Ever wondered just how much regenerative braking contributes to your electric vehicle’s efficiency? Like many EV drivers, the impact of regen on my daily driving was a bit of a mystery. That’s why I decided to use a car scanner to get some real data and understand the numbers behind this fascinating technology.
Using a car scanner app, I recorded OBD parameters during a recent 26-mile trip that included a mix of freeway and city driving. The data revealed some eye-opening insights into energy recovery. Starting with a 100% State of Charge (SOC) and ending at 60%, my EV consumed 5.639 kWh of battery capacity for the journey. However, digging deeper into the car scanner data, it showed the car actually used 7.255 kWh, but cleverly regenerated 1.616 kWh back into the battery.
This meant that an impressive 22.3% of the energy used was recovered through regenerative braking! This regeneration boosted my trip’s Miles Per Gallon equivalent (MPGe) from 121 MPGe (without regen) to a remarkable 155 MPGe. The car scanner provided concrete evidence of regen’s significant contribution to EV efficiency.
To analyze this data, I exported the car scanner recording to a CSV file and visualized it in Excel. This allowed me to calculate the energy consumption and regeneration by analyzing the area under the curves for battery power.
For EV owners keen to understand their vehicle’s performance and efficiency, a car scanner is an invaluable tool. It transforms abstract concepts like regenerative braking into tangible data, revealing the real-world impact of these technologies and empowering you to drive smarter and more efficiently. The ~25% regeneration I observed highlights the substantial difference regen makes, proving it’s not just a marginal benefit, but a core component of EV efficiency.
