Everything You Want to Know About Regenerative Braking
If you’re tired of having to schedule an oil change every 3,000 – 5,000 miles or so, you may want to consider getting an electric vehicle like the GMC HUMMER EV. Since EVs don’t have internal combustion engines, they don’t require oil changes.
What GMC EVs do have is regenerative braking. If you’re not familiar with what that is, know you’re not alone. As EVs and hybrids become increasingly popular, area drivers are becoming more familiar with the terms used to discuss them.
Regenerative Braking: The Basics
Our team of Dearborn, MI GMC dealers can tell you that hybrids have hybridized powertrains while EVs have all-electric powertrains. Both platforms include a battery pack and at least one electric motor. As is the case with the batteries in your mobile phone and laptop, the battery packs in these vehicles need to be recharged.
Regenerative braking is 100 percent responsible for charging the battery packs in traditional hybrid cars. The same mechanism is partially tasked with charging the battery packs in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery-electric automobiles.
The regenerative brakes in hybrids and EVs captures the kinetic energy generated by braking and converts it into electrical power. EVs and hybrids use that converted energy to charge their battery packs.
When you contact or visit LaFontaine Buick GMC Dearborn, we’ll tell you that you can get regenerative braking to kick in simply by taking your foot off the accelerator or pressing on the brake pedal. Doing either of those things is enough for your regenerative brakes to capture and convert the energy that’s wasted by conventional braking systems.
How Regenerative Brakes Create Electrical Power
In hybrids and EVs, regenerative braking creates electrical power by reversing the process that propels them forward. So, they can capture up to 70 percent of the kinetic energy generated by braking, these braking systems do the heavy lifting when it comes to slowing down and stopping the automobiles they’re in.
EVs and hybrids also have hydraulic braking systems that aid their regenerative brakes. For this reason, you’ll still need to schedule brake service in our GMC auto service center from time to time.
Do-it-yourselfers may discover they don’t have to get brake pads and rotors from our GMC parts department as often. That’s because their hydraulic brakes don’t work as hard as the brakes in gas-only models that don’t have regenerative braking.
For more information about regenerative braking, head over to LaFontaine Buick GMC Dearborn at your earliest convenience!