[moneytide1]

And then you'll leave the station and stop/go/hills/regen further "flexes" a similar dedicated powercapacitor bank onboard (separate from the Li/Co/Mn/Ni long term reservoir which is expected to contain thousands of cycles whereas capacitors are tested in the millions).

If you're highway bound often this may mean faster decay of battery throughout the decade because of which side gets cycled.

[AtlasBarfed]

I thought brake regen to battery was already really high efficiency. Hm, apparently it's 60-70%. capacitors might add a couple percent but I bet there's inevitable heat loss from running the motor backward.

[strbean]

I think parent is more getting at component lifetime. Every charge/discharge on the batteries is a bit of their lifespan gone.

Although I was under the impression that the impact on lifespan is much greater the deeper you cycle the batteries, so it might be better to be perpetually topping them up.

[moneytide1]

Yeah deeper cycle reduced life - highway static travel speed would idle onboard capacitor bank.

You make me wonder if it would be better to charge every hundred miles in your 250mi range rated EV as a way to preserve long term battry health on a long interstate road trip.

[moneytide1]

Whatever percentage we can get out of brake (or downhill coasting) regeneration should be routed in&out of capacitors as often as possible in order to preserve the long range long term storage battery.