[WVKayaker]

I remember just enough high school physics to know that if you don't press the brakes, you can't take advantage of regenerative braking.

The term "braking" is a technical term. Any vehicle in motion is constantly "braking". Read the article I noted above, and you will get a better understanding than I can give you. I'm just a salesman...

[mvpel]

Ah that’s right, such as the engine braking that the transmission does on a non-hybrid vehicle when you’re going downhill and the cruise control is trying to keep you at the set speed. (At least on Honda and Ford cruise controls - I rented a Chevy that didn’t do that and it got me a speeding ticket.)

But regenerative braking can only recapture a fraction of your forward momentum. The rest is lost to rolling resistance and wind resistance. The only reason you’d have range beyond the end of your gas tank is that the charge controller on hybrids prevents 100% depletion of batteries.