I heard about a version that used springs as well. Basically a pull-back car: When you break, it puts tension on the springs, then it releases that tension when accelerating. Apparently it was very good for city-driving, since you get an absurd number of cycles with very small "charges", which makes it very good when you do a lot of start/stop driving in slow traffic. I'm not sure why I haven't heard any more about it in more recent years.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

*brake*

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Idk about you, but I usually build tension when I break.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I build tension before I break, but maybe I'm weird.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

That's right the actual moment of breaking usually releases tension, but the overall process of breaking includes building it up!

[–] xylol@leminal.space 4 points 1 month ago

Maybe its some sort of human degradation fuel system, as you break down it powers the car?

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Bcz springs wear out is my guess. That's the first thing I'd worry about in the design is how many cycles can it handle before performance is degraded. Might be a lot, but even if it's a couple years, people aren't going to be happy when their car performance suddenly drops off right after they finish paying the thing off.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

You're probably right, at the same time, a spring that isn't overloaded can usually take an absurd amount of cycles: Just think about how long the suspension on a car typically lasts compared to a lot of other parts.

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

i think it was a bus, and it was used in hills to get extra energy while going down and using ot while going up.

[–] Jakylla@jlai.lu 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I heard about racing car having spinning wheels too, instead of br~~e~~aking before turns, accumulating energy into them, then after the turn, releasing them for huge acceleration

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

*braking*

[–] xylol@leminal.space 8 points 1 month ago

If its a race car it does both

[–] Jakylla@jlai.lu 2 points 1 month ago

Thanks for the fix ;)