Can you add a generator to an electric vehicle to create regeneration?
When I was 6 years old I thought of that: Hook a generator to a motor and give it a SPIN! Generator generates electricity—– generator powers the motor —– motor turns generator!!!! Profit!!!! But the pesky laws of Thermodynamics get in the way. A few percent of the energy gets lost on each loop through due to friction, magnetic losses, electrical losses…… Within a few seconds things come to a stop. Even if the motor and generator were 100% efficient, at best you’d have perpetual motion. With nothing left over to use to move a vehicle or whatever.
If you take the gasoline engine out of a hybrid and replace it with an electric motor what is going to power the electric motor? Regenerative braking? I don’t think so. The question you should ask yourself is: What’s going to power these electric motors you talk about? Remember all machines (motors are machines) have losses. They are not now nor will they ever be 100% efficient. Think of machines as a black box. (Energy out) = (Energy in) – (losses) The energy in may be in the form of steam and the energy out may be in the form of electricity but there will always be losses in the conversion process.
