I have been driving one pedal Low (L) since I bought this 2017 Bolt in December 2017. I’m just wondering if I keep using the one pedal driving which uses the electric motor to slow down the car instead of the actual disk breaks, will this one pedal driving effect or damage the electric motor and it’s gears over time? Or maybe does it create more wear and tear on the motor, gears and anything else that slows down the car using one pedal driving? I know it’s designed for it, but I don’t want to replace my electric motor or gears because I’m using it instead of my regular disk breaks. What does everyone else use for breaking?
One pedal Low (L) Driving
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In the Bolt the drive wheels are connected to the motor permanently via a fixed-ratio gearbox. Whether the car is accelerating, decelerating, or moving at a constant speed - forward or in reverse - the motor will always turn with the drive wheels (if I remember it correctly, per each revolution of the drive wheels the motor will complete 7 revolutions).
This means that the whole drivetrain is subject to wear whenever the car moves. The more carefully you drive, the slower the wear will be.
This means that the whole drivetrain is subject to wear whenever the car moves. The more carefully you drive, the slower the wear will be.
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Yes, one-pedal driving does wear the geartrain more than D and brakes. The deceleration forces must be absorbed somewhere.
Yes, the motor is always direct geared to the drivetrain, but when L or L+regen is applied, the gears and bearings are loaded more heavily, as opposed to a much lesser loading in D.
No, it's unknowable how many miles and years it will take for that additional wear to manifest itself. It is to be hoped it's a very long time, as we use L exclusively. Think of the drive gears on an ICE. Today, most last the life of the vehicle with no service or problems and they are subjected to acceleration/deceleration with every movement of the throttle.
Maybe, Bolt owners consider the minutiae more and to a greater degree than other brand fora to which I've belonged over the years. (BayEmVay owners are right up there) That can be a good thing, as questions get asked and answered which are maybe never brought up on other fora. On some, the most often discussed is why the manufacturer won't warranty a problem on a seven-year-old vehicle bought third-hand.
jack vines
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samer3310, thank you for the question. I never thought about this. Interesting point that L would lead to more drive train wear due to regen but I think it's not that much more than driving in D with gradual braking. Even in D, if you keep a light foot on the brake, you're close to the regen that L provides so I think the additional wear and tear on the drive train when using L would be small.
I wouldn't sweat it too much. Drive how you like it, the different modes are just different in driving style and ultimately are the same in terms of wear-tear on the drive train.
I wouldn't sweat it too much. Drive how you like it, the different modes are just different in driving style and ultimately are the same in terms of wear-tear on the drive train.
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The loads are quite low under regenerative braking. It isn't going to significantly affect drivetrain life. Note that the recommended maintenance schedule for geartrain/motor fluid (it uses transmission fluid) is just once every ten years or 120,000 miles. This means the reduction gears have very low stresses on them. The maximum stress on them occurs when you give the motor a lot of throttle: regenerative braking is a much lower load.
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It's also worth knowing that in an ICE car, the gearbox has similar strains to regenerative braking. Most people don't realize it but when you take your foot off the gas in a modern car (if it's going at any speed) all combustion stops but the engine continues to turn over, driven by energy from the wheels. In a manual transmission car, you can use the friction losses from turning over the engine with no fuel to slow the car (a.k.a. engine braking).
For manual transmission cars, it's not the gears that wear out typically, it's the clutch. As far as I know, the Bolt, which has a single gear, has no clutch.
For manual transmission cars, it's not the gears that wear out typically, it's the clutch. As far as I know, the Bolt, which has a single gear, has no clutch.
One Pedal Low (L) Driving
Thanks for extremely helpful discussion.
And… just to be sure… is it really OK to drive ALL THE TIME in Low? (given the preceding discussion about forces on the drivetrain)
I’m a brand new Bolt owner — 2019, 8 days old — my first EV. And I absolutely love it. This car is more fun to drive than any other car I’ve ever had (well, except maybe the ’58 Morgan Plus 4) and I would prefer to drive in Low all the time.
Jack “Packard V8” said “we use L exclusively” — so, does that really mean “exclusively”? Like even at freeway speeds above 70?
I hope the answer is Yes.
Thanks!
Thanks for extremely helpful discussion.
