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I had a thought the other day after reading this site. People were talking about disconnecting their alternators for better mileage. But then there is the problem of what charges the battery?
I thought that it would be neat to have an alternator or generator that works to slow the vehicle down and that would charge the battery.
Where to put it? On some front wheel drive vehicles there is a jackshaft that connects the transaxle to right side (usually) of the car. The jackshaft keeps the cv axle shafts equal length and lessens torque steer.
So replace the jackshaft or tie into it with the alt/gen and it slows the car while making electricity to charge batteries.
The negatives that I can see right off is that it would slow one side more than the other depending on the differential. Potentially leading to issues of one wheel lock up or funny steering of the car.
Of course the control of braking with the system would need some electronics too.
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