Driving in B mode vs. D

[Svalsbard]

Just bought a 2019 E-Golf SE, my first electric vehicle, and I love it!

One thing I do that I'm not sure if it is OK for the longevity of the car is I consistently drive it in "B" mode instead of "D." I know I can set the regenerative braking with D to levels 1-3, but I really like the almost "one pedal" driving experience I get with max regeneration on B.

My concern is if I am eating up brake pads or otherwise doing long term wear on the car by driving it in B. The manual seemed pretty silent on the matter, anyone here aware of any issues with driving B everywhere (interstate speeds, stop and go, and local roads)?

 

[eGolfJoe]

Just bought a 2019 E-Golf SE, my first electric vehicle, and I love it!

One thing I do that I'm not sure if it is OK for the longevity of the car is I consistently drive it in "B" mode instead of "D." I know I can set the regenerative braking with D to levels 1-3, but I really like the almost "one pedal" driving experience I get with max regeneration on B.

My concern is if I am eating up brake pads or otherwise doing long term wear on the car by driving it in B. The manual seemed pretty silent on the matter, anyone here aware of any issues with driving B everywhere (interstate speeds, stop and go, and local roads)?

From what I've read, B is just more agressive regeneration AND it turns on the brake lights when let off the accelerator. Don't worry about longevity.

 

[Sparklebeard]

B mode is (kind of) just like ‘D4’.

Really all that’s happening is the car is changing how the strength of the regenerative ‘brake’ is mapped to the position of the accelerator pedal.

The regenerative system thankfully doesn’t use the brake pads. A simplified explanation is that the electric motor can switch over and work as a generator or a motor at a moment’s notice. Instead of ‘pushing’ current through the motor to cause it to spin, you can use the momentum of the car to keep the motor spinning and instead ‘reverse the direction of electrical flow’ (not literally what happens but it’s an ok way to conceptualise it) and use the spinning to generate electricity to charge the battery, and in doing so resists against the spin in the motor and slows the car down. It’s a very cool thing, really.

The reason it feels like it might be bad for the car is that in B mode it almost feels like you’re driving against the weight of the brakes, right? As it turns out, VW just changes the pedal resistance depending on the mode you’re in, so while B mode makes the pedal feel ‘heavy’, it’s not really causing anything different to happen in the motor while you’re powering

TL;DR, B mode won’t wear out your brakes or motor

 

[Svalsbard]

TL;DR, B mode won’t wear out your brakes or motor

Thanks!

Do other people here drive a lot in B? I don't really see any downsides to it, are there any?

 

[JoulesThief]

Although no one knows the effect of life recharging the battery on and off like that, agressively in "B" mode, or if it's damaging to longevity.

 

[Sparklebeard]

It tires my foot if I drive in it on the freeway. I frequently toggle between D and B (and row from D through to D3 then B sometimes too)

Coasting is super efficient so coasting and then using b as you come to a traffic light works well too.

Play around and see what feels best

 

[Svalsbard]

Although no one knows the effect of life recharging the battery on and off like that, agressively in "B" mode, or if it's damaging to longevity.

Well...I guess we'll find out...hopefully before the battery warranty runs out!

 

[JoulesThief]

Although no one knows the effect of life recharging the battery on and off like that, agressively in "B" mode, or if it's damaging to longevity.

Well...I guess we'll find out...hopefully before the battery warranty runs out!

Yep, and you may find out how difficult it is to get VW to cover work under warranty, too. No thank you, been there, done that with many VW dealerships. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

 

[uscpsycho]

From what I've read, B is just more agressive regeneration AND it turns on the brake lights when let off the accelerator. Don't worry about longevity.

From what you've read... Can someone confirm this about the brake lights? I think that would be awfully annoying to the person behind you if your brake lights keep coming on every time you coast.

Do other people here drive a lot in B? I don't really see any downsides to it, are there any?

I have only had the car a few weeks and I always drive in B + Eco mode. But if the above is true regarding the brake lights, I may switch to driving in D3 instead.

