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Edison2 is owned by Oliver Kuttner, and I know him -- he invited me to be on the Edison2 X-Prize team, so I could be there at the X-Prize. Their cars are not electric (though they may be putting an electric drive in one in the future). He is correct in that it takes less energy to accelerate a low weight car, and the regen would be proportional to that. So, it takes less energy to accelerate it, and you get less back, as well.
But that doesn't mean that regen is worthless; because even if you only get back a little -- it is worth just as much to you, because you don't need as much. If they put an electric drive and battery in their VLC, it would be heavier than it is with the ICE they use now.
If you need brakes to slow down (and what car doesn't?), then regen offers you braking where you can recover some of the energy.
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