Pathways to Enhance Vehicle Efficiency and Sustainability with Energy Recovery Technology

The application of hybrid and electric vehicles is gradually becoming widespread for the purposes of reducing environmental pollution, saving energy, lowering operating costs, and reducing dependence on petroleum resources, thus the significance of energy recovery has emerged as a crucial area of focus. How to improve energy utilisation, extend battery life, reduce noise and environmental pollution have become urgent issues. And energy recovery systems have the potential to solve these problems. This review examines five key energy recovery mechanisms: regenerative braking, flywheel systems, thermoelectric generators, the Rankine cycle, and electric turbochargers. The objective is to evaluate these methods, emphasizing their potential to improve energy conversion efficiency and their feasibility in real-world applications for both hybrid and purely electric vehicles. By synthesizing information from a wide range of literature, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the energy recovery and conversion efficiencies demonstrated by each technology. The analysis explores both theoretical foundations and practical implementations across various vehicle models, highlighting recent scientific advancements aimed at optimizing energy recovery performance. In conclusion, this review underscores the potential of diverse energy recovery mechanisms to enhance the performance and sustainability of hybrid and electric vehicles.