Ac power system for motor vehicle

I have looked at using a 3-phase induction motor driven by a variable-speed drive, both of these being off-the-shelf items.

The motor is a bit heavier than an equivalent-power DC motor, about 130kg vs about 85kg for a 15KW motor, and the maximum torque is quite a bit less, but both of these are still well within usable limits.

Speed drives are usually able to be run from a DC supply with little or no modification. It is a custom setup, but the speed-drive salesmen are usually very happy to help with this.

The real fly in the ointment is that to run a 400V induction motor and speed drive from DC, you need 690V, especially if you want to spin the motor out past its nameplate speed. Since a 690V battery bank is probably not that practical, a boost converter such as is found in the Toyota Prius is also needed.

When I compare the costs and number of technical hassles, I come to the conclusion that following the well-worn path of a DC-series motor, controller and 144V battery pack has a lot going for it.

Most every electric vehicle I've ever seen was DC powered. DC motors lend themselves nicely to electronic speed control.

AC motors, unless they are 3 phase, do not fair as well.

Furthermore, unless you're developing a new version of the carnival Bumper Car, you are going to have to supply AC from within the confines of the car.

How do you propose to do that? Converting DC from storage batteries to AC adds translation losses and creates heat that does no work.

It can be done but I am not sure I'd want to develop a business model on the concept.

Maybe there's something you haven't told us yet?

L.J.

Maybe long retractable cords?

Cheers.

or grid and pentograph?

"Converting DC from storage batteries to AC adds translation losses and creates heat that does no work." While not for the budget-minded (which it sounds like the original poster is after) numerous AC systems are very efficient for numerous reasons...but for a $$$. Just see www.metricmind.com for an idea about AC component cost....quite a bit more than DC. The only way to go for EV converters with "regen' lust".