|
The whole point of regenerative shocks *is* to regain some of the energy that would otherwise be waste heat. Don't forget that flexing in the pneumatic tire also produces waste heat in the tire itself.
My earlier suggestion does two things to increase the efficiency of a car - the rigid wheels would have the lowest rolling resistance possible, and with most of the motion caused by bumps and swells in the road surface being dampened by the regenerative shocks, they would produce a greater amount of reclaimed energy.
Other advantages of using airless tires: they never need to have their pressure checked, and they would never leak and lose efficiency. Also, you would not need to carry a spare, or a jack, and full wheel skirts don't have to be removed to change a flat. You would never have a blowout, either.
I'm pretty sure that the ride quality and handling could be tuned to provide normal characteristics. The Energy Return Wheel is close to what I would expect, though it needs to be aerodynamically smoothed and it doesn't need to be tuned to mimic a standard tire. And the Levant Power regenerative shock would need reworking to account for the small rapid motions that a more rigid wheel would generate in the suspension.
|