Bikes normally have freehubs, a ratchet on the cassette (sprockets) of the rear wheel, when you stop pedalling the bike freewheels, without that the pedals would keep turning.
This makes driving a motor from the wheel impossible without heavily modifying the normal bike mechanics. That’s why regenerative braking on e bikes is rare.
Only very cheap e-bikes have hub motors. They’re not a good idea precisely because they don’t interact with the gearing system. So you lose that functionality.
It’s not worth losing access to gearing just to get regenerative braking because the amount of power being used isn’t worth trying to recoup.
Bikes normally have freehubs, a ratchet on the cassette (sprockets) of the rear wheel, when you stop pedalling the bike freewheels, without that the pedals would keep turning.
This makes driving a motor from the wheel impossible without heavily modifying the normal bike mechanics. That’s why regenerative braking on e bikes is rare.
Not if you have a hub motor. Those don’t interact with the gear system at all.
Yup, which is also why they’re really hard to pedal if the battery dies.
Only very cheap e-bikes have hub motors. They’re not a good idea precisely because they don’t interact with the gearing system. So you lose that functionality.
It’s not worth losing access to gearing just to get regenerative braking because the amount of power being used isn’t worth trying to recoup.