The best electric cars come with a lot of impressive features, but one of the most interesting is the regenerative braking system. The idea is that you can recover some of the lost electricity, and send it back to the battery for later use.
If you’ve never driven an electric car, or even a hybrid car, this concept may be completely new to you. Even if it isn’t, you may not be aware of how regenerative braking works or the scope of what it can actually do. So what exactly is regenerative braking, and how does it work?
What is regenerative braking?
Regenerative braking is a system in which an electrified vehicle, whether an all-electric or hybrid vehicle, recovers kinetic energy as the vehicle decelerates. This energy is then used to recharge the main battery, to be ready for use later.
Some non-hybrid cars offer some form of regenerative braking. However, it only occurs in barely noticeable amounts, and the captured energy is pumped into your 12v battery. Most of your kinetic energy is lost to heat as the brake pads slow down the car.
Regenerative braking in electrified cars is more straightforward and useful. Although you cannot recover all of the vehicle’s kinetic energy while braking, the energy restored can make a difference to the overall battery level. This additional energy could be used in the future, improving gas mileage or electric range in the process.
How does regenerative braking work?
When you apply pressure to the brakes on your car, hydraulic fluid on the brake pads presses on the brake disc – which rotates with your wheels. The meeting of the two creates friction that slows or stops the car. The regular brakes in an electric car work the same way, but the regenerative braking is a different system.
Regenerative braking begins as soon as the driver takes his foot off the accelerator pedal. The electric motor, which powers your wheels, then changes directions and begins to rotate in reverse – returns power to the battery.
In simple terms, the wheels become a miniature generator, which produces electricity when the motor’s magnetic field rotates through constant stature. It’s the same way the alternator in an internal combustion engine produces power for a 12 volt battery.
This process also produces resistance, which slows you down, and the stronger the regeneration, the faster you slow down. The benefits here are that it takes pressure off the brake pads, extending their life and the life of the system as a whole. It is also the principle behind single pedal drive systems, which is One of the best features that electric cars offer.
How much power can you get from regenerative braking?
The amount of energy the regenerative braking system will recover varies from vehicle to vehicle and situation to situation. No system can offer 100% regeneration, because it breaks the laws of physics.
The system will also be less efficient if you have a full battery, as there is nowhere for the power to actually go. But when you do it right, you’ll see an estimate of the electric vehicle’s range and battery percentage going up from time to time.
Different cars offer different levels of regenerative braking and different ways to customize it. Some cars, such as the Tesla or the Jaguar I-Pace, allow you to adjust the level of regenerative braking by diving deep into the settings. So prepare it before you drive, and stick to it for the duration of the trip.
The likes of the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV6 have paddles behind the steering wheel that shift regeneration power up and down as you fly. Meanwhile, the Nissan Leaf has two options, with an “e-pedal” that activates a one-pedal drive mode and a “B” gear that increases the level of regeneration while still requiring regular braking.
No matter what the car is, or how it’s set up, physically applying the brakes will start the regenerative braking system – returning power to the battery automatically.
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Regenerative braking won’t add hundreds of miles of range to your car, and won’t be particularly useful on long, choppy stretches of highway. But it will make those short trips more efficient than they would otherwise be, especially if you can irritate the gods of traffic lights.
Surely there are still a lot of things you need to do Maximize your EV rangeespecially if you Driving in cold weather. Likewise, hybrid drivers will find that regenerative braking helps them greatly Gas mileage improvementHowever, there are plenty of things you can do to cut down on gas consumption. All to make sure you spend less time on how to find cheap fuel or find a charging station for electric vehicles.
But even though it can be a passive at times, it’s still a very useful feature in your car – whether it’s all-electric or some sort of hybrid. After all, the only alternative is to let all that energy go to waste, and who wants that?
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