Does Regenerative Braking Turn On Brake Lights?
Have you recently purchased an electric car and are wondering if regenerative braking turns on your brake lights? Perhaps you are debating purchasing an electric car and want to know what it does to your brake lights or the rest of your car?
Or maybe you are just curious about regenerative braking and keen to know more? Whatever the reason that brought you here today is, we have the answer for you!
Regenerative braking can be an unknown and murky world for those first-time electric car owners or those considering purchasing an electric car.
It can be hard to find much information about it, meaning you find yourself confused, unsure, and a little wary of regenerative braking and its effect on your brake lights.
You start to worry that your brake lights will be turning on and off sporadically, potentially causing an accident while you drive.
Well, no more! Today we are here with all the answers that you need about regenerative braking and whether it turns on your brake lights or not. Keep reading to get all the answers that you need.
What is Regenerative Braking?
Before we get into it, let’s have a quick recap in the room for those that need it! Regenerative braking is unique to electric vehicles and allows energy from the car to be converted to electrical energy when the car brakes.
It allows you to extend the range of the vehicle, but there can be some side effects and doesn’t always save as much energy as it should.
Regenerative braking works by taking the kinetic energy that would be wasted when your vehicle decelerates or stops while braking.
The energy is then converted into electrical energy and stored in the battery, ultracapacitors, and ultrahigh-speed flywheels to be used again, thus extending your driving range.
In some cases, the range can be increased by as much as 10%. The technology has even evolved now so that the process can take place without even pressing the brake pedal!
Now that we have covered what regenerative braking is, let’s look and see if your braking lights come on during it!
Does Regenerative Braking Turn On Brake Lights?
The short answer is, yes, your braking lights turn on when regenerative braking takes place. However, you need to be aware of some exceptions to this rule and factors before you start using this exciting new technology!
The first thing to be aware of is that there are two different types of regenerative braking; both operate slightly differently and can impact your brake lights.
One type involves you pressing the brake pedal. When you press your brake pedal, providing all your brake lights are working, the lights will come on, and vehicles behind you will know that your speed is decreasing, allowing them to adjust their speed, avoiding any accidents.
Your electric motor then enters generator mode, collects energy from the heat, and converts it to additional power stored in the car’s battery.
It allows you to access more power and drive for longer, with the hope being that one day the technology will advance so much, there will be no need for regular charging.
The other method, and a more modern one, works when the driver removes their foot from the pedal, and the regenerative braking system kicks in automatically.
It does the same job of gathering the kinetic and heat energy from the braking and transfers it to the car battery. As you can imagine, this method of regenerative braking makes people wonder if the brake lights turn on or not.
And the answer isn’t very clear. Many drivers with this system have reported that their brake lights do appear, with them being able to see their reflections on items when driving at night and the faithful red glow behind them. So research has been conducted to find out what happens.
The results agreed with what most drivers were saying: in most cases, the brake lights showed, even when the driver’s foot was off the brake pedal!
Some results showed that the brake lights were less predictable, and this was generally on modern technology, where your foot is removed from the gas pedal instead of applying pressure to it.
Some owners took to the streets and tested it themselves. Tesla owners found that when removing their foot from the gas pedal, their brake lights turned on.
As your car will slow down naturally when your foot is taken off the gas, you don’t need to be too concerned about your brake lights showing. The real concern would be if the brake lights did not turn on.
In other cars, such as VWs electric car, the brake lights did not appear when drivers lifted their foot from the gas pedal. They only saw their brake lights appear when they used a higher level of regenerative braking and driving at 35 k/m.
It’s slightly concerning that in this case, the brake lights did not turn on, but as they don’t turn on in other cars when your foot is taken off the gas pedal, you don’t need to worry too much about your safety and the safety of others around you.
These results show us that some lower regenerative braking settings show weaker responses when brake lights turn on. In these cases, you will need to be very aware of your surroundings and remember to apply your brake when slowing down to activate the light.
Final Word
And just like that, we have come to the end of our regenerative braking journey today. As you can see, in most cases, your brake lights will turn on when regenerative braking is used, but it isn’t always the case.
To ensure that drivers behind you are aware of your speed decrease, remember to press your brake pedal.
Making other drivers aware can help to prevent an accident, potentially saving lives! For those using the brake pedal to activate regenerative braking, you can rest easy, as this method has the most success for brake lights being activated.