[tom442]

Not sure if it's being used but, would an adaptive front suspension which stiffens up when braking to increase regen be effective?

I don't know how effective it would be but seems logical, as otherwise you're just loosing that energy into moving a spring.

Of course, it also makes sense to also utilise the suspension for all bumps if it's possible to harness the power.

 

[farmergiles]

No!

 

[HandyAndy]

Springs actually store energy when compressed, and return it to you when they expand back. It's the damper that absorbs the energy & converts that to heat which you then don't get back. So, yes, you can have dampers which instead of generating heat, store that energy back into your battery. Been thought of ages ago, I think McLaren & similar have looked at it. But costs more that plain 'ole dampers, and questionable whether the value of the saved energy is worth the considerable extra cost & complexity.

And if you're going that way, better still to have active height control of the wheels in the first place, so you lift them over that sleeping policeman in such a clever way that the driver never noticed it was there to begin with! Your damper is then obsolete, replaced by hydraulic actuator & radar ground-profile-tracking or whatever it is you'ld use.