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By Eric J. Leech
For decades we have always heard that stop n' go traffic was not only bad for our pocketbooks, but as you'll see on Mean Green Machines, it's also hard on the environment due to the extended driving, excess idling, and wasted engine output. Did you know that about 30 percent of your cars' engine output is lost through braking in heavy traffic, and the deeper in the city you travel, chances are the worse your percentage is.
Not to mention the higher the road rage in your area... the more people are probably stomping on the gas peddle, racing up to your bumper, and then hard braking to a stop.
What if we told you that you could actually save money and a little bit of wear and tear on the environment through such stop n' go traveling? Even those road rage drivers may do the environment a bit of a favor. Well you can, and it is through the nifty little technology called regenerative braking.
While not exactly much of a complicated technological advancement, regenerative braking offers a huge advantage, but it only works with hybrid-electric vehicles. Conventional combustion engines can only do one thing and that is convert fuel to energy and heat to move forward.
This means that every time you apply the brakes to stop that forward movement, you are wasting energy. However, in the case of the hybrid/electric, you would be creating energy. How it works is very similar to an electric generator.
Every time an electric car moves forward it is using its stored energy. This is its torque phase and it generally causes your vehicle to lose stored energy in order to create the energy necessary to move you forward.
However, at the moment you lift up from the accelerator to slow down, the torque phase shuts down and the electric engine switches over to an electric generator and uses the "free" momentum of the vehicle to create new energy stores for the battery.
This translates to a vehicle that can generate the energy necessary to leave a stop light while it is coming to a stop in front of it. Ultimately any car that can produce energy while in motion is bringing us closer to a self sustaining energy source.
Imagine a car that could replenish itself while driving. This would offer us a never ending source of energy, with practically zero emissions and zero cost out of our pockets. This is just one step in that direction and something that we all can enjoy if you purchase or convert your current vehicle into a (PHEV) plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
A conversion will cost upwards of $5,000, but at $4.00 a gallon for gasoline, you could make that up and then some over the course of the several years you own that vehicle.
Free fuel for thought!
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