Bo,

I listened with great interest to the topic of regenerative braking. I like the way Tesla makes regen breaking seamless to what we are accustomed to with ICE engine powered cars.

One thing I would emphasize though is that it is better to coast whenever possible. This is because regen braking will only recover 10% of the energy of the kinetic force moving the car. Regen braking is great for slowing down a car going down a steep decline as opposed to using the brakes or when there is no alternative but to stop at a light. I feel that regen braking's greatest strength is saving your brake linings rather than recovering the energy from accelerating up to cruising speed with your electric motor.

That's my take on it.

Rick, from the oil capitol of the world, Houston, TX.

That makes sense. Braking bleeds off speed, so even if you get power back, you'll need to spend more of it to move around again.

Maybe once they reduce the size of the battery they can use that space for a hydrolic regen system to recover a more useful amount of energy to use for acceleration from a stop. I think the numbers were somewhere around 70% recovery vs 20% from generating electricity from braking.