Capstone lab: engineering the full braking system trade-off
Bring together regen recovery, vehicle performance and efficiency into one integrated calibration exercise.
- Explain capstone lab: engineering the full braking system trade-off at engineering level
- Read the numbers that define the behaviour
- Apply the idea to a real braking system
Overview
This capstone lab uses the efficiency-versus-performance tool to make the final connection: every choice made about gearing, mass and power targets throughout this course also shapes how much energy regenerative braking can realistically recover.
In depth
Lab · Balance Efficiency and Performance
Find a gearing, mass and power combination that hits a strong 0–100 km/h time while keeping consumption low — the same drivetrain choices that also govern regen recovery headroom.
Acceleration needs wheel force; efficiency dislikes everything that produces it. Shorter gearing raises launch force but drops the motor into a less efficient high-frequency region at cruise. Mass hurts both acceleration and consumption; aerodynamic drag only matters at speed.
Connecting the dots
A taller gear ratio that helps motorway efficiency also changes the torque available at the wheel for a given motor current, which affects how quickly regen torque can be built during a sudden stop. Everything in a braking and efficiency system is coupled — nothing is tuned in isolation on a real vehicle programme.
Course capstone check
- 1
Which of these best describes why regen recovery efficiency varies so much across driving scenarios?
- 2
Thermal and SOC limits on regen are fixed and cannot be engineered around.
Key takeaways
- Drivetrain choices like gearing and mass are coupled to regen recovery headroom, not independent of it.
- Braking frequency and terrain, not hardware differences, explain most real-world regen variance.
- Predictive and thermal engineering can meaningfully push past today's SOC/temperature regen limits.
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