A braking energy recovery system (50) for an electric motor (62) comprises first regulator (52), energy storage device (54), second regulator (56), sensor (60), and controller (58). The first regulator (52) outputs a DC link voltage to the energy storage device (54). The second regulator (56) couples to the energy storage device and outputs a motor drive signal to the electric motor (62). The sensor (60) senses an operating characteristic of the electric motor. The controller (58) outputs to the first regulator an energy management signal (74) that comprises a time variant signal as a function of (i) motor speed and/or (ii) back EMF determined via the sensed characteristic, whereby the first regulator dynamically regulates the DC link voltage to maintain substantially constant an energy balance that comprises a sum of (a) rotational and/or linear kinetic energy of the electric motor and (b) energy stored in the energy storage device.
