I’ve been considering how much more wear and tear an electric car has on mountain roads, compared to the flat roads of Florida. Driving up the mountains each time, I sigh at the wonderful inclines, and then again at the steep gliding down on mountain roads.
With the BMW i3, as you coast down the hill and around corners, the regenerative braking smoothly helps to slow you down. Driving a battery electric car for a while will definitely perk up your daily thinking about energy efficiency.
I found a good source to learn a bit more about EV efficiency, a video from Kevin Rooke, who agrees with my experience of the BMW i3. He says it is even better in his Model 3, especially due to the recent 2019.36 software update. In the informative video, Rooke explains that when your car is in motion, it has kinetic energy. “And when it slows down, the kinetic energy gets transferred into other forms of energy. Now, with a gas car, what happens is the kinetic energy gets transferred to heat energy. When you apply the brake pads on your car, your brake pads heat up and your car slows down.”
What is the difference with an electric car? Rooke continues, “But with an electric car, you can turn that initial kinetic energy into chemical energy — as in extra energy back into your battery.”
There are two pluses there. One plus is that there is less need for charging, as you’ve just extended your range a bit by recapturing energy. The second savings are less talked about. Your brake pads. They are used less and will need to be replaced less often. EV drivers keep trying to explain to others that the overall cost of ownership can be less than gas cars.
Well, I am still content with the i3, yet as Kevin Rooke goes on about this latest software update and the complete control of the Tesla Model 3 with one foot, I’m impressed. He also described Tesla’s Hold Mode, and I’m curious about this one and how much Hold Mode can handle on the steep streets one finds in San Francisco or the Appalachians. What are the limits? Are there limits?
Rooke goes to the steepest hill he knows of in Toronto to check out some uphill and downhill tests. Wow. It holds. Nice job, Kevin.
Rooke adds, “I can finally drive my Tesla Model 3 without ever using the brake pedal. It’s a true one pedal driving experience, and it’s amazing. Tesla’s regenerative braking does all the stopping for me when I lift my foot off the accelerator.”
Yes, another reason to consider Teslas the safest cars on the road.
