On Tue, 30 Jul 2013 15:43:36 -0700, Walter Bright
<[email protected]> wrote:
On 7/30/2013 12:16 PM, Adam Wilson wrote:
Back driving ("compression braking" in the automotive world) is indeed a
recommend procedure in modern cars. My dad (ASE Master Tech) recommends
it as a
way to save wear on the brakes and is as you've noted, quite an
efficient use of
energy. Heck, it's one of the first things he taught me how to do when
I was
learning how to drive.
Toyota took it one step further and built a capability into the Prius
where the
electric driveline reverses it's polarity and uses motors to slow down
the car
while simultaneously recharging the battery as the car slows down
instead of
using the brakes. It's called regenerative braking. Needless to say, we
don't do
brakes very often on Prius'.
If the engine *is designed for it*, that's a different story entirely.
The engines I work on were not designed for it.
Well Toyota's Prius engine is just a simple powerplant with no connection
to the road whatsoever, it's just a really cool technology. And electric
motors are very different beasts from IC motors. :-)
--
Adam Wilson
IRC: LightBender
Project Coordinator
The Horizon Project
http://www.thehorizonproject.org/
