Brake Lights vs. Regenerative Braking on Electric Vehicles

Some electric vehicles have introduced “one pedal driving”, where the “accelerator” pedal is modified so that in the first part of its travel it activates the car’s regenerative braking system to slow the vehicle, then transitions to acceleration when pressed further down. This is supposed to allow the driver to make most speed changes without lifting their foot or alternating between accelerator and brake. But how do the brake lights react? In some cars, even with aggressive braking by the right pedal, they don’t come on at all, but only when you use the brake pedal. Does this make any sense? Are drivers in these cars more likely to be rear-ended (or pulled over by a cop for faulty brake lights)?

3 Likes

I’ve had to manually switch my fully electric car to regenerative braking setup. The regenerative deceleration is comparable to amount of braking you’d get by switching to a lower gear: so definitely not rapid enough to count as braking.

All in all, it was a pleasant experience, and I kept it in the regenerative braking mode. It was pretty rare for me to use brakes at all when slowing down for turns, traffic and intersections.

4 Likes

Something just got Musk addressing this. He responded to an unrelated regen post

https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1662475290486906881

1 Like