"L" is genius!

[SnBGC]

Been falling in love a little bit with the "L" button on the range selector dial.
I had that same setting on my Focus Electric but didn't need to use it all that often.
The Mach-E is larger and much heavier so I find that I use it much more frequently now.

I drive with 1PD turned off most of the time, for several reasons but mostly because it makes me nauseous sometimes and makes my wife nauseous almost immediately.

So a big "THANK YOU!" to Ford for including the "L" range AND for making it a button in the center of that dial (vs another setting to rotate into). It is so easy to reach down and find that button and engage L range without having to take my eyes off the road. Because this vehicle is so heavy, I find the normal regen while in Engage mode isn't enough under certain scenarios so the ability to temporarily select more regen is very helpful. Again, this wasn't an issue in my Focus Electric but that is a light car so standard regen was fine. In the Mach-E......I need more regen from time to time but not often enough to suffer through 1PD the entire day. Some common scenarios where I use "L" range:

1. Exiting an elevated freeway where the off ramp runs downhill with a traffic light down at the bottom.
2. Driving down a serpentine exit or ramp in a multi level parking garage.
3. Cloverleaf ramps from an elevated roadway onto a lower freeway (we have a lot of those here).
4. Construction and School zones
5. Bumper to bumper traffic on surface streets at congested intersections

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[Davedough]

I’m curious how 1PD causes nausea. I have a daughter who is very prone to motion sickness. Is this related to that?

 

[JellyBelly]

Interesting uses - something to try for me for sure. I do like 1PD very much though.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Try Unbridled mode ... the regen is noticeably more aggressive when you come off the accelerator. I just tried it for the first time yesterday and was really surprised and how different the modes handle (so far I've mostly used Engage mode. I'll have to test out Whisper mode and see how that works.)

 

[louibluey]

I'm an OPD person, so L is less important for me for MME for the moment. But, by Gen 2 Volt I was doing a lot of D, especially on the highway. If no one was around, at long thruway exits, I would pull the shifter back to L. It was like deploying the airbrakes on a small jet, fun every time!

 

[JamieGeek]

I’m curious how 1PD causes nausea. I have a daughter who is very prone to motion sickness. Is this related to that?

This is likely because when you first are learning how to drive in 1-P mode you frequently slow down more than you want and then have to accelerate harder than you would have if you had just coasted.

Thus at first 1-P results with a lot of brake too much followed by accelerating too much pulses. I had an extreme case of this the first time I ever drove it in a Model S. I ended up turning it off after just a few seconds as it was very disconcerting.

Once I got the Bolt I drove around a bit practicing and now, after a few years of driving 1-P, I can pretty much drive in 1-P the same way I drive without 1-P...

 

[Maquis]

1PD is a lot like learning to drive a clutch. Some folks have a very short learning curve and can drive a stick so well that a blindfolded person may think it an automatic. Others will still be jerking the car after 6 months of learning.

 

[SnBGC]

I'm an OPD person, so L is less important for me for MME for the moment. But, by Gen 2 Volt I was doing a lot of D, especially on the highway. If no one was around, at long thruway exits, I would pull the shifter back to L. It was like deploying the airbrakes on a small jet, fun every time!

Yes. If you do most or all of your driving in 1PD then "L" is useless.
I am glad Ford gives us the choice of how we like to operate the vehicle. ?

 

[SnBGC]

1PD is a lot like learning to drive a clutch. Some folks have a very short learning curve and can drive a stick so well that a blindfolded person may think it an automatic. Others will still be jerking the car after 6 months of learning.

One of the reasons why I don't like 1PD is it my foot gets fatigued trying to modulate the pedal.
I also don't like scrubbing off speed on the downside of the many overpasses we have on our freeway systems here. Most of my driving is on the freeways to get around town.

 

[SnBGC]

I’m curious how 1PD causes nausea. I have a daughter who is very prone to motion sickness. Is this related to that?

Not sure what the science is behind it. I just know I feel sick to my stomach when I drive in 1PD or in Unbridled (with 1PD off) for too long. My daughter was driving the car yesterday while my wife and I were in the back and we had to ask her to turn it off before we got really sick back there.

 

[Maquis]

One of the reasons why I don't like 1PD is it my foot gets fatigued trying to modulate the pedal.
I also don't like scrubbing off speed on the downside of the many overpasses we have on our freeway systems here. Most of my driving is on the freeways to get around town.

Makes sense...I'm guessing that the traffic precludes using cruise on the freeway?

I'm used to running machinery with hydrostatic one pedal drive. I guess I've gotten used to it and don't experience foot fatigue.

 

[SnBGC]

Try Unbridled mode ... the regen is noticeably more aggressive when you come off the accelerator. I just tried it for the first time yesterday and was really surprised and how different the modes handle (so far I've mostly used Engage mode. I'll have to test out Whisper mode and see how that works.)

Unbridled is too aggressive for me. Many others will probably like it.
Whisper free wheels.....(provided 1PD is turned off of course....)

 

[SnBGC]

Makes sense...I'm guessing that the traffic precludes using cruise on the freeway?

I'm used to running machinery with hydrostatic one pedal drive. I guess I've gotten used to it and don't experience foot fatigue.

I am starting to really like Adaptive Cruise on the freeways around here. Never really used cruise control that much but that was because I just had the basic kind. The Adaptive Cruise Control is really nice. I find that I can use that quite often. However, I did make the mistake one time by leaving 1PD turned on and used ACC. Everything was fine until I turned off ACC and the vehicle suddenly went into max regen. So, that is another reason why I don't use 1PD that often......so I can use ACC and then disable it without having to worry about having my foot on the accelerator at just the right position to avoid sudden deceleration.

 

[noflipping]

I use "ENGAGE" 99% of time with 1PD. At first, my wife had same reaction. But after a day or two of practicing with it she can't even tell I'm using it. The trick is not to take your foot off the pedal until you're close to wanting to stop. There is no "coast" in 1PD, but you can really dial in how your power is used.

 

[dtbaker61]

Been falling in love a little bit with the "L" button on the range selector dial.

...

I drive with 1PD turned off most of the time, for several reasons but mostly because it makes me nauseous sometimes and makes my wife nauseous almost immediately.

Interesting fact is that the L button has NO effect when 1-pedal mode is active. The L button seems intended as a 'trainer' for people to explicitly engage regen while getting used to the aggressive regen available in 'unbridled' mode 1-p

It takes practice to develop a steady accelerator foot, and moderate letting off accelerator to prevent hurkey jerky accell/regen, and then even more practice to be feather-light on the mechanical brake when the regen isn't enough.

But once you get it, you won't need the L button... you'll be in 1-p all the time!

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