Is it a case of magnets on the brake callipers spinning around magnets on the wheels to create a current that goes to a battery? Why isn’t it used in more road cars? Or is it?
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The primary principle to be aware of here is how motor and generators work. A motor has a source of electricity as input, and converts the energy using magnets to motion. A generator has motion as input and using magnets converts the energy to electricity.
These are actually the exact same thing, just opposite. The same motor, when operated in reverse, is a generator. This is how kinetic energy recovery works. The car is moving already, and by applying the brakes, some portion of the kinetic energy is captured by the motor and directed back to the batteries.
Regenerative braking is used on road cars and other road vehicles; I’m not sure if KERS is exactly the method used in all cases.
It cannot be used (or at least makes no sense to be used) on a non electric motor powered automobile. Basically a KERS system uses the motor drive unit (that is connected to the wheels through the drive shaft) as a generator. Doing this basically puts a load on the drive shaft slowing the car down while generating electrical energy that is stored in the battery.
Nearly all EV or EV hybrids do this because all the major elements needed are already there. (drive motor, battery etc)
A fully engine driven car has an alternator that charges the small 12V battery but that is so small that it could not provide any significant braking power so it is simply used 100% the time and bleeds power off the engine. Remember that there is no free lunch in engineering – if a generator can recover hundreds of kilowatts of energy (as it must during braking) it must also be relatively large and heavy.
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