Well the EV pioneers has a working vehicle (visit www.evpioneers.weebly.com for the inaugural drive...) and now we are discussing the benefits of regenerative breaking. Any one willing to weigh in on whether it's a good thing to pursue for the U of Waterloo challenge?
it needs to go at least 40km/hr, but ideally as fast as 50 or 60. It's a distance race really. Whoever goes the farthest within the 90 minutes wins. Thanks for your interest. Looking forward to hearing from you.
So, the vehicles drive at a more or less constant speed for the whole race? If so, then I doubt regenerative braking is needed - and it might actually be harmful. Because coasting is the most efficient way to use the kinetic energy "stored" in the moving vehicle, and coasting is easy if there is no regenerative braking.
Our team did discuss the possibility of the regenerative breaking, but we came to the same conclusion.
Thanks for your input. We may look at regenerative breaking for next year, if we feel our efficiency might benefit from it.
Given the course, is there any need to brake? If not, as Neil points out, adding regenerative braking could make things worse.
Pretty much what I was gonna say. If there is much stop-and-go driving during the race, then it might well be worth developing a regenerative braking system, which as you no doubt know, means reversing the electric motor to provide "engine braking". But if this race will be mostly run at a constant speed, without a lot of stop signs or stop lights, then regen wouldn't be used enough to be worth bothering with. As Niel said, coasting is the most efficient way to travel. For maximum energy efficiency, regen should only come on when you press the brake pedal. -