newyerker

well no doubt it generates power back into the battery when the foot is off the pedal, but the 'braking' part of it, does es300h actually have such braking or am i just not doing something right?

i thought all hybrid/electric cars behaved the same but recently saw some youtube review of a car - cant remember what exactly, but in that video i saw the regenerative braking was actually braking. as in, if you put your foot off the accelerator, car was braking pretty rapidly as it 'generated' power.

i personally dont feel the es300h putting any braking force different from any combustion engine doing its engine braking.
ive driven the sonata hybrid as well and that was the same thing.

just curious to find out whether that's actually a thing or just a fancy term they came up with for engine braking in hybrids.

jollick

The ESh does have regenerative brakes, they is why the brakes can last 100,000 miles or more.

NdYAG

As long as you keep the needle inside the charge band (don't let the needle reach the bottom) you are using 100% regenerative braking. You can confirm it by checking the temperature of the rotors - they should not be hot or even warm.

I barely use conventional brakes in my driving. I had to replace the OEM rotors after only 20k miles because they rusted from such limited use.

newyerker

oh that's interesting. i always thought the regenerative braking would be when you're coasting without applying brakes.
so even when you hit on the brake, if the needle isnt hitting the bottom, its just using regenerative braking?

Sulu

Toyota / Lexus hybrids are not very aggressive when it comes to regenerative braking. When you let off the accelerator, there is very minimal regenerative braking, not enough to really slow you down much (unless you are going downhill at the time); other automakers tune their regenerative braking systems more aggressively.

Although I have not driven one to confirm, I have read that Honda's newest 2-motor hybrid system (in the current Honda Accord Hybrid) has more aggressive regenerative braking, and Honda tuned it that way to keep their battery charged up, improving fuel efficiency.

Toyota's regenerative braking may be closer to a normal car -- coasting when you let off the accelerator -- than other automakers' hybrids.

To really take advantage of your ESh's regenerative braking, just press on the brake pedal (gently) or pull the gearshift lever to the left, into manual mode, to use one of the six levels of regenerative braking. If you brake very hard however (such as in a panic stop), the mechanical (4-wheel disks) braking is activated much sooner.

Keep your eye on the hybrid gauge (as shown below). If the needle is above its location in the picture, you are using energy. If the needle is below its location in the picture, you are using regenerative braking to recharge the battery, and the deeper the needle goes, the greater the level of regenerative braking; keep the needle as deep as possible (even hitting the lower peg) for as long as possible to maximize regenerative braking.

You will notice that as you come to a full stop, that needle will swing back up to horizontal (where it is in the picture), indicating that you are using mechanical braking. The harder you brake the sooner the mechanical brakes take over from regenerative braking.


Courtesy of NetCarShow.com

newyerker

thx that helps a lot!

NdYAG

Manual gearshift modes have nothing to do with regenerative braking. Using those will try to keep engine RPMs in a certain range and result in wasteful engine braking rather than recharging the batteries.

JDR76

As I recall, the Prius (at least the previous gen) had another mode on the gear selector that you could select to increase the regenerative braking to the kind you are referring to. I think the Prius is the only Toyota hybrid with that, but am not certain. I know the ES300h does not. My Highlander also does not.

Sulu

Thanks for the clarification.

peteharvey

I hope someone comes up with a "variable" regenerative braking system that increases regenerative braking in proportion to the pressure applied to the brake pedal.
Because aggressive regenerative braking simply means too much regenerative braking when the driver actually wants to coast after lift off.

NdYAG

Surprise! That is exactly how it already works.

I think you confuse regenerative braking with small amount of braking that is automatically applied when coasting. Regenerative braking is braking via a generator with the power produced charging the battery rather that braking by means of pads and rotors. By the way, you can cancel "coasting" by either lightly depressing the gas pedal (until the "power" needs is exactly between "eco" and "charge") or just by shifting into neutral. I wish there would just be a setting for this coastal braking - I personally would just turn it off. IMHO it was added just for marketing purposed so people (used to conventional cars) would notice only a minimal difference when driving a hybrid.

norakat

When I test drove the Lexus ES Hybrid it was pretty scary because when you hit the brake, often it felt like the brake was slipping and not stopping as well as I intended. I expressed this to the salesperson and he said that was the regenerative braking, trying to use my braking to recharge the battery.

No thanks.. I would not want that feature on my brakes.

Dmaxdmax

Sulu

If you really need to brake fast, just very quickly stomp on the brakes and you will immediately get the strong mechanical braking (with no regenerative braking), just like a normal car.

Dmaxdmax