Yep, and you may find out how difficult it is to get VW to cover work under warranty, too. No thank you, been there, done that with many VW dealerships. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

Yikes, is it really that bad? I bought the extended warranty. Should I cancel it? Sounds like you're in LA, which dealer do you find to be the least hassle to deal with for service?

My last car was a Volvo and I vowed to never buy another Volvo after dealing with their warranty. Brand new car, e-brake doesn't work, they won't do anything about it. And Volvo prides themselves on safety. SMH I hope I didn't walk into a similar situation with VW.

 

[f1geek]

Brake light come on based on g force. I have tested this at night in a dark area and I can see the red glow on the rear glass. If you are going fast enough and release the accelerator pedal abruptly, the brakes light come on. If you crawling at 2-5 mph and release the accelerator pedal, the brake lights may not come on. VW has you covered on this - don't worry. I drive in B mode on surface streets and D1 on the highway. I only engage D2 or D3 if I'm going down hills.

As far as dealers go, I would imagine that there are good and bad dealers, and once the car is out of warranty, I plan to use an independent shop. I have asked my independent shop (that I used to use for a fossil gobbling BMW) and I was told the shop is willing to do work on e-Golfs.

 

[uscpsycho]

Thanks for explaining. Glad to know that the brake doesn't come on every single time you take your foot off the gas!

Also, according to a VW video I just watched ( https://knowyourvw.com/model/92/asset=6345), this automatic brake light behavior happens in D2, D3 and B.

 

[uscpsycho]

Whoever said that taking your foot off the accelerator in B activates the brake light was right. Tonight I paid attention to my brake light and while in B, every time I got off the accelerator, the brake light came on. Didn't matter how fast or slow I was going, flat or uphill or downhill, the brake light came on right away. That's in a '19 SEL.

I tried the same in D3 and the brake light did not come on right away in all conditions. So any kind of situation where you're going to do a lot of coasting and there are people behind you, probably best not to use B so as not to be a nuisance.

Anyone know if this brake light activation can be modified with obdeleven?

 

[ZeroMoon17]

Yikes, is it really that bad? I bought the extended warranty. Should I cancel it? Sounds like you're in LA, which dealer do you find to be the least hassle to deal with for service?

My last car was a Volvo and I vowed to never buy another Volvo after dealing with their warranty. Brand new car, e-brake doesn't work, they won't do anything about it. And Volvo prides themselves on safety. SMH I hope I didn't walk into a similar situation with VW.

I recently had a Water Pump break on my '17 GTI while it was under warranty. Had absolutely no issues with the VW Dealership on getting it fixed, and they gave me a loaner while it was in the shop.

This is in Atlanta, GA, so your millage may vary, but I've had nothing but positive VW Warranty experiences.

 

[JoulesThief]

Yikes, is it really that bad? I bought the extended warranty. Should I cancel it? Sounds like you're in LA, which dealer do you find to be the least hassle to deal with for service?

My last car was a Volvo and I vowed to never buy another Volvo after dealing with their warranty. Brand new car, e-brake doesn't work, they won't do anything about it. And Volvo prides themselves on safety. SMH I hope I didn't walk into a similar situation with VW.

I recently had a Water Pump break on my '17 GTI while it was under warranty. Had absolutely no issues with the VW Dealership on getting it fixed, and they gave me a loaner while it was in the shop.

This is in Atlanta, GA, so your millage may vary, but I've had nothing but positive VW Warranty experiences.

I had the shifter go bad in my 2013 Touareg TDI, I couldn't even remove the keyfob from the dashboard to secure and lock the car, it could have been stolen at any time, if I parked anywhere. 42,000 miles, VW said it was going to be $950 and 7 hours to install, about $2000 for a complete new shifter box, because a cheap plastic electric switch on the shifter mechanism in the console that talks to the ECU wouldn't show that the car was in Park, when it was engaged in park.

Touareg had been garaged almost every single day of it's life, vehicle was used extensively for many long trips driving, so car was not used at all for short jaunts around town. Fought like hell with VW to get it covered under warranty, and they only covered it under "good will" warranty for me because I was a loyal VW customer that had bought many new VW's from them in the past 10 years.

