How do the paddle shifters work? I own the 2019 Insight and read somewhere they have nothing to do with shifting, but they are related to recharging the battery. Can someone explain?
How to use the Regen Paddles?
ronnie
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I'm a big paddle user, which Insightfully did a great breakdown of use. Usually I hit the left paddle two times at any sign of a traffic slowdown coming up ahead, but also use it to slow around curves and down hills. I'm now starting to also use the right paddle to adjust downhill coasting speed to maintain the speed limit as well. Good hybrid driving is all about recovering as much energy as you can.
Congrats on your new Insight, Angie. We know you are going to love it. Such a smooth and comfortable riding car. I find Normal Mode driving to get better MPG than Econ Mode (proved it many times on my test course under controlled conditions). But also give "Sport Mode" a try now and again. The power and control are amazing in that mode. Does better in the hills too.
Phil
Congrats on your new Insight, Angie. We know you are going to love it. Such a smooth and comfortable riding car. I find Normal Mode driving to get better MPG than Econ Mode (proved it many times on my test course under controlled conditions). But also give "Sport Mode" a try now and again. The power and control are amazing in that mode. Does better in the hills too.
Phil
Additional regen to battery from the hybrid system. There are three levels. By default, the level is one. The left side paddle increases regen, the right side lessens it. It will feel like very mild braking when you increase with the left paddle. If you can anticipate your slowdowns or stops, regen can be a beautiful thing to build battery charge. Downhills where you'd normally apply the brakes and long slowdowns to stoplights/signs are the main uses.
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Also throw in a downhill run or two, so you can get a "real" feel for how much difference there is between the regen levels.
Since it's recapturing kinetic energy, the regen effect is more noticeable when the car is traveling faster, preferably while your foot is off the gas pedal - since regen level resets a short while after you step on the gas or brake pedals. During a downhill stretch, you can keep your foot off the gas and observe the braking and battery effects of adding (left paddle) or reducing (right paddle) regen.
Keep an eye on the "green" section of the power/charge meter while adjusting the region paddles as well. The lower/deeper into the "green" you go, the more regeneration (HV battery recharging) is occuring. And of note, the initial travel of the brake pedal is regenerative as well. Before the actual friction brakes kick in, regeneration is happening, even without use of the paddles. You'll notice this happening as the needle goes into the "green" while braking. The friction brakes kick in below 10-15 mph and/or emergency braking.
One other thing I use the regen paddles for is to help with braking on short stops. The combination of maximum regen level plus pedal braking helps me stop over a much shorter distance during semi-unexpected braking situations.
Have fun testing it out... and share back what you learn!
What? Really? What exactly is the difference between these two modes? Do you have a post explaining this in more detail?
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It's all good. Initial travel of the brake pedal (before the actual friction brakes kick in) is regenerative and builds charge in the HV battery.
The video posted in MPGomatic: 2019 Honda Insight Touring Hybrid MPG Drive /... thread is one of my favorites, and illustrates high MPG (regen) results just from brake pedal use.
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@PHILBERT and others have shared "Real World Testing" results, which is good reading and the best place to continue that discussion.
Posts to check out there to address your question include post #8, post #12, post #39, post #54, post #77, and post #82
Also check out our "Drive Modes" thread for additional perspective.
I just took a short drive to my neighborhood mailbox which is about 5 blocks from my house and I discovered something by accident. I was just using the regen paddles to build up a charge and then I put the car in sport mode with maximum regen. Then I hit EV mode just to see if the max regen stays on as it does in sport mode. If you don't know about this method to quickly build up a charge in a cold engine (30 - 35 F) you should give it a try. On that short drive my battery is one bar from full.
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Kind of... the added factor is degree of brake/servo engagement that triggers friction braking. Once friction braking engages, regen/charging ends. When braking to a normal (non-emergency) stop, the needle in the Power/Charge meter drops into the green and has similar effect to charge HV battery as regen paddles. But around 10 mph, the friction brakes kick in and needle changes direction sharply (spikes upward) showing less charging and/or an end to charging, even while still in the green section.
Appreciate the link, insightfully. Nothing conclusive, but nevertheless good info and provides some things to think about. Honestly, it would be nice if Honda provided more technical details, but that's uncommon for any manufacturer.
