Do You Like One-Pedal Driving and Variable Brake Regeneration Force? If So, You Don’t Have to Buy an Electric Vehicle To Get These Features Anymore Because They Are Available In Hybrids and ICE Cars

A big part of the reason that battery-only vehicles have garnered such a following is that many of them were a clean sheet design. The manufacturers brought many new features and advantages along with the electric powertrain. We enjoy one-pedal driving and really love the ability to vary regenerative braking force. Interestingly, these features are now found on popular hybrid-electric and conventionally-powered vehicles. Here’s how they work and which models you can find them on.

2025 Honda Civic Hybrid - Variable Regenerative Braking Force
Honda’s new 2025 Civic Hybrid has just left our driveway. We found it to be the best large car on the market in many ways. That’s right, a large car, according to the EPA, and we agree with that assessment. The Civic is all grown up now. 

The Civic’s hybrid-electric powertrain is fantastic. It feels, sounds, and drives like a battery-electric vehicle. The gas engine is one way the Civic makes power. The other is from regenerative braking. When you coast, slow, or brake, the Civic is harvesting energy for the traction battery. This energy is recouped by the electric motors acting as generators. The car can be slowed by this energy capture, and how much slowing is adjustable by the driver. You simply use the paddles, a.k.a. “Paddle shifters,” except there is no shifting, of course. During our time with the hybrid, we used the paddles and found them to be a fun way to manage the power generation and slowing of the Civic. This technology is common in battery-electric vehicles, which also harvest electrical energy when braking. 

Related Story - Toyota’s New Technology Leaves One-Pedal Driving In the Dust

2025 Ford Bronco Sport Badlands - One-Pedal Driving
In battery-electric vehicles, one can opt to drive using just the power pedal. The vehicle is slowed - even to a complete stop - just with that one pedal. The brake pedal is still there for emergencies and aggressive braking, but it goes almost unused by many seasoned EV drivers. 

This technology has now been co-opted by Ford in its updated 2025 Bronco Sport Badlands. The one-pedal driving mode is designed for use off pavement. It’s sort of like Trail Mode, except that it gives the driver a better way to control speed when off-roading. We found out about this novel use of one-pedal driving from Driving Sports TV. You can watch the YouTube video yourself to see it in action. The host is a real pro, and he clearly loves the new technology. It’s his own vehicle in the video, by the way. He bought it, so he is under no pressure to report anything but truthfully on how he likes or dislikes various aspects of his Bronco Sport Badlands. 

EVs have introduced many new technologies to the automotive consumer. The one very interesting aspect of this is that many can be adopted by automakers and applied to vehicles that don’t need to be plugged in. 

Do you enjoy one-pedal driving and variable regen brake force? If so, tell us what you find enjoyable about them in the comments below. 

Do you find it interesting that non-EVs are adopting some popular EV features?

John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools. 

Interior image and graphic of 2025 Honda Civic courtesy of Honda.