A few years ago, a project was confirmed by Robert Bosch GmbH that
initiated the plans and construction for a 779 million- Yuan factory to produce
advanced regenerative braking systems for electric vehicles. This 20,000 square
meter facility will be located in eastern China in Nanjing; and is scheduled to
open for business in 2019. This will create a whole new wave of electric
vehicles and a different method to conserving energy.
Regenerative brakes have been an idea in the making for the past
hundred or so years. People have been trying to figure out how to harvest the
lost energy that comes from braking, either on a bike, in a car or on a train.
Recently, the technology has become more available for companies to fully take
advantage of this idea.
What regenerative brakes do is transform the kinetic energy from
braking and return it back to the engine. When a car is driving along, energy
flows from the batteries to the motor to keep the wheels turning, which
provides the kinetic energy the vehicle needs to move. When the car needs to
brake, the reverse process occurs. Power to the motor cuts off, leaving the
kinetic energy and momentum to turn the motors instead. The motors then start
working like generators to produce electricity instead of consuming it. Power
then flows from these powerful motors back to the batteries, giving them a
recharge. This process returns the lost energy from braking back to the
batteries and is used to start the car back up again. The process is very
similar when being used by a train, except the electricity isn’t returned to a
battery, it is returned to the overhead power line that is fueling the train. This
process can save modern trains around 15- 20 percent of their energy, and more
technology is being created to increase this amount.
We here at SMC make it a goal to continue to grow with our consumer
base, so we have a variety of different products that would aid in either
building an addition to a train line or help the inner workings of the related
vehicles. Visit
our website to gain further insight into all of our products like rails, cables
and transformers.