Posted on 9/2/2014
One of the interesting things about electric and hybrid cars is what’s called regenerative braking. In a car’s normal braking system the brake pads produce friction with the brake rotors to slow or stop your car. With electric or hybrid vehicles the braking system works differently. When the brake pedal is pushed the electric motor goes into a reverse mode, which slows the car. A side effect of the reverse motion is that the motor also acts as an electric generator, producing electricity, which is fed into the car batteries thus recharging them. Science! These types of brakes work better at certain speeds and in fact, work best in stop-and-go traffic. It’s this recharging system that may be causing an interesting situation. An article published in the Vancouver Sun a week ago or so caught our eye so we thought we’d pass it along. Andrew McCredie, a writer for the Sun, describes how the drivers ... read more