Brake wear vs. frequency of charging

[whitex]

I am not trying to get people to start obsessing over their brake wear or charging frequency, however I have noticed an interesting trend. We all know the first mile or two every day the Taycan will use mechanical brakes to clean off the rust. We also know that Taycans recalibrate their brakes while charging (the brake calipers move very slowly to determine the brake pad thickness). I recently have been using the garage for some projects, so not charging the Taycan every single night if it doesn't have to be (80A charging comes handy when charging in the driveway, completes much faster than 40A or 48A). I realized after a little while that if I charge the Taycan every day, every day it seems to use mechanical brakes for the first mile or two. If I don't charge it overnight however, recuperation is always on and the mechanical brake rust-off doesn't happen as often, or at all actually. It made me wonder, does charging every time the Taycan is in the garage cause greater brake pad usage? It's not like the Taycan actually uses shore power to top off the 12V or to precondition the car, like other EV's, so I'm starting to wonder about the benefits of plugging it in like I did all my Teslas (which did use shore power to pre-condition or top off 12V, therefore avoiding cycling the main battery - Porsche evidently has not discovered that rather obvious benefit yet).

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[cityhpper]

Seems my car will apply the mechanical brakes each time it has been sitting for 6-8 hours. As far as I can tell, there are no correlation to it beeing charged or not..?

 

[f1eng]

My car doesn't behave the way you describe, so I am not sure your deduction is on point.

I don't charge my car every day and it always cleans up the discs for the first couple of miles, regardless to whether I just unplugged it or haven't charged it for a few days.

I don't know what the timer setting is though a second journey of the day always gives regen braking straight away.

 

[whitex]

My car doesn't behave the way you describe, so I am not sure your deduction is on point.

I don't charge my car every day and it always cleans up the discs for the first couple of miles, regardless to whether I just unplugged it or haven't charged it for a few days.

I don't know what the timer setting is though a second journey of the day always gives regen braking straight away.

My Taycan hasn't used mechanical brakes for at least last couple of days, since I last charged it. I've noticed that on more than one occasion. Worth noting though that it's been all short trips (used about 6% of charge in last 2 days). Perhaps the algorithm is every so many miles or every charge, so when doing a lot of short trips, when plugging it in between the short trips to top off the 2% reset the counter and next trip is cleaning the brakes again? My usage pattern is a lot of short trips (2-4 miles) most days, with one or two longer trips every week (~60 miles). Once a month a longer trip, maybe 300 miles. When I charge it every time in the garage, I noticed first drive (sometime the only drive) of the day always used mechanical brakes.

 

[Hirschaj]

We all know the first mile or two every day the Taycan will use mechanical brakes to clean off the rust.

Just a minor point of clarification. I believe the car is measuring applied brake force and the "first mile or two" is usually less than 1/4 mile for me if I apply the brakes hard enough at my first stop. It's a minor detail but it's reality for my vehicle.

I'll pay more attention going forward but I think the rust scrubbing behavior has more to do with the length of time the car sits still for and not if there was a charging cycle (more aligned with @f1eng comments). I have to pay closer attention to form a stronger opinion though.

 

[BMonte13]

I still can't tell the difference between mechanical and regenerative braking. I always turn on the regen and if I push the brakes the car smoothly slows down...somehow.

 

[bsclywilly]

@whitex were you charging to 100% every day before? That might cause your mechanical brakes to be used more after every charging session. But even if you don’t, the mech brakes still get applied at the first couple stops after the car has been sitting for 6h (or in my experience more like 12h), regardless of charging/soc.

Brake wear is going to more correlated to the type of braking you’re doing than the frequency though. If it’s just applying it first thing in the morning at a couple of stop signs it not going to be significant at all but if your first braking event is coming off the freeway/high speed then that would have a greater impact on wear.

 

[j.w.s]

I am not trying to get people to start obsessing over their brake wear or charging frequency, however I have noticed an interesting trend. We all know the first mile or two every day the Taycan will use mechanical brakes to clean off the rust. We also know that Taycans recalibrate their brakes while charging (the brake calipers move very slowly to determine the brake pad thickness). I recently have been using the garage for some projects, so not charging the Taycan every single night if it doesn't have to be (80A charging comes handy when charging in the driveway, completes much faster than 40A or 48A). I realized after a little while that if I charge the Taycan every day, every day it seems to use mechanical brakes for the first mile or two. If I don't charge it overnight however, recuperation is always on and the mechanical brake rust-off doesn't happen as often, or at all actually. It made me wonder, does charging every time the Taycan is in the garage cause greater brake pad usage? It's not like the Taycan actually uses shore power to top off the 12V or to precondition the car, like other EV's, so I'm starting to wonder about the benefits of plugging it in like I did all my Teslas (which did use shore power to pre-condition or top off 12V, therefore avoiding cycling the main battery - Porsche evidently has not discovered that rather obvious benefit yet).

I have noticed a correlation between the time elapsed since the last drive and mechanical brake scrubbing. I haven't noticed a charging/not-charging correlation.

But even if there was, I would not worry about it. Brake scrubbing happens for about 1/4th of a mile for me, driving up and down a small hill near my house, and is the equivalent of pretty light braking. If that 1/4th of a mile happened every moring for the six year time-based lifespan of the PSCB brake pads, that's a grand total of <600 miles of driving with the regen turned off.

 

[whitex]

I still can't tell the difference between mechanical and regenerative braking. I always turn on the regen and if I push the brakes the car smoothly slows down...somehow.

It's easier if you drive in silence, as there are audio ques along with the slightly different brake feel.

 

[whitex]

@whitex were you charging to 100% every day before?

85% daily.

 

[whitex]

Just a minor point of clarification. I believe the car is measuring applied brake force and the "first mile or two" is usually less than 1/4 mile for me if I apply the brakes hard enough at my first stop. It's a minor detail but it's reality for my vehicle.

I don't brake hard in every day driving (if I can help it), plus I often only stop once from 15-20mph in the first mile out of my garage, so that could explain my rust-off lasting longer.

 

[Archimedes]

“I’ll take ‘Overthinking It’ for $200, Alex…”

 

[annieland]

I still can't tell the difference between mechanical and regenerative braking. I always turn on the regen and if I push the brakes the car smoothly slows down...somehow.

That's me. I charge it when I remember, and I still can't decide which of the 3 regen modes I want when, so I just play around randomly. I'm now starting to notice when the breaking is electric because yeah, it just slows down.

It's easier if you drive in silence, as there are audio ques along the slightly different brake feel.

Maybe that's the reason. When I drive the only thing that's missing is the spinning disco ball!

 

[bsclywilly]

I don't brake hard in every day driving (if I can help it), plus I often only stop once from 15-20mph in the first mile out of my garage, so that could explain my rust-off lasting longer.

Another tip, if you want to override the brake cleaning function, you can lift off the brake and reapply, then regen will work as normal.

 

[whitex]

Another tip, if you want to override the brake cleaning function, you can lift off the brake and reapply, then regen will work as normal.

Interesting. I will have to try that. As a side note, the brake cleaning doesn't bother me, but I do notice it, and it got me thinking, hence this thread.

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