Why not install some kind of electrical generator instead of brakes?

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When a vehicle speeds up, it uses energy of fuel/battery. Eventually it comes to a stop, which turns the kinetic energy into the heat of brakes. The brakes then cool down transferring the heat to the environment. So instead of heating up the brakes, can an electrical generator be installed to extract at least a fraction of the used energy? Or it won’t be able to stop a vehicle fast enough?

Edit: turns out it is a thing and called regenerative braking. I won’t delete the post though for anyone with the same question

In: Technology

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Also, wildly less efficient but still interesting is dynamic braking. Used in locomotives, among other applications. https://www.trains.com/trn/train-basics/abcs-of-railroading/dynamic-braking/

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