That Touareg was down and non operative for 6 weeks while VW screwed around getting the part from Germany, then the dealership screwed around for another 2 weeks in July and August. Said they were swamped with work. When they are swamped with work, warranty work pays the shittiest, so the techs and service advisors don't want to touch any warranty work. You, the customer, suffer. I had to cancel my vacation to Yellowstone NP in my Travel trailer as a result. It ended up taking them 2 to 2.5 hours to actually change out the part. Undid console cover, 5 screws, and a plug, get under car, remove a few clips on transmission linkage and a clip to secure the cable. I know, I was there, cost accountant by trade, I timed them, and that was with the tech and shop manager having a convention around my Touareg, showing other techs how to do the job, too.

5 different warehouses for parts in VW system in all of USA, and not a single one of them had this part in stock... all have to order from Germany from the mother ship, and gets shipped on a slow boat over to the USA, to main warehouse, then to regional warehouse, then to parts dept at dealership. Too many hands, too many overnights waiting for paper work to be processed. They don't airship overnight with DHL.


I am certain if I'd just paid to replace the defective part at the dealership and the 7 hours to install, for $2000, it would have been finished in less than a weeks down time. But VW dealerships hate warranty work, and will make it painfully slow for you to get your car back in service.

 

[uscpsycho]

I'm surprised you didn't write off VW after that experience. I wouldn't want to go through something like that again. Did you try going to different dealers? I took that Volvo to every dealer in town and they wouldn't fix it even after acknowledging the problem.

But I had a 3rd gen Mazda Rx-7 that was always running low on coolant. Dealer kept telling me the problem was fixed but it never was. I finally took it to another Mazda dealer who told me that day there was a coolant leak in the engine and the entire engine had to be replaced. And they took care of it under warranty. I was shocked that the dealer I had been loyal to gave me the runaround for a LONG time, and this other dealer ordered a brand new engine on my first visit.

 

[cctop]

Do other people here drive a lot in B? I don't really see any downsides to it, are there any?

A minor issue but driving in B mode is tough on your passengers until you get used to easing your foot off the accelerator.

When I first switched from a gas car, I mostly used D2 mode because that was the closest to the amount of engine braking I was used to.

After I got more comfortable with the e-Golf and its driving modes, I mostly kept it in D mode and would flip to B mode when approaching a stoplight/stop sign or when driving on hills, barely using the brake pedal.

(Note that there's no technical difference between using the brake pedal or using B mode as long as you're not braking so hard that you max out the regen. I just got in the habit of decelerating using the shifter instead of the brake pedal.)

 

[Image7801]

I usually drive in D1 or D2 in town. To me, that “feels” more like driving an ICE vehicle. I coast on the freeway, then progressively “downshift” through D1-2-3 (or rarely, B (don’t really want the brake lights coming on each time I let off)). One post above mentioned not being too aggressive shifting into B for the sake of your passengers. That is absolutely right. My wife gets mad when I use D3 or B too much. It’s just jarring to her. You really have to play around with all of the regen settings for whatever feels right to you...

 

[JoulesThief]

I drive in D mode all the time. Only move the shifter to the left for D1 or D2 when needed for stoplights to time them so I can hit them on a green instead of coming to a complete stop, if at all possible, much like downshifting a manual transmission from 3 to 2. I then hold the shifter to the right for a second and it goes back into D mode.

I don't think my brake lights will ever burn out, I never use B mode.

 

[zanzabar]

I drive exclusively in B, but it has taken some learning to avoid annoying my kids in stop n go driving. I drive it hard, getting about 3.8 miles/kwh.

My wife prefers plain old D and drives very sedately, averages more like 5.1 miles/kwh.

 

[srue]

My wife and I also exclusively drive in B. There is no physical reason B should be any less efficient than D. While it's true that coasting is more efficient than regenerative braking, the difference between B and D entirely comes down to driving preference. I can effectuate a coast by very slowly coming off the pedal on B, for example. But my preference is toward one-pedal driving, so I drive in B. I wish it would bring the car to a complete stop, or at least have that as an option in settings. On the rare occasion that we drive our ICE car, the car feels like it's out of control when I let off the pedal. It's interesting how I've adapted to B mode.