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Comment by jokoon | Hacker News Reader

I really wonder how this works. Is this some generator held by the rear brakes ? How do they enable/disable this generating system when braking to go back to normal braking ?

And why the hell did they set a maximum amount of recoverable energy ? Seems like a additional, unnecessary puzzle that seems to make things harder for pilots...

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>> "And why the hell did they set a maximum amount of recoverable energy"

One reason is that the energy is used for KERS, a boost system (press a button for increased speed). Each driver is limited to a certain amount of this boost per lap.

It's also possibly for safety reasons. Before a car pits or anyone can safely touch it all recovered energy must be discharged. If the car is in an accident and this isn't possible the less energy stored in the car the better.

Note that the "boost button" disappeared in 2014 [1]. (K)ERS usage is not controlled by the driver anymore [2]:

[1] http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/25158104

[2] http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport/87...

There is no button this year. Also, batteries are heavy , where should they store all that energy if they recover all the time ?

Yeah, the Energy Recover System is essentially an electric generator hooked to a battery. It also functions as the electric motor to put the energy from the battery back into the rear wheels, for a small burst of speed allowed every lap.

I can't find a source for how it is physically hooked up to the rear wheels, but I would guess that it's simply a clutch.

Last year it was a feed off the gearbox IIRC.

I tentatively assume that allowing the cars to recover an unlimited amount of energy from rear braking would make turning too easy and/or speeds too high. The rules of F1 are mainly designed to prevent those two things.

i'd wager it's 100% a cost issue, the same reason that engines are 1.6 l, ECU is standard, etc.

It is categorically not a cost issue.

The new 1.6l V6 are more expensive than the previous generation of 2.4l V8's (which were homologated for 10 years).

Formula 1 is a sport as well as a technology industry and the regulations are constructed for many different reasons - competitiveness, safety, cost, feasability etc.

FYI, the 1.6l (turbo) engine was introduced to increase relevance to road cars, not to reduce costs.

i see this as a way to offset the cost of developing a race car engine by reusing tech in civilian cars.

That isn't the case.

I think it has a lot to do with the battery size. Last year there was I think 6 seconds of boost per lap allowed. Now it is something like 30-40 but they did need a bigger battery to support that.

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