I've got a book that I can't find right now called Horseless Carriages it was written in 1900. They had compressed spring cars back then.
I remember building a mouse trap car in high school that used really big wheels and variable ratio transmission. It went all the way down to the end of the gym and then made a 90 degree turn and stopped at my feet where it began. I got last place.
"A regenerative braking system is provided. The regenerative braking system includes at least one energy storage medium operably connected to a coupler. The coupler is operable to selectively couple and decouple the energy storage medium with a drive train of motor vehicle, or an electric generator, or a combination of both. A control arrangement governs the operation of the coupler. A sensor of the control arrangement is operable to determine information relating to the relative deceleration and acceleration of the motor vehicle and send said information to the controller. The controller is operable to determine the amount of energy storage medium or mediums to be coupled to the drive train via the coupler."
Inventor: Marc Charles Gravino