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Regular braking on electric cars partly involves the motors themselves - this regenerative braking helps to convert the kinetic energy of the vehicle back into
by scrumper 3y ago
Regular braking on electric cars partly involves the motors themselves - this regenerative braking helps to convert the kinetic energy of the vehicle back into stored energy in the battery by turning the motors into generators (vs. turning it into as heat as happens with standard friction brakes.) If you ever drive an electric car, you'll find the "engine braking" (i.e. the slowdown you get when you take your foot off the accelerator pedal) is quite a bit more pronounced than on an ICE car.
There are also friction brakes of course, but it's possible the driver, standing on the pedal to try and slow his runaway car, had caused them to overheat, which renders them completely useless.
- mint2 3y agoThe slowdown when taking your foot off the pedal is set by the mfg. it is by no means universal even if it’s common to have significant braking. Some cars are tuned to mimic the coasting of ice vehicles.
- scrumper 3y agoYeah. And that's part of why all those cars have fully electronically controlled brakes. They're all balanced so when you put your foot on the brake pedal, the car combines calipers and regenerative braking to induce the deceleration that a driver would expect. From what I've read, it's mostly regenerative unless you're going very slowly or you're braking hard at speed.