Modeling regenerative braking and storage for vehicles

The fuel saving benefits of regenerative braking and storage for vehicles are often described but not quantified. For example, the federal government and automobile manufacturers are sponsoring a Program for a New Generation of Vehicles (PGNV) with a goal of obtaining a performance of 80 mpg in a family size car. It is typically suggested that such a vehicle will be a hybrid engine and electric drive with regenerative braking. The authors note that while regenerative braking has the potential of saving fuel, it may also do more harm than good as a result of additional weight, less than ideal charge/discharge efficiency on the batteries or storage flywheels and the limited portion of the entire driving cycle when regenerative braking can be utilized. The authors also noted that if regenerative braking can have a net benefit, it would be on a heavy vehicle such as a municipal bus because of the frequent stop and go requirements for both traffic lights and passengers. Thus the authors initiated a study of regenerative braking on such a vehicle. The resulting analysis presented in this paper includes data following municipal buses to define the driving cycle, modeling the bus power requirements from weight, aerodynamics and rolling resistance, and then calculating the fuel saving that could result from an ideal regenerative braking system.