Question about regenerative braking

Captain

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As I understand, the majority of kinetic energy is absorbed by the front brake during braking. Therefore, I expected to see devices on electric motorcycles that are capable of regenerating the energy from the front wheel or from both wheels. This is not the case with most electric motorcycles and I don’t understand why. Does anyone know why most companies don't seem to put any effort towards this?
 
At best you'd get a few percent of energy back, some of which you lose in re-accelerating the extra mass of the system, and overcoming it's drag. It's not generally worth the significant expense and weight of a system to do that.

If an EV already has a motor system (hubmotor, etc) that can accept torque back from the wheel, then it costs essentially nothing to get regen from it, so systems like that do exist.

But adding a whole motor/controller system to the front wheel if that wheel doesn't already have one just to do energy recovery isn't cost-effective.

Captain said:
As I understand, the majority of kinetic energy is absorbed by the front brake during braking. Therefore, I expected to see devices on electric motorcycles that are capable of regenerating the energy from the front wheel or from both wheels. This is not the case with most electric motorcycles and I don’t understand why. Does anyone know why most companies don't seem to put any effort towards this?
 
Regen on ebikes are simply not as effective as on heavier vehicles such as motorcycles or cars due to the weight of the ebikes.

https://youtu.be/gYCj4asp9pE
 
It's been done, and it is available to anyone who wants it. Sooo...the question is...why don't more customers want a regen device on the front wheel?

It's a small benefit, and the cost plus added weight just don't appeal to most customers.
 
Also, when you do have a regen brake, the numbers pan out differently. If it's set up correctly, it'll start regenerating before the mechanical brakes engage, so all the brake energy goes to regen when you brake gently, and the mechanical brakes only engage at all when you brake heavily.
 
I have installed Regenerative braking on a Mid drive (which slows down my Rear wheel), but on the lever of the Front brake, and I realized the following

On a motorcycle, and a bike in general, we use the Front brake most of the time because if you rear brake hard the wheel can lock and slide. By using the front brake, as you brake the front wheel presses down harder on the ground, which increases friction and makes the braking more efficient.

But what I found after installing rear regen on my front brake lever, is that as I go to use the front brake, as soon as I touch the brake, I get a deep slow down of the rear wheel, but not harsh enough to lock it. As a result, I almost never have to engage the mechanical front brake by pulling the lever further. I only have to do that on the most intense braking situations.

As a result, I would see very little added benefit on a separate regen on the front wheel, and a lot of drawbacks in terms of weight and complexity.
 
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