Mountain downhill driving

[mwr]

Prior to my FFH, I had always used engine braking for significant downhill driving that required braking. With my FFH, regen braking makes the brake pedal useful for that without using the friction brakes. But yesterday was the first time I've driven my FFH on a long steep downhill where the HVB was fully charged, and I found it a bit disconcerting. FYI, it was on California Hwy 74 as it descends into Palm Desert.

1. I assumed that when the HVB is fully charged, any use of the brake pedal will invoke friction braking. Correct?

2. I didn't try using the "hill" button or "L" on the shift lever because neither one would allow me to control braking action like being able to use various lower gears on a non-hybrid car.

3. I used Cruise Control (normal variety) and it worked to hold the set speed by revving the ICE. But when I needed to slow down more, for a sharp curve or a slower car ahead, I'd press the brake pedal and then (of course) CC was disengaged and I'd then have to press Resume. I found that awkward and not very satisfactory.

4. I settled on setting the CC speed to what I thought would be the lowest speed I'd want to drive and then go faster by pressing on the accelerator pedal. That worked but took a while to get used to. It did the job, though.

Any better ideas?

I'm thinking it would be very good to have a "downhill braking" lever that would use regen braking if available, ICE braking if not, with no set "steps" but instead be infinitely variable. But of course that won't happen with our current cars.

[md13ffhguy]

You should have at least experimented with the Grade Assist button. It does work.

[TonyHzNV]

Yes, it does. When the ICE comes on for braking though, it doesn't sound very good and it makes me a little nervous. It's also weird to see the white mpg bar on the right go way up and not see any white bar on the left (Empower screen).

[corncobs]

Yes, it does. When the ICE comes on for braking though, it doesn't sound very good and it makes me a little nervous. It's also weird to see the white mpg bar on the right go way up and not see any white bar on the left (Empower screen).

Why is the white bar weird? There's no fuel injection going down hill so you end up with 60+ MPG while the ICE is "running" without load just as air compressor.

[TonyHzNV]

Well, maybe "weird" isn't the right word. Maybe I should have said "different". It's just not something you normally see. Only happens coming down mountains/hills and only after the HVB is fully charged. I don't normally drive in hilly/mountainous areas, but the other day I took about a 60 mile drive into Arizona to get some Powerball tickets and the route was somewhat hilly so I played around with the "grade assist" button on the shifter and I think it worked pretty good.

Edited February 14, 2015 by TonyHzNV

[nv rick]

Going from home to Vegas, I always use the grade assist along with ACC on the eastern slope of the Mountain Springs pass (it is steeper than the western). With an eCVT transmission, the noise is a little more annoying than when a conventionally-geared transmission downshifts.but it is better than wearing down the brake pads, along with the possibility of rotor warp. Going up grades also causes an ugly noise when the rpms get above around 4500, but I learned from others in this forum that the noise is normal to the transmission.

 

btw Tony, what's the first thing you did with your winnings? :lol:

[corncobs]

btw Tony, what's the first thing you did with your winnings? :lol:

I was going to ask the same question!

 

So Tony did you win and what are going to do with it?

[TonyHzNV]

Hah! I had 1 number on the whole ticket. I only bought 4 lines for 5 draws, but I still have 4 draws left, so we'll see! ☺ I DO have my eye on a nice 60' sailboat here: http://www.beneteau.com/Sailing-Yachts/Oceanis/Oceanis-60 that's only about 1/2 million. I could live on it if I wanted to and maybe take some of my forum buddies on a little trip! ☺

Edited February 14, 2015 by TonyHzNV