New owner - Regen - On, Off or Auto? What does it do?

[sufcrusher]

personally i keep it on auto for the best of both worlds. I'll coast if noones in front and will auto regen (auto slow down) if someone is in front and they start braking.

I treat it as a kind of free version of ACC.

Annoys me that it doesn't save what mode it is in in normal mode (as do a lot of stupid design decisions with the software, but that's a different discussion). but it saves it in my individual mode which i flip to each time i drive.

MY2025 does. So I guess Porsche's advice would be to upgrade.

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[tophamn]

'Off' is like an ICE car that coasts and 'on' is more similar to one pedal driving (which Tesla ownership have).

Not in my experience!

To me OFF feels very unnatural and not at all like an ICE - when I lift off the accelerator I expect the car to slow, which it will if regen is ON.

Note that Porsche very specifically didn't implement one-pedal-driving.

 

[Caraholic]

Automatic every time without question. It’s basically adaptive cruise but you don’t have to activate it. Provides the best efficiency as it lets you coast when you can and slows down automatically if you come close to another car.

 

[tophamn]

Something else not mentioned so far in this thread (for J1.1 cars):

• in NORMAL mode: regen defaults to OFF
• in SPORT and SPORT+: regen defaults to ON

Obviously both can be overridden with the steering wheel (or PCM) control.

Also, FWIW, I don't like the AUTO regen setting - I don't find it predictable enough to find it useful; clearly, others on this forum don't agree but that's fine.

 

[mystermykee]

You'll find what fits for you. During my first year of ownership, I was totally against coasting and preferred overrun recuperation to always be on to simulate engine braking. Reason, better control through declining turns/freeway off ramps--I don't like riding the brake pedal. But most of the time I coast, because I find it less fatiguing. I have a .1, so it's easy to switch to recuperation when needed, for more control without using the brake pedal and parking lots, oh yea and spirited driving. So, I'll go back and forth between on/off a few times during a trip. Seems like a lot of thinking but it's become muscle memory at this point.

I have not got used to auto yet in terms of how much regen it applies given the distance from the car in front of me as well as car speed. So, it causes for some whiplash at times in unpredictable traffic.

 

[Flying ace]

My GTS ST is also my first EV. I have reconditioned my driving style to drive with regen off. It doesn't feel natural coming from ICE and PHEV, but it provides the best efficiency and IMO the smoothest dynamics, but initially when you learn you tend to carry too much speed. It really teaches you about momentum.

The only time I use regen is typically where I would apply a gentle light brake. So on longer road stretches where there is ample room to slow down, e.g. a stretch of road whereby the car on front is beyond 1000 ft and you're approaching at 10 mph faster, or going down a hill.

I also use regen for performance driving as it replicates ICE overrun well.

I never use auto Regen, bc the car uses it's radar sensor to determines coast vs regen based on distance from car on front and to me it's not predictable and the amount of Regen applies varies

 

[2P168S]

I prefer regen off for most driving and on for sporty driving on curvy roads, where the amount of deceleration is similar to engine braking.

The auto regen sounds smart in theory but in practice I hated it because it was unpredictable how much regen the car would decide to apply, leading me to occasionally have to get on the brakes quickly when I didn't expect it.

 

[Tpup]

I'm also new and never used it until the last month or so when I decided to see if it helped with range. 98% of my driving is in-town where my miles/kWh is really low. I have not seen any material impact on range but maybe it's just me. Between "on" and "auto" I do prefer auto as I like to "sail" when there is nothing in front of me and the auto-braking when there is.

 

[bn8959]

GTS ST MY24 was my first EV and Porsche too!
I’m very similar to @Flying ace

Early days of ownership I used to frequently switch to auto-regen - the idea being that it’s good for just helping to maintain distance to the car in front, but I found (particularly in city driving) it would slow me down too early and I found myself fighting it - pressing the accelerator to sit at a distance behind the car in front that I wanted to, but I’d lift off and it would heavily regen to regain its preferred distance (which incidentally is a lot further than ACC’s shortest distance setting).

So now I rarely use auto regen mode - but it can be really useful in the twisty road when you are moving at reasonable speed and you want to do nice coasting but to maintain a safe distance to any traffic in front without having to brake frequently.
If I’m on a motorway or in stop start traffic then I use ACC+ALK which is far more effective.

Orherwise I mostly drive with regen off for nice smooth coasting but I am very very frequently flipping regen on and off as a way to slightly arrest my speed without having to break, usually only for a few seconds at a time - eg the rolling down hill and not wanting to exceed the speed limit or seeing traffic slowing up ahead and wanted to smoothly and slightly scrub off some speed.

 

[MaxPlastix]

I have come to really like Auto Regen for normal driving. It acts like a mild radar cruise-control. Nobody in front, it coasts like it's on ice. Otherwise if you're closing distance, it starts easing in the regen like a soft brake fade.

I worry I'm getting a little too used to it now, counting on it to keep a good following distance. In normal traffic, I rarely have to brake much. Then I switch Regen OFF and the car feels really slippery.

 

[RowdyReverb]

Automatic every time without question. It’s basically adaptive cruise but you don’t have to activate it. Provides the best efficiency as it lets you coast when you can and slows down automatically if you come close to another car.

Agree with this. Auto is the best of both worlds and once you get used to it, it’s hard to imagine not using it

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