[jacquesm]

The waste energy in a regular car is not electricity, it is mostly simply heat. Instead of heating up a brake-disc by clamping it with calipers and pads an electric car or a hybrid will engage the motor by allowing it to be driven by the car instead of the other way around. The resulting energy at the output terminals of the motor is rectified and used to charge the batteries.

So when you brake your regular car you lose some heat to the environment, you don't 'waste a bunch of electricity'.