A method (400) of regenerative braking includes providing (401) an electric motor including at least one stator and a rotor, a speed of the rotor, a motor controller that regulates a current level inthe stator winding, a power inverter which controls an energy flow to the stator terminal, and an energy storage system (ESS) which exchanges energy with the motor. A battery management circuit is between the power inverter and the ESS, and a processor has an associated memory storing a regenerative braking (RB) algorithm. The RB algorithm during braking causes the motor controller to execute determining (402) an RB torque value from the rotor speed that maximizes regenerative braking current, and the power inverter is used (403) to redirect the RB current to maximize a power transfer from themotor to the ESS.