Previous in Forum: FTR   Next in Forum: Power electronics circuits
Close

Comments Format:






Change Mode
Close

Subscribe to Discussion:

CR4 allows you to "subscribe" to a discussion
so that you can be notified of new comments to
the discussion via email.

Close

Rating Vote:







Add Vote
10 comments
Rate Comments: Nested
HChristos
Member

Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: cyprus, larnaca
Posts: 5

Best Motor for an Electric Car

02/10/2009 3:17 AM

i want to built an electric car to carry 2 people what motor its the best to use?
Register to Reply
Pathfinder Tags: electric motor
Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

Good Answers:

These comments received enough positive votes to make them "good answers".

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
North of 60
Guru
Canada - Member - If there is a way to screw someting up, there is someone to do so! Safety - Hazmat - New Member

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Iqaluit, NU. Canada
Posts: 1854
Good Answers: 140
#1

Re: electric motor

02/10/2009 7:50 AM

One suited to the task. Go to the electric vehicle store and ask them for a replacement motor.

__________________
 Joe Contractor to Electrical Inspector, "What do you mean you are going to make me follow the code?".
Register to Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
Go to Next "Almost" Good Answer
HChristos
Member

Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: cyprus, larnaca
Posts: 5
#2
In reply to #1

Re: electric motor

02/10/2009 8:25 AM

im making my search and im going to buy it from the internet because there is not an electric motor store in my country. 2x 1,25hp motors it should do my job? consider only the car weight is about 200kg
Register to Reply
Steve Melito
Guru
United States - Member - New Member Technical Fields - Technical Writing - New Member Popular Science - Weaponology - Organizer Hobbies - Target Shooting - New Member Engineering Fields - Nuclear Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2969
Good Answers: 33
#3
In reply to #2

Re: electric motor

02/10/2009 9:52 AM

Are you trying to modify an existing vehicle, or build a new car from scratch?
Register to Reply
HChristos
Member

Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: cyprus, larnaca
Posts: 5
#4
In reply to #3

Re: electric motor

02/10/2009 10:31 AM

im going to built it from the start, the chasi and everything and i want first to find the right electric motor.
Register to Reply
msamad
Guru

Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Houston, USA
Posts: 946
Good Answers: 244
#5
In reply to #4

Re: electric motor

02/10/2009 4:37 PM

You can find some clue from the site http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_cc2hp_data.htm

Thanks,

- MS

__________________
 "All my technical advices in this forum must be consulted with and approved by a local registered professional engineer before implementation" - Mohammed Samad (Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/msamad)
Register to Reply
HChristos
Member

Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: cyprus, larnaca
Posts: 5
#6
In reply to #5

Re: electric motor

02/10/2009 4:43 PM

thank you all for your time and information.
Register to Reply
Emjay4119
Guru

Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Queensland Coalfields Australia.
Posts: 697
Good Answers: 11
#7

Re: Best Motor for an Electric Car

02/10/2009 11:59 PM

The motor alone is not the question. A complete drive system is needed for safety, tractibility and efficiency. AC 3 phase squirrel case traction motors are brilliant (see Tesla motors) but they require an inverter, outrunners as used in model aircraft are similarly brilliant and they also need an inverter. All brushless designs need an inverter of some description and old style brushed designs will need a chopper control to be efficient and easily controlled. The drive system also takes care of regenerative braking, to generate at high enough voltage to recharge part of the battery capacity isn't just going to happen automatically.
Register to Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
No more "Almost" Good Answers.
Andy Germany
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Safety - ESD - New Member Hobbies - Fishing - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 50.390866N, 8.884827E
Posts: 17996
Good Answers: 200
#8

Re: Best Motor for an Electric Car

02/11/2009 3:23 AM

Not enough info supplied.

At what speeds do you wish to drive at? (The faster you wish to go, the more powerful the motor(s) has to be.)

What range do you require? (The farther you want to be able to drive means a larger battery pack = more weight)

Now you have to calculate the weight of the motor(s) + the weight of the batteries + the weight of your passengers and see if the range will be enough when transporting 2 passengers the distances required......re-adjust to fix any errors either way......not forgetting the effects of wind resistance.......

Blink may be able to give you some tips, he has already done this from scratch, perhaps you should buy one of his cars?

__________________
 "What others say about you reveals more about them, than it does you." Anon.
Register to Reply
gdevine
Power-User

Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Globaly - very close to the southern most point of Canada
Posts: 445
Good Answers: 12
#9

Re: Best Motor for an Electric Car

02/11/2009 9:01 AM

I believe you are starting at the wrong end of the horse.

With the know drive components and mass/acceleration involved you then size a motor to suit your needs.

Starting with a motor first, you may end up limiting your vehicle more than you wanted. Or you may end up with poor performance and have to upgrade the motor anyway.

If this is the way you wish to proceed, you may want to review current vehicles online that meet your vehicle requirements and use the same motor and drive components.

Just my thoughts......

__________________
 -why bother doing it wrong when it will be anyway.......
Register to Reply
2
Blink
Guru

Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 4484
Good Answers: 246
#10

Re: Best Motor for an Electric Car

02/11/2009 11:21 AM

As others have said, you need to first design the vehicle to meet your needs, and then find an appropriate motor that can be integrated into your design. DC series, DC separately excited, DC permanent magnet, AC induction, DC brushless, AC synchronous, have been used before, and each has advantages and disadvantages. It used to be that most electric motors were advertised with their continuous rating, which may be 1/3 of a peak rating, or half of the peak rating (depending upon the length of the peak, and the whim of the marketing department). To compare motors, you really need full specs.

Having said that, if you want the cheapest, simplest-to-implement system, then use a dc series motor, just as the vast majority of home builders have. For a very small vehicle like yours, brushless DC motors can be found that would also be worth consideration.

But first, design the vehicle. Then, based on frontal area, coefficient of drag, rolling resistance coefficient, and weight, you can calculate the hp required to climb various grades and maintain a top speed, among other things. If you get to the point of a refined design, I'd be happy to run your figures through a spreadsheet I use for such calculations. There are also some rough calculators available on the web. Unless you are very lucky, you will find that as you rough in the design, the weight of the vehicle will change, largely because off the weight of the batteries used to supply the motor(s). That can mean that your first motor choice is too small. So the design process is iterative.

Spend some time at EValbum to learn about what others have done.

__________________
 There is more to life than just eating mice.
Register to Reply Good Answer (Score 2)
No more Good Answers. Go to first "Almost" Good Answer
Register to Reply
Have a Different Question?
10 comments

Good Answers:

These comments received enough positive votes to make them "good answers".

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
Copy to Clipboard

Users who posted comments:

Andy Germany (1); Blink (1); Emjay4119 (1); gdevine (1); HChristos (3); msamad (1); North of 60 (1); Steve Melito (1)

Previous in Forum: FTR   Next in Forum: Power electronics circuits

Advertisement

Got Something to Say?
Ask a Question
Start a Discussion

Search this Forum
Electrical Engineering:
Go

CR4 Sections
Aerospace
BioMech & BioMed
Chemical & Material Science
Civil Engineering
Communications & Electronics
Education and Engineering Careers
Electrical Engineering
General Discussion
Instrumentation
Manufacturing
Mechanical Engineering
New Technologies & Research
Software & Programming
Sustainable Engineering
Transportation

Site Directories
Forum Directory
Blog Directory
User Group Directory
RSS Feeds

CR4 Rules of Conduct
CR4 FAQ
Site Glossary

Who's Online (60 right now)
Show Members
Advertisement