this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
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Alternators exist on a car, why not on a bike?
Alternators don't exist on electric cars. The closest is regenerative breaking, which powers the car by slowing the car down.
So we just need to put something on the bike to power the alternator…I know, an engine! Why has nobody thought of this before?!
Oh shit you solved it!
I was being sarcasmic.
🥵
You can power lights or a phone charger with a dynamo connected to the wheel and minimally noticeable drag/resistance. You can recharge a drivetrain with regenerative braking which requires high end motors to use the motor like a dynamo
Yes, you can collect some of the kinetic energy and put it back into a battery with regen braking, but most of the energy put into such a system will be lost to heat/friction, drag, drivetrain inefficiencies, battery inefficiencies, recovery inefficiencies, etc.
In the lunatic post, he's not talking about regen braking. He's talking about using the same system that moves the vehicle to simulatneously charge a battery. Which means you're taking some of the energy which would normally move the vehicle and shunting it into a recharging "circuit" - which introduces even more losses.
The end result would be a machine that is less efficient.
Just assume a perfect world, and we won't loose any energy!
....... Though we won't gain any either. -,-'
Regen braking is on every single electric car. But it's incredibly inefficient and costs a lot of money to add it.
On a 60k car? Yeah it's worth it. On an $500 ebike? No, not at all.