You will no doubt be familiar with the concept of brakes lights on cars. You push the middle pedal – or the left one if it’s an automatic – and three red lamps at the back end shine brightly so drivers don’t run into the back of you. Genius.
But there’s lobbying of Eurocrats in Brussels for a change in the law, and it’s all because of the emergence of electric vehicles, or EVs as they’re commonly known.
They feature a technology called regenerative braking. This means that when you take your foot off the accelerator, kinetic energy that would normally be lost is channeled into the car’s battery. It helps improve fuel economy and is already seen on some hybrids like the Toyota Prius.
In the latest EVs, that process is so advanced and sucking so much power from the drivetrain that instead of freewheeling when you take your foot off the throttle, the car actually slows as though you were braking. I experienced it first hand last week when I drove the MINI E (pictured), an electric version of the popular hatchback that’s undergoing a feasibility study right now. It’s like being on fairground dodgems; within a couple of metres of lifting your foot you stop. You really have to adjust your driving style to compensate, particularly when approaching junctions.
To their credit, the car makers have realised this is a safety hazard and are campaigning for new regulations that will allow them to make the brake lights come on as soon as the driver lifts off the accelerator. A decision is expected soon, but it’s not hard to see what the sensible solution would be.
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