the speed limit is 60. Assuming you don’t impede traffic, if you slow to 50 up the hill, then shift to neutral and speed up to 60 down the hill, is your state of charge higher or lower than if you held it at 60 up the hill and regenerated something down the hill? I think that would require some testing before being dismissed out of hand.

 

[MM in SouthTX]

I totally understand. A common misconception though is that stronger regen equals more energy in the battery. That’s not necessarily true. Regen is about 80% efficient whether strong or weak. So long as you stay out of the friction brakes the end result will be about the same. So drive it how you want and stay out of the friction brakes and you’ll be a winner.
Edit (quick correction: I believe regen is more like 60-70%. Point still stands though).

60-70% of what? If kWh regenerated is the numerator, what is the denominator?

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