Regenerative Braking: How Does It Work?

Regenerative braking technology is being used for braking electrically powered trains which has found application in road vehicles in the recent days. It works by decelerating or gradually braking your vehicle without the use of traditional brakes. The car does this with the help of an electric motor. In mild hybrids or plug-in hybrids, this motor is the auxiliary motor which drives the vehicle at low speeds or assists the engine during situations of load. In case of electric vehicles, regenerative braking is done by the driving motor itself. Let us understand how regenerative braking works in detail.

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Regenerative braking, as its name suggests, converts the mechanical energy generated while braking your vehicle to electric energy. Any electric motor, when rotating freely, behaves as a generator and can generate electricity. This electric energy can be easily harnessed through the main terminals of the motor. The intensity of regenerative braking can be easily controlled by controlling the amount of current being drawn from the motor when it is moving freely. Higher the current drawn, more is the braking intensity.

With recent developments in the regenerative braking technology and its integration with other technologies like adaptive cruise control, one can drive their electric vehicle without using conventional brakes for majority of the times. Situations like braking at traffic signals, slowing down your vehicle as road traffic slows down can be carried out by minimal use of conventional brakes which in turn generates electricity and recharges the battery of your EV in the process. Most importantly, regenerative braking springs to action as soon as you lift your foot off the throttle pedal and does not need to use the brake pedal. This new form of driving known as ‘one foot driving' not only reduces brake use but also boosts the driver's confidence and control.

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Now that you have an idea about how regenerative braking works and replaces the use of conventional friction brakes, let us understand the disadvantages of using the conventional braking system profusely. A conventional braking system relies completely on friction for deceleration. It does so by pressing blocks of high friction material known as brake pads against sturdy metallic disc known as the brake disc. This action of pressing the brake pads leads to wear of the brake pads which not only reduces the work life of these pads but also gives rise to a different type of pollution, viz. particulate pollution. As suggested by the name, brake pad abrasion generates particulate powder which diffuses out in the air and causes pollution. Thus, we can conclude for sure that this particulate pollution and brake pad replacement cost arising due to excessive braking can be substantially reduced with wise use of regenerative braking.

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