On 7/30/2013 12:16 PM, Adam Wilson wrote:
Back driving ("compression braking" in the automotive world) is indeed a recommend procedure in modern cars. My dad (ASE Master Tech) recommends it as a way to save wear on the brakes and is as you've noted, quite an efficient use of energy. Heck, it's one of the first things he taught me how to do when I was learning how to drive.Toyota took it one step further and built a capability into the Prius where the electric driveline reverses it's polarity and uses motors to slow down the car while simultaneously recharging the battery as the car slows down instead of using the brakes. It's called regenerative braking. Needless to say, we don't do brakes very often on Prius'.
If the engine *is designed for it*, that's a different story entirely. The engines I work on were not designed for it.
