Hydrostatic drive racecar features regenerative braking

Hydraulic hybrids have been on the drawing boards for a few years now, with company's such as FedEx and UPS testing systems as we speak. Even Ford has dabbled in hydraulic technology for their line of mainstream F-Series trucks. One benefit to using hydraulics as opposed to electric hybrids is that more energy can potentially be recaptured when braking, which is then re-used to start the vehicle moving forward again. This idea is put to good use in this concept as well, which was created in just five days by students all over the world. Although the design exists only on the computer, we can admire the engineering ideas which went into it. Using a 600cc motorcycle unit from Honda, the gas-powered engine powers a hydraulic pump which provides power to not only all four wheels but also the power steering pump. In addition to being all-wheel-drive, the machine also features four-wheel-steering, so that steering pump works overtime.

Projects such as this one prove that there are more ideas than time and money when it comes to designing a better mouse-trap hybrid car. The real problem lies in finding the funding to make something like this design become a reality. Nobody will ever really know how well this system could work if it sits still on the hard disk of a computer.

[Source: The Kneeslider]