How to add regenerative braking

how do you add regenerative braking to an electric skateboard. I’ve heard you need a VESC but is it possible with an esc?

Maybe, there are a lot of different esc’s (electric speed controller) out there. Some don’t even havy any brakes

A VESC is just a specific model of ESC. It’s called a VESC because it was designed by Benjamin Vedder, hence Vedder ESC or VESC. Most people use VESCs because they’re specifically designed for esk8 and work well for that purpose.

Whether or not you can use regenerative braking depends on what ESC you have. VESCs support it, but I don’t know of any other ESCs that do off the top of my head. My X-Car Beast ESC doesn’t, for instance.

I don’t know of any other controller that even comes close to the Vesc in smooth operation and customizable settings and that not only controls the motor but literally controls the whole system and has regen braking. Except for proprietary controllers used by makers of complete boards like Boosted.

If you gonna DIY, might as well just go all in and get a Vesc.

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