the electric braking sytems being talked about are electric motors. They already are used in electric cars, called regenerative braking. Not sure I would pay to have an electric motor installed at each wheel simply for braking. What do you do with the electrical energy created if you aren't storing it for motivational force? It might be cool to have two rods sticking out the rear with huge sparks jumping across them every time you slow down lol.
It seems to me that since the effectiveness of any braking system is dependent on the tires, and locking up the brakes has never been the problem. Rather, effective modulation of the brakes and heat storage and shedding has already been the downfall of drum brakes. Better antilock braking systems and better brake pads and disk materials/design is probably where development is mainly directed.
It's kind of like the electronic shock systems from Bose - it isn't that it can't be done, per se, but that it isn't superior in any way with current technology, and there is no guarantee that it will ever be superior. For cars that run exclusively on battery power, regenerative braking is great, but it isn't inherently different than engine braking with an internal combustion engine, which any car with a stick can do.
What might be more effective is electromagnetic replacement of the current hydraulic activation of brakes. If you replace the hydraulic fluid and cylinders with magnetic clamps and wires, theoretically you'd do away with a weak point in braking systems. However, you have to deal with the heat generated by the brakes, and heat and electronics don't play nice. On top of that, AFAIK, many materials lose their magnetic properties when heated. So you'd have to find a magnetic material that retains stable magnetic properties over the heat range that calipers will see, as well as circuitry that can tolerate such extreme heat. I doubt such materials would be cheaper than a hydraulic brake system, even if it performed slightly better. And you'd still need tires. Without changing anything but the mechanical braking system, all you might eliminate is brake fade, and we already can do that with current technology, according to reviews of cars like the Viper, Porsche 911's, etc.
Better antilock brake system performance with current brake technology stands to provide greater performance gains than getting distracted by costly electromagnetic systems that can't promise anything other than a more expensive route to current performance standards. I'd guess that a magical electromagnetic braking system might be able to cycle faster than hydraulic systems, giving the potential for better anti-lock braking, but I don't know that the materials exist to make it a reality at anything close to the cost of current hydraulic systems. Just like ceramic rotors, it would probably first show up on impractical supercars long before it ever makes its way to mundane daily drivers, if it ever does.
damn it honey, what did i tell you about driving too close to those scrap yards!
