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New Hybrid Bus Uses Flywheel Instead of Battery to Store Kinetic EnergyEarlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show, we heard about Porsche's hybrid race car that garners energy from a flywheel, and now a consortium called Flybus has put that energy reusing technology into a regular bus. This simple technology takes kinetic energy generated as the vehicle is breaking and winds up a flywheel that feeds energy back into the wheels when acceleration begins again. The flywheel can be wound up to a maximum of 60,000 rounds per minute and can pack some serious emissions-free energy, making both gas powered and electric vehicles more efficient. Another perk? Hybrid-electric buses can be really expensive, but engineers believe this hybrid flywheel system could sell for a fraction of the cost.1
New Hybrid Bus Uses Flywheel Instead of Battery to Store Kinetic EnergyEarlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show, we heard about Porsche's hybrid race car that garners energy from a flywheel, and now a consortium called Flybus has put that energy reusing technology into a regular bus. This simple technology takes kinetic energy generated as the vehicle is breaking and winds up a flywheel that feeds energy back into the wheels when acceleration begins again. The flywheel can be wound up to a maximum of 60,000 rounds per minute and can pack some serious emissions-free energy, making both gas powered and electric vehicles more efficient. Another perk? Hybrid-electric buses can be really expensive, but engineers believe this hybrid flywheel system could sell for a fraction of the cost.2
New Hybrid Bus Uses Flywheel Instead of Battery to Store Kinetic EnergyEarlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show, we heard about Porsche's hybrid race car that garners energy from a flywheel, and now a consortium called Flybus has put that energy reusing technology into a regular bus. This simple technology takes kinetic energy generated as the vehicle is breaking and winds up a flywheel that feeds energy back into the wheels when acceleration begins again. The flywheel can be wound up to a maximum of 60,000 rounds per minute and can pack some serious emissions-free energy, making both gas powered and electric vehicles more efficient. Another perk? Hybrid-electric buses can be really expensive, but engineers believe this hybrid flywheel system could sell for a fraction of the cost.3
