Could flywheels be the next trend for EV’s? Check it out here:
http://www.motortrend.com/features/editorial/112_0803_technologue/index.html
No response to this thread. I would think this would be a great asset to add to regenerative braking. Anyone have any thoughts on this? 
Flywheels are a great way to store energy in a stationary situation.
Check out the forces generated when a flywheel is turned. A prop on a small aircraft is a good example. Change the planes angle and the prop generates forces 90 degrees to that movement.
Under the right conditions a car with a large powerful flywheel could set up the situation where every time you make a hard left turn the car might flip on its side.
From FuelFrenzy.com where there is info about storing 1,000,000 btu
“Such flywheels also have the effect of gyroscopic precession and the related effects. When a small aircraft makes a sudden lateral (side) turn, the gyroscopic effect of the spinning propeller often surprises a rookie pilot by forcing the nose of the aircraft upward or downward (depending on which way the propeller is spinning and which direction the turn was). The giant flywheel we are considering here is far more massive than an aircraft propeller and it would spin far faster, so those gyroscopic effects would be far more extreme. Depending on how the flywheel was oriented in a vehicle, a sudden left turn could cause the vehicle to instantly roll over on its roof! Not very practical!”
There might be ways to help these problems like-
Mount two flywheels side by side spinning opposite directions or mounting the flywheel in a gimbled holder to nullify the gyro effects.
Errrr, small planes can’t make sudden lateral turns. Cars can but planes can’t. All standard category planes make turns by banking left or right. This allows some of the lift vector to be pointed in the direction of the desired turn. Because of the partial loss of some of the lift in the vertical axis, there will need to be some increase in pitch (nose up) if you do not want to loose altitude. There might be some adverse yaw as a result as well, but the gyroscopic forces will not suddenly cause the nose to go up or down enough to be noticed by anyone, even a first time student pilot.
Now, if you were actually talking about suddenly stomping on one of the rudder peddles, you will certainly cause the plane to skid somewhat, and could even cause a snap roll as the wing that you are causing to accelerate will have more lift than the wing you caused to decelerate (and now become partially blocked by the fuselage on all but high wing planes) so the plane will be banking (or rolling) but his is not directly from the rudder nor the gyroscopic forces.
That said, if the flywheel were to have its axis in the vertical, sudden left or right turns would not cause it to flip at all as there would be no gyroscopic inertia. If you could pop a wheelie, you might have a fun ride !! 