Posted by Michelle Steiner on January 1, 2006, 4:16 am
> On long downhill treks, the batteries will fill up, and braking will
> revert to the old-fashioned mechanical brakes. So I'm thinking that
> Michelle has the right idea, leave it in B and give it a little gas
> as needed ..
Um, that's not my idea; my idea is to leave it in D and use the brakes.
--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush.
Posted by Bill on January 1, 2006, 7:56 am
> On long downhill treks, the batteries will fill up, and braking will
> revert to the old-fashioned mechanical brakes. So I'm thinking that
> Michelle has the right idea, leave it in B and give it a little gas as
> needed .. that way, the deceleration will be performed either by
> regenerative braking or enging slowing?
Right.
Posted by richard schumacher on January 1, 2006, 3:17 am
> >> When going down a long hill, as long as the battery is still
> >> charging, is it "better" to leave it in 'D' and use the brakes
> >> (rather than shift into 'B')?
> >
> > Every time I've tried to use B going downhill (including the Grapevine
> > on I-5 in either direction), it slowed the car too much, so I wound up
> > keeping it in D and using the brakes. Keep in mind that except for
> > panic stops and when the car is going very slowly, the brakes are the
> > regenerative brakes and not the mechanical, friction, brakes.
> >
> Wouldn't it work to put it in B and accelerate to the desired speed? I
> mean, wouldn't light pressure on the gas pedal overcome engine braking as
> with a conventional stick shift?
Yes, that works also. In the Prius, overcoming engine braking merely
means that the computers will stop using engine braking whenever you are
commanding acceleration via the gas pedal; there will not be one
mechanical system fighting another and wasting energy. Just remember to
shift back into D at the end of the downgrade.
Posted by Michelle Steiner on January 1, 2006, 4:16 am
> > Every time I've tried to use B going downhill (including the
> > Grapevine on I-5 in either direction), it slowed the car too much,
> > so I wound up keeping it in D and using the brakes. Keep in mind
> > that except for panic stops and when the car is going very slowly,
> > the brakes are the regenerative brakes and not the mechanical,
> > friction, brakes.
> >
> Wouldn't it work to put it in B and accelerate to the desired speed?
> I mean, wouldn't light pressure on the gas pedal overcome engine
> braking as with a conventional stick shift?
yeah, but that uses gasoline.
--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush.
Posted by dbs__usenet on January 3, 2006, 8:18 am
>
> > > Every time I've tried to use B going downhill (including the
> > > Grapevine on I-5 in either direction), it slowed the car too much,
> > > so I wound up keeping it in D and using the brakes. Keep in mind
> > > that except for panic stops and when the car is going very slowly,
> > > the brakes are the regenerative brakes and not the mechanical,
> > > friction, brakes.
> > >
> > Wouldn't it work to put it in B and accelerate to the desired speed?
> > I mean, wouldn't light pressure on the gas pedal overcome engine
> > braking as with a conventional stick shift?
>
> yeah, but that uses gasoline.
>
Not really. It just tells the computer to reduce the braking effect.
Remeber, the "gas pedal" is not connected to the engine. The gas pedal
is simply a suggestion to the computer that you want to change speed.
I use B on the grapevine in conjunction with cruise control (2002 model)
and it hold speed well even if there is an uphill grade followed by
a downhill.
> revert to the old-fashioned mechanical brakes. So I'm thinking that
> Michelle has the right idea, leave it in B and give it a little gas
> as needed ..