Info & discussions from Slate/Reddit AMA

[E90400K]

There is a clinical term we have for that syndrome, but I'll just leave it as "masochism".

I will say, "that is correct".

 

[TomFrank]

I still just see this configuration as backwards. Drive should be "up" and reverse should be "down". "Up" to me just says forward (progress) and conversely, "Down" says backwards (retardation).

I know it's just me, though...

As someone who drove LOTS of "three on the tree" transmissions in my youth, Slates shifter makes perfect sense.

 

[sodamo]

Bingo. I only want the open air, but would get the entire square back suv kit installed and then take off top for someone else if it made more sense financially.

Definitely something to keep in mind as we learn more details.

 

[phidauex]

If you can shift to neutral while driving, you can coast if you want. Can you shift to neutral while driving in an EV?

I don't know about the Slate, but my MachE can be shifted to N while driving. The motors are still physically engaged, but are freewheeling with no regen, and braking uses friction brakes only.

I use it after washing the car to dry the rotors - accelerate up to 40 mph, shift to N, slow to a stop with the brakes.

Even in a car with 1PD on, if you have a meter showing motor power, you could still feather the pedal to keep the power as close to 0 kW as possible, which is electrically and physically identical to "coasting" on a machine with no clutch. It doesn't look like the Slate display will have a power meter (though I suppose they could add one - software only), but an ODB reader and CarScanner would give you one.

Having driven my car now for 5 years with 1pd, and having used the power meter a fair amount early on to calibrate my muscle memory, I can tell pretty closely when I'm applying power, "coasting" or regenerating. I know everyone hates being told "just give it a try, it will be fine", but I'm not saying that lightly - you'll get the feel for it and it will be fine, and if you want to get more precise on it then watching the power meter while driving will train you quickly.

Now, maybe Slate will see all this feedback and go ahead and implement a 2pd drive mode, or an adjustable regen strength - it would just be software changes, nothing in the vehicle.

 

[danielt1263]

Now, maybe Slate will see all this feedback and go ahead and implement a 2pd drive mode, or an adjustable regen strength - it would just be software changes, nothing in the vehicle.

Giving people an option has costs associated with it. Design costs, engineering costs, quality assurance costs, management costs, customer support costs, and I'm sure many more. It's way more than just changing a couple of lines of code.

One pedal driving or no 1PD is one thing, but having user selectable 1PD would push up the price of the truck. I'm fine without it.

 

[kotaKat]

I don't know about the Slate, but my MachE can be shifted to N while driving. The motors are still physically engaged, but are freewheeling with no regen, and braking uses friction brakes only.

Same on the Fusion Hybrid. Neutral drops the electric out of the driveline. My regen is either super low, or mild if I enable the 'eco' mode. I already try to one-pedal drive the Fusion as best I can and wish it had a little harder regen in Eco, but I guess the Slate will give me what I want.

 

[AZFox]

And even if 1PD were the most efficient (I don't agree that it is) - that's still no reason to not offer an option to turn it off (permanently or not).

I wouldn't be so sure of that.

Especially for a company being built on options, customization, and choice.

Affordability and reliability are also considerations.

Giving people an option has costs associated with it.

This.

 

[Brabbit]

I don't know about the Slate, but my MachE can be shifted to N while driving. The motors are still physically engaged, but are freewheeling with no regen, and braking uses friction brakes only.

Wow, I didn't know that was doable in EV's (even my current automatic ICE vehicle hates being thrown into neutral while going over 20). Definitely sure I could get used to "feathering" as an option or using the neutral if able until I get used to the 1pd in the Slate. Even if it happens to be more inefficient until i learn, the cost of a full recharge from empty is still about 1/7th the fuel cost of my current car that i coast and baby along to pinch pennies, lol.

 

[AZFox]

That's a lotta subwoofer room

My first thought when I saw the photo.

I had a "Bazooka Bass Tube" subwoofer behind the seat in my S-10.
It worked great!

 

[ElectricShitbox]

My first thought when I saw the photo.

I was just going to stick with a under the seat powered sub, but that has me wanting to buy the biggest wedge shaped box that will fit there.

 

[LevelHeaded]

It's just an induction motor

huh? I'd consider it infinitely more likely that it's a PM motor. I'm not aware of any EV that uses induction for its primary drive motor. PM or EESM, with some having induction secondary (front) motors.

 

[E90400K]

As someone who drove LOTS of "three on the tree" transmissions in my youth, Slates shifter makes perfect sense.

As a person who has three (3) manual transmission cars in his fleet at the moment and has driven about 1.5M miles with a console-mounted manual transmission shift lever where first gear is selected by moving the shift lever forward-left, moving the Slate shift stalk up for drive (forward) makes perfect sense.

I did briefly drive for several months a 1972 three-on-the-tree Maverick, so I can understand your position on the matter.

 

[E90400K]

I was just going to stick with a under the seat powered sub, but that has me wanting to buy the biggest wedge shaped box that will fit there.

My Ranger STX had speakers in that location, but they SUCKED.

 

[P. Regent]

My wife just told me 1PD is a showstopper for her

My wife felt the same way. When we bought our Tesla the guy at the dealership turned the regen off. Later, fooling around, I turned it back on. Now she loves it.

I think that a lot of the people who say "1PD is a deal breaker" or "less than 300 mile range is a dealbreaker" ever actually owned an EV with the "dealbreaking" features they'd find they were perfectly fine with them. Just stuff different from what they're "used to." Not worse, not "dealbreak" material. Just... different.

 

[misnomer]

Personally, I would prefer to have an option to disable 1PD. My other car is a Fiat 500e and I really enjoy its standard mode. But I fully understand why Slate would elect to have the one drive mode. Every feature or capability is cost. Development cost, testing cost, documentation cost, six hundred different forms of analysis and tuning cost.

Look at 1PD specifically. With 1PD you have all operator control inputs to the motor come from a pedal position sensor. Below some mid point the controller is commanding power to the motor based on where the pedal is. Above that midpoint the controller is commanding power from the motor.

When you want a more standard "coast" mode you now need to pull an input from a brake pressure sensor (or a second pedal position sensor) to feed that motor controller. Now your brake is controlling both the motor and the hydraulic brakes. That's requirements, that's test, that's analysis and tuning, that's documentation, and that's cost. Doesn't matter if the approach to do it is well understood - it's still cost.

Maybe, hopefully, if the technical data is available there may end up being an aftermarket solution, or with enough demand signal Slate may just bite the bullet to make it happen. But, when you're chasing cost hard, it comes with design considerations.