A case for regenerative braking

Here’s my take on this. I think it’s cool technology that will have a place. For example if you drive through the Adirondacks you’ll find that there are times when you are riding your brakes for a very long time. Other times when our motor is laboring. So if you lived there, it’s imaginable that a regenerative system would help your milage.

But for the bulk of automotive use, I don’t see it as so important.

For example, if I will arrive at a red light, I get off the gas and coast. I arrive just after the light is green so I didn’t use my gas and I didn’t use my brake.

A sloppy driver will have accelerated to get the the red light in a hurry then use brakes to to stop. Then accelerate to get all that momentum back. In fact, they often speed ahead of me and then block the intersection so it’s a little harder to roll through because they’re there lugging their engine trying to get going again.

So for me, I’d have to deliberately over-speed so I need my brakes so I can use the regenerative system to try to recover what I just wasted. That’s a recipe for disaster.

We’d be better to try and plan the lights and roads so that we don’t have to stop start so much.

In a nutshell, if you need your brakes when you’re driving, then you’re wasting fuel.

Tags: braking