Electric cars are designed to recover energy while braking, with the car’s engine acting as a generator to recharge the battery. However, in practice, even descending from the top of Mount Everest would not be sufficient to fully charge a typical electric car’s battery.
To illustrate this limitation, a car with a 77-kilowatt-hour battery descending from Mount Everest would only generate around 50 kilowatt-hours of energy, which is not enough to fully charge the battery. Even a smaller, lighter car with a smaller battery would still not be able to fully charge its battery due to energy losses from factors like air resistance and rolling resistance.
In conclusion, it is not possible to fully charge an electric car’s battery solely through downhill descent, unless additional weight is added to the car. This limitation highlights the importance of charging stations and other energy sources for electric vehicles to operate efficiently.
