> They should add some “brake cleaning” mode

Also known as breaking. You could just do that once in a while.

If you don't break hard enough, it might still be the recuperation doing its work.

Car producers can and do resolve this, e.g. iirc Audis don't use recuperation for the first breaking of the day. That way you don't have to remember to use the no-recuperation/break cleaning mode or break unnecessarily hard every now and then.

The manual recommends putting the car in neutral and then braking every once in a while to keep the brakes in good working order. Putting the car in neutral disables the recuperation and makes sure you really use the friction brakes.

(When I say "the manual", I mean both the manual of my previous car which was a hybrid Toyota Auris, and my current car which is a fully electric Volvo XC40.)

Modern EVs tend to do blended braking (at least by default) in which case pressing the brake pedal gently will likely just do more regen braking. It’s only when you request more than regen braking can provide that physical brakes engage.

*braking

* https://www.dictionary.com/e/brake-vs-break/

The two words are:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone

Yup, my Golf GTE is mostly used to fetch groceries, but every now and again I'll blast down a faster road and brake harder than just regen to keep the brakes themselves in good condition. It's almost second-nature at this point.

Sure, gonna slam on brakes while in front of you.

It's 2025 and hybrids have enough software to automate some non-hybrid braking action.

Many of the cars with regenerative braking already do apply the brakes once in a while to prevent them from rusting.

There’s been a few suggestions that drum brakes should make a come back, for EVs.

They’re enclosed so they don’t get dirty, the inner face of drum will rust less than discs, fade is not an issue thanks to regen braking, and before they get too hot and fade drums will brake harder than disks (thanks to a higher pad surface area). And they’re enclosed so they also keep the brake dust inside the drum, making it easier to dispose of safely.

Drums are heavier tho.

Drum brakes are cheaper, too. The VW ID4 has rear drum brakes for all of these reasons and it seems to work out very well.

Also forget about that bit:

> They should add some “brake cleaning” mode to temporarily disable regenerative braking.

Some manufacturers do that (iirc tesla calls it burninshing, others will switch regen off completely if you switch to neutral or something).

I've read that Audi and Porsche will use regular brakes once or twice at the start of every drive instead of regen, I assume using electronic control to imitate the current state of regen braking.