Horsepower Robbing

DaveyD said:
What would you say is proper regenerative brakin as opposed to how it's done in F1?
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Recovering much more energy by using the electricity generation as the primary braking mechanism. (With friction brakes as a fall back for safety reasons only, eventually being phased out altogether once people have confidence in the system)

Releasing the recovered energy as an alternative to burning fuel rather than just as a "Power boost".

KERS is doing a lot of damage to peoples perception of what regenerative braking can do for road cars.
 
It's hardly groundbreaking. My IMA system completely does away with an alternator.

Plus, a battery is perfectly capable of sapping up the regenerative braking energy. Perhaps they're using the capacitor as a buffer for the battery. I can't imagine the car doesn't have a standard leadmacid 12v battery as well.
 
kaiowas said:
Recovering much more energy by using the electricity generation as the primary braking mechanism. (With friction brakes as a fall back for safety reasons only, eventually being phased out altogether once people have confidence in the system)

Releasing the recovered energy as an alternative to burning fuel rather than just as a "Power boost".

KERS is doing a lot of damage to peoples perception of what regenerative braking can do for road cars.
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KERS is a bloody F1 trademark, that's all. It has amazing power density.

For a car to mainly rely on brakes it will need a EV size battery. Meaning you need to deal with even more energy to start with due to the vehicle mass. Hi voltage Super caps are a way to it aswell but its a difficult mechanism to manage on a car as you need a controllable voltage difference to push and that's difficult on a 300V battery.

The Volvo C30 with protean hub motors is a good example of decent regen with skinny mech brakes. Expensive car though if you wanted to make one to sell as a viable business model.
 
kaiowas said:
Recovering much more energy by using the electricity generation as the primary braking mechanism. (With friction brakes as a fall back for safety reasons only, eventually being phased out altogether once people have confidence in the system)

Releasing the recovered energy as an alternative to burning fuel rather than just as a "Power boost".

KERS is doing a lot of damage to peoples perception of what regenerative braking can do for road cars.
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That's all happening and been happening in the industry for years. Friction brakes becoming more the safety net for failures. I'm pretty ire the f1 method is no different to how it's done on road cars by using the negative torque on the motor to put the energy in to the system.

As with every technology, it all comes down to money. Thes technology around but you need customers to pay silly money to get it.
 
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Toyota got there first with the Prius. Regenerative braking, but theirs goes a step further and powers some electric motors.
 
Biohazard said:
I'd be more impressed if someone could harness the heat loss from engines. That's the real energy loss.
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It is possible I believe, but very expensive to do. It requires a thermoelectric material and will come in a few years when the costs stabilise. Once the cost comes down it will probably replace the cooling system and even reclaim lost heat from electric motors.
 
Just realised Citroen C3 air dream has the super caps system with assist and you can buy it today, so they are ahead of Mazda on that front.
 
Minstadave said:
Use the heat to boil water, use the steam to turn a turbine, use the turbine to turn stuff!

I shall call it the boiling water-turbine-turner engine!
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BMW had a concept years ago. The steam drove a system which adds power to the crankshaft
 
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