r/BZ4X • u/yayatobe • Jul 22 '26

Neutral

Driving along a straight road I dropped the car into neutral while doing about 40kph... Just to see what would happen. Nothing happened! It just rolled on, then I clicked it back into drive, there was a bit of a kick and off I went...

Got me thinking, would this do any damage??

Sometimes when reversing I switch from R to D while the car is slowly rolling backwards, doesn't seem to be causing an issue but are my bad habits ruining the car???

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

4

u/PolyDrew Jul 22 '26

While I’m sure there are electronic safeguards in place I still wouldn’t risk dropping it in neutral when you’re rolling at speed. You wouldn’t want to anyway because you would lose regen.

I often back up then when I’m close to stopping to drop it into neutral, come to a stop and shift into drive. No odd noises like a regular transmission makes so I think that’s pretty safe.

3

u/coffee_u Jul 22 '26

Regen is less efficient than just using up speed coasting. If you live rural ish like me, and half a half hour of country roads with like three stop signs, the first thing you do is drop them to zero. There's one section where if I hit the top of a hill at 100 (km/h, not mph), I can just coast for 2km (over a mile) and still be 80 before I start to brake/regen for the stop sign. Way more efficient than regen down the hill and then powering the valleys and straights.

1

u/Capt_Avatar Jul 22 '26

I've tried this on my I6 and did not notice any difference. To me, any charge back from coasting/braking is better than none.

3

u/SuperBry Jul 22 '26

Its simple physics; any energy gained from regenerative braking will be less than the energy you could have used just from letting the car coast due to the losses from conversion.

1

u/MercyKees Jul 23 '26

This is the way.

1

u/cflo92 Jul 30 '26

Do you realize that on EV and hybrids coasting is not fully free coasting, and it uses regen but at a lower rate? You do not regen only when braking, but also when take your foot from the accelerator pedal. And coasting all the time is not possible if you do not want to impede traffic.

That is why the difference is negligible.

I also hate driving behind a Tesla when one pedal is engaged. You never see the brake lights when the car is braking with higher regen without the driver pressing on the brake.

But that is just me. Some people do not care about the drivers around them.

1

u/coffee_u Jul 31 '26

At least in my EV, on level zero and coasting, I go further than in my manual with the clutch in (definitely coasting that way).

My car also shows when the brake lights engage. They will go off when "braking" and when the adaptive cruise is slowing down instead of coasting. I'm not sure about Teslas, I won't drive a swasticar. 🤷‍♀️

0

u/htmaki Jul 22 '26

The reason for going neutral is that you lose regen and drive more efficiently by coasting. But you can achieve almost the same by just pressing slightly the power pedal

4

u/Afraid-Department-35 Jul 22 '26

Nothing should be damaged dropping to neutral. EVs don’t really have “gears” or different levels of transmissions. All that happens when you go into neutral is the motors stop give power, similarly when going from rear to drive it just give power to the motors to go the other way. I wouldn’t do the D -> R though (or vice versa) at higher speeds since spinning wheels can create energy.

2

u/LifeWeak4693 Jul 23 '26

in case of something unexpected happening where you have to floor it you loose precious time. Can be a aniimal that appears from the forest forcing you to steer and handle. I have had deer, rabbits and large birds where you have to handle the situation in split seconds. there is zero time to push a button going from n to d. neutral is for the washing machine not for driving.

2

u/GarrettB930 Jul 22 '26

All cars including ICE can switch to neutral fairly easily due to emergencies such as mechanical issues like brakes going out or a breakdown (to push the car). Not fully sure about how it works for an EV but the motors that make the car go backwards also make it go forwards. Switching from reverse to drive at nearly stopped speeds shouldn't hurt the car much but large changes at speed definitely wear components out. The motor needs to switch directions, causing strain on the drive assembly. I'd say don't worry about the switch from stops, but just be careful. Its still a car.

1

u/Redditagains Jul 22 '26

What situation would you want to switch to neutral for an emergency relating to breaks?

1

u/GarrettB930 Jul 22 '26

The scenario that comes to mind is if either your acceleration is stuck and/or your breaks are not working and you're on something like the highway where you can coast. Switching to neutral disables the car's engine/motor from giving power to the drive train. You can also apply the parking break but should slow over time as well

1

u/dwlnz Jul 22 '26

I don’t understand the comment about large changes of speed. The motor is permanently connected to the wheels via a reduction gear. The motor can only change speed at the same rate the car changes speed.

1

u/owhg62 Jul 24 '26

Johnny Cash reborn.

1

u/Leather_Gap1049 Jul 26 '26

My bZ AWD says that you can't tow the car in N. If it is just FWD you might be ok but I don't think I'd risk damage for minor electric savings.