Just some thoughts:
It's probably safe to say that regen is battery charge rate limited rather than traction motor output limited (except at low speeds). There's more regen stopping power to be had if only our packs could take it. That said, it seems we don't know for sure that if at speeds above 15mph, that we're strictly in regen as long as we're within the green band. One would think so, but we have no hard proof, right?
The laws of kinetic energy tell us that for every halving of speed of a thing, its energy is reduced by a factor of 4. So for a constant (linear) deceleration rate, the charge rate will go down exponentially, so it makes sense to see the regen indicator needle swing back quickly after some point. Because of this, it also makes sense that the energy drops so low at low speeds that constant deceleration can't be maintained and thus friction brakes or some other method must be used.
Some drivers are claiming a measurable increase in MPG by utilizing the paddles as much as possible. I don't doubt these claims, but it's hard to say if this is due to a reduction in use of friction braking or if it's affecting driving behavior in a way that leads to better efficiency.
Just some thoughts:
It's probably safe to say that regen is battery charge rate limited rather than traction motor output limited (except at low speeds). There's more regen stopping power to be had if only our packs could take it. That said, it seems we don't know for sure that if at speeds above 15mph, that we're strictly in regen as long as we're within the green band. One would think so, but we have no hard proof, right?
The laws of kinetic energy tell us that for every halving of speed of a thing, its energy is reduced by a factor of 4. So for a constant (linear) deceleration rate, the charge rate will go down exponentially, so it makes sense to see the regen indicator needle swing back quickly after some point. Because of this, it also makes sense that the energy drops so low at low speeds that constant deceleration can't be maintained and thus friction brakes or some other method must be used.
Some drivers are claiming a measurable increase in MPG by utilizing the paddles as much as possible. I don't doubt these claims, but it's hard to say if this is due to a reduction in use of friction braking or if it's affecting driving behavior in a way that leads to better efficiency.
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As an additional thought on this... Using the regen paddle and brake pedal together puts the needle further into the green (and shortens stopping distance). So while efficiency difference between regen paddle and brake pedal is TBD (lacking technical detail from Honda), there is an additive charging effect that suggests each operates separately/differently.
I did a bit of mountain and highway driving yesterday and it seemed to me that at max paddle regen settings, I was deeper in the green band than on usual, slower roads. I started to wonder if paddle settings are creating a fixed deceleration rate (sort of feels like it, though obviously I didn't measure G forces), and therefore regen amount is dictated by speed. It would then make sense that, at common road and highway speeds, there's some green band left even at max paddle settings, which can then be taken up by brake pedal usage.
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Degree of regen does seem related to speed for a given level setting. Maybe oversimplifying, but I just think of regen as recapturing the 'potential energy' which is higher on a hill than it is on a flat surface. And I think of the regen levels as the degree to which I want to recapture.
Right. Ultimately, the primary function of a hybrid system is to efficiently convert between potential and kinetic energy both ways. When we slow down using regen, we're converting our kinetic energy in the form of vehicle motion to potential energy in the form of battery charge. We then later use that potential energy to power an electric motor converting it back to kinetic energy which once again means vehicle motion.
My curiosity lies in understanding the behavior of the regen in order to efficiently utilize it. If people are noticing MPG improvements by using a combination of paddles and pedal rather than just the pedal, I'd like to know why. Right now, my suspicion is that people may be going further into <15MPH territory before stepping on the brake pedal which then activates the friction brakes. By doing this, they're recovering a tiny bit more energy in a range that would at least partially be taken up by friction brakes when using the pedal. It would be nice if the driver's display would indicate when this is happening.
Oh, one last thing: I noticed that at max paddle regen setting, the brake lights do illuminate. They'll then go out if you press on the accelerator, and will once again turn on when you lift off.
My curiosity lies in understanding the behavior of the regen in order to efficiently utilize it. If people are noticing MPG improvements by using a combination of paddles and pedal rather than just the pedal, I'd like to know why. Right now, my suspicion is that people may be going further into <15MPH territory before stepping on the brake pedal which then activates the friction brakes. By doing this, they're recovering a tiny bit more energy in a range that would at least partially be taken up by friction brakes when using the pedal. It would be nice if the driver's display would indicate when this is happening.
Oh, one last thing: I noticed that at max paddle regen setting, the brake lights do illuminate. They'll then go out if you press on the accelerator, and will once again turn on when you lift off.
They are great. I use them everyday. Gete 58-60 MPG and the best part is how they save brakes. I ahve 46,000 on my 2019 and the brakes are only 20% worn.
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