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One of the Bolt’s best features is a regenerative braking paddle behind the wheel, which simultaneously slows the car and recharges the battery when pulled. So

One of the Bolt’s best features is a regenerative braking paddle behind the wheel, which simultaneously slows the car and recharges the battery when pulled. So their tech is so crude that there is no regenerative braking built into the standard floor mounted brake pedal? Even my 2006 Prius does regenerative braking based of the brake pedal, with no need for such hacks. Is there any fast recharge system for these? Eg, does GM have a supercharger network? If I buy a Bolt, can I purchase / rent access to the Tesla superchargers? Or is the tech different?

sfeng 10y ago
The regen built into pedals feels strange to people not used to it. As does the regen which activates when you lift your foot off the gas. This was not done because they're incompetent, it was done to create a car which is more intuitive to people not used to electric cars.
- 5ilv3r 10y ago
  I've never heard of an efficiency enhancing feature not being automatic. That would be like overdrive defaulting to off, or having to manually enable cylinder deactivation. People would use it more if it was in the pedal's logic.
  - mrfusion 10y ago
    Maybe it requires human intelligence to be efficient like the matrix.
  - twblalock 10y ago
    People who are used to automatic transmissions would think something was wrong with the car, and the dealerships would be swamped with service appointments.
    - Neliquat 10y ago
      This type of comment makes me wish there was a higher bar for car ownership.
- vvanders 10y ago
  If you've ever driven a manual car it's totally intuitive. Also incredibly easy to put behind a toggle(including creep) which Tesla does.
  - freehunter 10y ago
    >If you've ever driven a manual car it's totally intuitive. If you're talking about Americans, that number is going to be much, much lower than you'd think. Very few Americans have ever even seen a manual transmission.
TYPE_FASTER 10y ago
More info: https://electrek.co/2016/09/06/gm-bolt-ev-one-pedal-driving-regenerative-braking/ https://electrek.co/2016/09/06/gm-bolt-ev-one-pedal-driving-... tl;dr - no, the paddle is for an additional regen braking mode that regen brakes harder than letting off the gas without using the physical brakes.
- twblalock 10y ago
  It's similar to the "B" position on a Prius shifter, as far as I can tell.
  - brandmeyer 10y ago
    "B" doesn't perform maximum regen, although it does increase the regen at shut throttle. The bigger difference is that once the battery is fully topped off, it will increase the engine RPM to allow for some engine braking.
  - WorldMaker 10y ago
    Or "L" on a Volt/Bolt/Cadillac ELR shifter. Named "L" after "low gear" on most (semi-)automatic transmissions, but really just a different software curve applied to where in the throttle/brakes the regen occurs (ie, top of the accelerator pedal versus top of the brake pedal) and how strongly the regen applies (coast-favoring versus slow-down-favoring). Adding a paddle "shifter" on the steering wheel to "drop to the low gear" is something borrowed from manual and semi-automatic sports cars, but an interesting new use here for signalling to the car to heavier regen break.
brandmeyer 10y ago
I'm a fairly happy Prius owner, and this would actually solve one of my biggest gripes with the Prius. It is devilishly difficult to pick the brake pedal position that maximizes regen without engaging the friction brakes. Some of the display options will show it graphically. But (by design) the change in pedal feel from regen to regen+friction is so small it may be imaginary.

sfeng 10y ago

The regen built into pedals feels strange to people not used to it. As does the regen which activates when you lift your foot off the gas. This was not done because they're incompetent, it was done to create a car which is more intuitive to people not used to electric cars.

5ilv3r 10y ago
I've never heard of an efficiency enhancing feature not being automatic. That would be like overdrive defaulting to off, or having to manually enable cylinder deactivation. People would use it more if it was in the pedal's logic.
- mrfusion 10y ago
  Maybe it requires human intelligence to be efficient like the matrix.
- twblalock 10y ago
  People who are used to automatic transmissions would think something was wrong with the car, and the dealerships would be swamped with service appointments.
  - Neliquat 10y ago
    This type of comment makes me wish there was a higher bar for car ownership.
vvanders 10y ago
If you've ever driven a manual car it's totally intuitive. Also incredibly easy to put behind a toggle(including creep) which Tesla does.
- freehunter 10y ago
  >If you've ever driven a manual car it's totally intuitive. If you're talking about Americans, that number is going to be much, much lower than you'd think. Very few Americans have ever even seen a manual transmission.

TYPE_FASTER 10y ago

More info: https://electrek.co/2016/09/06/gm-bolt-ev-one-pedal-driving-regenerative-braking/ https://electrek.co/2016/09/06/gm-bolt-ev-one-pedal-driving-... tl;dr - no, the paddle is for an additional regen braking mode that regen brakes harder than letting off the gas without using the physical brakes.

twblalock 10y ago
It's similar to the "B" position on a Prius shifter, as far as I can tell.
- brandmeyer 10y ago
  "B" doesn't perform maximum regen, although it does increase the regen at shut throttle. The bigger difference is that once the battery is fully topped off, it will increase the engine RPM to allow for some engine braking.
- WorldMaker 10y ago
  Or "L" on a Volt/Bolt/Cadillac ELR shifter. Named "L" after "low gear" on most (semi-)automatic transmissions, but really just a different software curve applied to where in the throttle/brakes the regen occurs (ie, top of the accelerator pedal versus top of the brake pedal) and how strongly the regen applies (coast-favoring versus slow-down-favoring). Adding a paddle "shifter" on the steering wheel to "drop to the low gear" is something borrowed from manual and semi-automatic sports cars, but an interesting new use here for signalling to the car to heavier regen break.

brandmeyer 10y ago

I'm a fairly happy Prius owner, and this would actually solve one of my biggest gripes with the Prius. It is devilishly difficult to pick the brake pedal position that maximizes regen without engaging the friction brakes. Some of the display options will show it graphically. But (by design) the change in pedal feel from regen to regen+friction is so small it may be imaginary.