And… just to be sure… is it really OK to drive ALL THE TIME in Low? (given the preceding discussion about forces on the drivetrain)
I’m a brand new Bolt owner — 2019, 8 days old — my first EV. And I absolutely love it. This car is more fun to drive than any other car I’ve ever had (well, except maybe the ’58 Morgan Plus 4) and I would prefer to drive in Low all the time.
Jack “Packard V8” said “we use L exclusively” — so, does that really mean “exclusively”? Like even at freeway speeds above 70?
I hope the answer is Yes.
Thanks!
The answer is yes, while driving.
I do use D while parking because I have to shift to R sometimes and R behaves like D, but in reverse. Consistency is key to not making mistakes.
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And guys, just to add to the above, when you use the "Regen on demand" paddle, do you take the foot off the acceleration or you still use it to modulate the distance to a full stop ?
P.S. I found the answer in the owners guide... yes, we can use the acceleration to modulate the regen.
P.S. I found the answer in the owners guide... yes, we can use the acceleration to modulate the regen.
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I am so sorry that the Bolt engineers labeled it "L". It confuses a new buyer. L is extremely sophisticated, and cannot be duplicated by even the most experienced user of the flipper, D and the brake.
You can see this in cruise, on the super highway. With L, after coming up over a rise, you can see the pwr usage drop, and as you speed down the incline, you can see the regen kick in...yet your speed is maintained. Thus, instant calculations of momentum versus need for power versus production. Many times, at the bottom of the hill, you will see 30 to 50+ KW being generated...as you continue smoothly at 75 MPH.
That cannot be done by flipper or brake, without dropping you out of cruise and slowing down. And D, well, er, is D.
Just wish that they had not labeled it "L". Those engineers put in a lot of time making something so smooth that goes instantly into gradations of drain vs production. I thank them.
You can see this in cruise, on the super highway. With L, after coming up over a rise, you can see the pwr usage drop, and as you speed down the incline, you can see the regen kick in...yet your speed is maintained. Thus, instant calculations of momentum versus need for power versus production. Many times, at the bottom of the hill, you will see 30 to 50+ KW being generated...as you continue smoothly at 75 MPH.
That cannot be done by flipper or brake, without dropping you out of cruise and slowing down. And D, well, er, is D.
Just wish that they had not labeled it "L". Those engineers put in a lot of time making something so smooth that goes instantly into gradations of drain vs production. I thank them.
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Agree the L mode works very well and I use it all the time. But what else would you suggest they label it besides L. It does fell a bit like an ICE car in low gear.
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"LOVE one pedal driving" would be a great national advertising spin and would get rid of the LOW interpretation.
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Yes, we use "L" exclusively.
I had a conversation with a Bolt product development exec. He said, "The goal was to make the typical GM owner's transition from ICE to EV as seamless and non-eventful as possible. What's weird is it's difficult to hear from the average buyer. Someone suggested no average GM owners have yet bought a Bolt. All we hear from are the weirdball early-adapter technofreaks."
We here resemble that remark ;>)
jack vines
I had a conversation with a Bolt product development exec. He said, "The goal was to make the typical GM owner's transition from ICE to EV as seamless and non-eventful as possible. What's weird is it's difficult to hear from the average buyer. Someone suggested no average GM owners have yet bought a Bolt. All we hear from are the weirdball early-adapter technofreaks."
We here resemble that remark ;>)
jack vines
Did he actually say that? That is the funniest thing I have heard about the Bolt, and absolutely true.
I never owned a GM car before, never owned an American car, and never ever a car with D and L. All my cars had an actual transmission that you shited down manually for hills and curves. So you never had to listen to a motor lugging because it couldn't anticipate the need to downshift, and fell off the torque peak. Ugh!
The driving modes described in the manual (at least in the Korean version) suggests that you should normally drive in D, while you should switch to L during traffic congestion or downhill drive. The "downhill" part especially draws parallel to the traditional L mode's engine braking in ICEV. I think this is why some new Bolt EV users are hesitant to use the L mode fully.
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It took me quite a while to go to L for most driving, but now I use it almost all the time. However on a freeway in free flowing traffic I prefer D because L is so sensitive to the accelerator position I find myself slowing and speeding up too much. L is great going down hill and if the hill is steep enough I add the paddle when coming to a stop. In my old Jetta, I always shifted down to low on the steep hill near our house, so that fits calling it L now. After driving conventional ICE cars for about 57 years it takes some adaptation to use L in the Bolt well.:nerd:
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