Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon
Then it's not the same type "regenerative" system that hybirds use, as I suspected. The forward momentum of the car is being turned into energy without the use of fuel soley because the wheels are turning the engine and therefore the alternator during deceleration . It's somewhat of a misnomer because braking really has nothing to do with it.
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This is a stretch, but as an intellectual exercise: the main alternator is a "load" in the system, and opposes crankshaft motion slightly. So, if you're in gear while decelerating, the alternator opposes the motion of the car, and would have some kind of small effect on slowing the car down. If one could find a way of increasing the load the alternator produces only while braking, the effect would be amplified. But regular alternators are not designed to that, and their belt connection to the shaft is fragile. If that connection was stronger, and if the alternator load could be increased at will, it would be more like the regenerative system in the hybrids, but the engine would definetely not feel smooth when breaking, so probably a bad idea...Also, what would you do with all that extra current generated by the alternator, which would require a bank of batteries to store...