[u320]

Electric vehicles are heavier, which means they must spend more brake pads to stop. But they also use regenerative breaking, which reduces pad wear. So I'm not sure if they make it worse or not.

[techdmn]

I drive a Tesla Model 3, a few thoughts:

* I'm hard on brakes in general, but have over 70k miles on the original pads. Regen braking reduces brake use a LOT.

* Regen does NOT bring the car to a complete stop, the brakes are blended in below something like 5 MPH. The rotors are not going to rust away, they see action every time you drive. (Some surface rust is fine and normal, EV or no.)

* EVs can be heavier than ICE cars, and most are. There are many things I dislike about Tesla, but the Model 3 is a feather weight in the category. A comparison I like to make is to the AWS Dodge Charger, which is heavier by a couple hundred pounds. I won't even talk about trucks and SUVs.

[thejazzman]

It DOES bring them to a stop in newer models. Not sure which year it started but it's been at least 2

But I know what you mean from my older models

[r00fus]

> * Regen does NOT bring the car to a complete stop, the brakes are blended in below something like 5 MPH. The rotors are not going to rust away, they see action every time you drive. (Some surface rust is fine and normal, EV or no.)

A Gen2 Leaf (2018+) with "e-Pedal" mode absolutely does stop the car fully with regen.

[_whiteCaps_]

I have a Bolt and the brake pads rarely get used. It's almost all regenerative braking, I would bet it's much better than ICE cars.

Tire wear on the other hand... :(

[zyang]

I love the little hand flap that does max regen. Bolt could be a cult classic too bad GM was in such hurry to kill it.

[nozzlegear]

Same here with my Bolt EUV. The only time I use the brakes are when I occasionally misjudge how quickly I’m coming up on a turn and one-pedal braking isn’t slowing me down fast enough; or when I first leave home, the car is fully charged, and one-pedal braking can’t regenerate the battery any further so it won’t brake for me.

[cbolton]

I hope we'll crack down on heavy SUVs vs normal cars before electric vs ICE.

[ok_dad]

Tires are somewhere near the top for distributing microplastics and heavier cars cause more tire wear, so yea we should get on that. I live next to a main road and we run filters in our house and have to wash the surfaces at least once a week to get off the oil and rubber dust. You can't just dust that stuff either, you have to wash it with soap. I almost regret buying this place, but where else would I have bought in this economy!?

[jordanbeiber]

But you rarely have to brake an EV though.

I’ve had two EV’s over the last 6 years, and I have to remember to occasionally hit the brakes to keep them from rusting.

One pedal driving is just money - saves power and is just much smoother over all than old school breaking. IMO.

[EForEndeavour]

I've never driven an EV. How do you approach stop signs and red lights other than braking? Is "engine braking" (regenerative braking?) strong enough to handle that big a fraction of slowing down in city traffic?

[k8sToGo]

Crusing is much more efficient than one pedal driving. So it does not save power at all.

[gr2m]

I drive an EV for over a year, I barely use the break any more. Single pedal driving is wonderful

[qwertox]

Curious: How do you roll towards a red traffic light, do you somehow push a "neutral" button?

[Lendal]

Good to see dozens of replies to this. Means EVs are popular.

Anyway, they're right. Brakes on EVs are normally just for emergency use. Regenerative braking (lifting up on the accelerator pedal) is all you need about 98% of the time. Traffic lights, stop signs, parking, and other such planned stops are all handled by releasing the accelerator which brings the car to a gentle stop while feeding the kinetic energy back into the battery. That's what they mean by "regenerative braking".

[l1tany11]

Regen braking in most EVs is significant enough that the brake lights come on when you lift off the throttle pedal (which is what engages the regen). Tesla has said their brake pads are potentially lifetime. And for good reason. You barely use them; so much less than a normal car it’s not even close. I have a friend with a 3 approaching 100k miles and isn’t even through half a set of pads. My EV, you couldn’t even bother me to check. I already know it’s pointless.

There is a lot of variance EV to EV. Some have strong regen, some not so much. Some use 1 pedal driving, some don’t.

For instance the Porsche taycan brake pedal is setup such that the first part of the travel uses exclusively regen braking, and as you push harder it blends in more and more friction braking too. Don’t expect this to become common though, as this primarily just benefits real performance driving. Trail braking is very hard/frustrating without this kind of feature, but driving that way on the street is certainly dumb, and probably illegal (could fall under exhibition of speed?).

[darrenkopp]

They likely make it better. I rarely use my brakes unless I have to brake suddenly.

[kalaksi]

But gasoline also needs ongoing heavy transportation over long distances

[maigret]

They make it better. One data point is that VW had to install drum brakes at the rear as they get barely any use. https://topgear-autoguide.com/category/tech-future/vw-electr...

[IncreasePosts]

Tire wear and tear, which can also give off nasty particles, is also increased with the generally increased weight of EVs

[dzhiurgis]

30% higher tyre wear vs 90% less brake wear && 100% less cancer fumes

[realusername]

The danger with electric vehicles is actually that the break pad is in risk of rusting since you don't use it enough

[kube-system]

The same thing happens to ICE vehicles while parked. It usually isn't a big deal because the area most prone to rust is the rotor surface. And modern brake pads don't usually have any issues rubbing surface rust away very quickly.

e.g.: https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.corvetteforum.com-vbulletin...

[mschuster91]

Hit the brakes softly once after driving and the rust is gone.

[dzhiurgis]

That's why some EVs are moving back to drum brakes

[cjensen]

Pad wear is the source of the pollution. If there is less wear there is less brake dust pollution.

[byw]

I wonder for drivers who drove with regen-only for too long, do they lose the reflex to hit the brake?

[recursive]

No. I do fine when I end up in a rental ICE. In my EV, I still use the brake when I need more stopping. If I zone out and forget I don't have regen, at some point, I'll notice I'm not slowing enough, and hit the brake, just like I would normally.

[jillesvangurp]

EVs indeed have regenerative braking. Which means they use their actual brakes so infrequently that they commonly need to be replaced because of corrosion issues on some models. If you use your brakes, the corrosion comes off in the form of brake dust. When you don't use them, it builds up and reduces the effectiveness of the brakes to the point where it becomes a safety risk.