What is regenerative braking? How does it work on the Insight?
When you drive your car in city traffic, a lot of energy is wasted each time you brake to come to a stop at an intersection, make a turn, etc. In effect, the energy of your forward momentum is lost in the form of heat in your car’s brakes. More energy is then needed to reaccelerate you back to your previous speed. The idea behind regenerative braking is to recapture some of the energy that would otherwise be wasted by braking, store that energy in batteries, so that that energy can later be used when you reaccelerate. This idea is widely used in both pure electric and hybrid electric vehicles. How does it work? Because many electric motors can also operate as generators, the same electric motor that helps to propel the Insight is also used to generate electricity and recharge the batteries. The more electricity that is drawn from the motor/generator to charge the batteries, the more drag the motor/generator creates, effectively slowing down the car. In the Insight, when you press the b
