If battery is at 0%, does Max Regeneration do anything?

[JMGT25]

I am new owner of a 24 Willys 4xe (upgrade from 21 Willys). I am rarely going to be able to charge it, so will mostly be running on gas. My question is will max regeneration do anything if the battery is 0? Will it slowly bring it back up or will only help if you have some percentage battery left? Thanks in advance.

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[us3r1d]

Max regen only does one thing: it makes lifting up on the accelerator pedal equivalent to pressing down on the brake pedal. This eliminates coasting, replacing it with regen-driven braking.

It works the same regardless of battery percentage.

 

[Punkn89]

Why on earth did you buy a 4XE if you’re rarely charging and relying mostly on gas?!

 

[JMGT25]

Why on earth did you buy a 4XE if you’re rarely charging and relying mostly on gas?!

Overly $12k in incentives, sticker price of $66k for a 4xe Willy’s, got for a less monthly amount then a gas Willy’s with limited options. My commute is a short drive.

 

[JMGT25]

Max regen only does one thing: it makes lifting up on the accelerator pedal equivalent to pressing down on the brake pedal. This eliminates coasting, replacing it with regen-driven braking.

It works the same regardless of battery percentage.

That regen-driven braking is helping the battery recharge, correct?

 

[Punkn89]

Overly $12k in incentives, sticker price of $66k got for a less monthly amount then a Willy’s with limited options. My commute is a short drive.

A short drive is exactly when you want to use electric though. It’s your money I suppose, it is true dealers are practically giving 4xe’s away.

 

[johnparjr]

That regen-driven braking is helping the battery recharge, correct?

So yes it does but not much on level ground it helps a lot more in Hilly country where you can use it to decelerate downhill

 

[us3r1d]

That regen-driven braking is helping the battery recharge, correct?

Yes; it does that any time you use the brake pedal. All braking (short of a hard press on the brake pedal, which will apply the physical brakes) on the 4xe is regen braking and adds juice to your battery.

The important point with "max regen" is that it changes the pedal behavior to be mostly single-pedal driving; the only way in which this increases regen is by replacing coasting with regenerative deceleration.

 

[alphawolff]

Overly $12k in incentives, sticker price of $66k for a 4xe Willy’s, got for a less monthly amount then a gas Willy’s with limited options. My commute is a short drive.

The trade off of the reduced price is the possible reliability issues I think. Plus horrendous resale value down the line, but that effects a lot of vehicles

 

[JMGT25]

The trade off of the reduced price is the possible reliability issues I think. Plus horrendous resale value down the line, but that effects a lot of vehicles

That’s why I leased it. Monthly payment and down payment are less than on my ‘21 Willy’s

 

[alphawolff]

That’s why I leased it. Monthly payment and down payment are less than on my ‘21 Willy’s

Good move. I don't suggest anyone ever buy one of these, just lease it with the killer incentives

 

[ceddy]

Just don't use the e-save function unless you want really horrible mpg. I used the max regen at first, but I find it anoying and I get better results with lost of coasting.

 

[us3r1d]

Just don't use the e-save function unless you want really horrible mpg. I used the max regen at first, but I find it anoying and I get better results with lost of coasting.

Just in case you don't know.

e-save has 2 submodes: hold tries to keep battery at the current charge level, which will give you the same MPG that you get in hybrid after the battery hits "<1%", charge tries to recharge the battery by running the gas engine full-time which will definitely hit your MPG.

You switch between these in the Vehicle->eSave screen.

 

[ceddy]

Yeah, both are terrible for MPG. One being worst obviosuly.

 

[Slate]

You kind of have to think of equivalent exchange. The energy you recover by using regen when you slow down for a stop light or stop sign is used when you accelerate from that stop sign. I use max regen all the time as I figure why not? But its not really something that is going to make a difference in terms of ADDING power to your battery in a way that is relevant.

I rented a 4xe in Hawaii a couple of years ago, if you know there are only a few roads on Oahu. At any rate, we were creeping along the highway, doing alot of slow driving and by the time we got back to the hotel I had "charged" it up to 50%. If you look at the dial on the right side of the drivers screen, anytime that dial is below the line, you are technically charging, anytime it is above the midline you are expending energy. In my case, I was mostly right under that line for almost two hours as we were driving back to the resort. The resort did not have the ability to charge.

I only mention that long ass story to say it IS possible, in the right conditions, to charge up the battery without plugging it in. There is a guy here who talked about driving through the mountains of Colorado and on some huge stretch of road going "down hill" was able to charge his battery with just the regen resistance. I think he made a comment about not having to use his brakes either.

It's a shame you aren't able to charge with your short commute, that is the best use case for our 4XE's. But keep in mind, while the battery shows <1%, there is a "reserve" that the Jeep maintains - it is always a hybrid and that battery never really goes down to 0%, regen helps with that as well.

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