Does this advice apply to all cars?
In: 156
Specific to hybrids…
When you’re not pressing the accelerator, your electric engine is actually slightly braking, and pressing the brake pedal usually increases this. When your electric engine is braking, it’s more or less running in reverse. So instead of draining the battery to go, it’s “borrowing” some “go” for later and storing it back in the battery. Gently braking gives the optimal charging rate and wears your actual friction brakes much, much less.
As for slow, steady acceleration, the slower you accelerate, the more of that acceleration your electric engine can do. Accelerate too quickly and you’ll either drain the battery very quickly (at which point you’ll need the gas engine to help it recover) or you’ll have the gas engine kick in to pick up more of the slack.
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