L-Mode Fine For Highway?

[ItsGotSomeKickToIt]

Hi

I prefer driving in Low gear in the city and am simply wondering if it's advised to switch to Drive while on the freeway (or if it makes no difference)...

Any insights?

Cheers

 

[SeanNelson]

Hi I prefer driving in Low gear in the city and am simply wondering if it's advised to switch to Drive while on the freeway (or if it makes no difference)...

IMHO everyone's tastes are different so my advice is to try it and see if you like it.

 

[ItsGotSomeKickToIt]

Hi I prefer driving in Low gear in the city and am simply wondering if it's advised to switch to Drive while on the freeway (or if it makes no difference)...

IMHO everyone's tastes are different so my advice is to try it and see if you like it.

Hi Sean,

So not detrimental for any reason to use Low gear at high speeds, just a matter of taste?

 

[PackardV8]

Depends upon your driving style. If you're normally smooth and use cruise control most of the time, there's no difference.

OTOH, I was riding with a woman who is a terribly unconscious driver; constantly on and off the pedal. This was bad enough in an ICE, but in the Bolt in L-mode, it would have been crazy-making.

jack vines

 

[LeftieBiker]

So not detrimental for any reason to use Low gear at high speeds, just a matter of taste?

L is not actually a lower gear ratio - it's just increased regeneration when you lift off the accelerator. The same mode is called "B" (for "Braking") in the Leaf, and I think that's a better term. So as noted, using it at speed does no harm, except maybe if it's really Hot and there is reason to limit regen a bit.

 

[ItsGotSomeKickToIt]

Informative stuff, thank you people

 

[Anonymous]

I live in NorCal and do it all the time on 101, 85, 280 with and with traffic. I prefer L as it just removes the need to brake most of the time and saves the disk brakes.

 

[ItsGotSomeKickToIt]

Hi all,

Follow-up question: when driving in L, and releasing the foot to slow down to a stop, do the rear brake lights eventually display for the benefit of other drivers to see what I'm doing?

 

[drdiesel1]

Hi all,

Follow-up question: when driving in L, and releasing the foot to slow down to a stop, do the rear brake lights eventually display for the benefit of other drivers to see what I'm doing?

Yes, it activates the brake lights. I only drive in "L" Mode, period.

 

[SeanNelson]

Hi I prefer driving in Low gear in the city and am simply wondering if it's advised to switch to Drive while on the freeway (or if it makes no difference)...

IMHO everyone's tastes are different so my advice is to try it and see if you like it.

So not detrimental for any reason to use Low gear at high speeds, just a matter of taste?

No, absolutely not detrimental to the health of the car.

I think that there's some potential that it *could* hurt your range a bit if moving your foot around causes you to slow down unnecessarily, since the regen is more aggressive and any unnecessary use of it is wasteful (as is anything that causes your car to slow down unnecessarily).

For example, if you're on cruise control and a slightly slower car ahead of you causes you to disengage it, you're going to have a pretty sudden deceleration in "L" mode compared to "D" mode. You should be able to minimize that once you become familiar with "L" mode by pre-pressing the throttle pedal before you disengage cruise control.

But will it hurt the car? No.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Again, the confusion arises from the use of the term "Low." That has always meant "low gearing" on transmissions in the past, so people assume it means the same thing with the Bolt, not knowing it has only one gear.

 

[Anonymous]

I always drive in "L" and use Cruise Control on long trips on hiways and the combination of the two in the right lane at about 60 MPH will generally increase my mileage above the 238 rating!

Once used to the difference in driving, for me back in my Volt days, I love "one pedal" driving! I only use the brake pedal to come to a complete stop.

 

[msmportata]

The Bolt only has one gear, so there is no such thing as a low gear.

The "L" is poorly named as it will confuse people who have driven ICE which is everyone.

I always drive in "L" in the city and on the highway. With the more aggressive "L" mode regen, I am getting close to 300 miles range.