Regenerative braking and tyre wear

[JonMad]

I saw a tweet yesterday that I forgot to grab so here's the summary. People were talking about regenerative braking meaning discs and pads last longer (iirc it was a Tesla Model S with 450k on the clock with loads of life on its original pads). Someone mentioned that it also reduces tyre wear.

Really?

Maybe a change in driving style, through having regenerative braking, causes less hard braking to occur, I suppose. But unless you were otherwise standing on the brakes regularly I can't see it making that much difference.

[tim]

Hmm.

Yeah that totally makes sense. #becauseinternet

[mik]

Bollox.

ScottA and I recently visited the Edinburgh Tesla service centre with the Lotus club (weirdly spotless almost fluid-free environment) and the techs were saying they replaced as many discs for excessive corrosion as they did for wear.

The car I drove apparently had regen braking set to max, and it was weird, but you adapted to it very quickly. I can see how John Q Citizen could probably reduce use of the brakes by 90+ % under normal riving.

[Mito Man]

I remember a tweet by Elon Musk saying Tesla brakes last the life of the vehicle and he got a barrage of angry tweets from people who changed brakes due to corrosion and seized callipers

[scotta]

I remember a tweet by Elon Musk saying Tesla brakes last the life of the vehicle and he got a barrage of angry tweets from people who changed brakes due to corrosion and seized callipers

Exactly what the techs said at the workshop.

As to reduction on tyre wear im calling bollocks on that - its stil a braking force acting on the tyres regardless of whether the brakes are applying the force or the regen on the motors.

[McSwede]

The 530e in which I am currently zipping around has regen braking and it's quite handy once you adapt to it. It's not to the same level as in a Tesla but you can feel it's effects and change your driving style accordingly so I can see how it helps with brake wear. Like other here I call "bollock" on the tyre wear thing. In fact it could be the other way especially on cars like Tesla due to the torque available from standstill meaning the tyres get a more difficult time in comparison to normal ICE vehicles.

[Orange Cola]

The only thing I can think of which would hold any kind of validity would be a re-split of the brake force from a typical 70% front/30% rear to 50/50. But the difference in wear would be marginal at best, you’d have to have controlled testing to see anything.

There are new disc coatings coming through which are designed to prevent or reduce corrosion however they’re currently hundreds of pounds extra to buy on bulk for an OEM so until they crack that I can’t see the issue being fixed. However, once Powertrains go full electric the next biggest polluter by particulate emissions on the car is the brake system so it makes sense to have high regen braking and protective coatings on the discs.

[RobYob]

The car I drove apparently had regen braking set to max, and it was weird, but you adapted to it very quickly. I can see how John Q Citizen could probably reduce use of the brakes by 90+ % under normal riving.

Similar experience on a new Leaf with the one pedal driving mode, quickly got used to it on B-A road and motorway. Normal driving only needed the brakes to come to a full stop. Even a downhill M-way exit ramp was easily coped with on full regen. Makes sense when you've got 150hp to either go or whoa through the electric system most driving is comfortably within that power use region.

Reduced tyre wear does sound unlikely but maybe the different seamless driving characteristics of electric and different force bias of regen braking do help. Simplest explaination is they are FoS though.