My Electric vehicle project is picking up speed. Pun intended. The project car - a 1964 Fiat 600, is at Ray's (Performance Apex) getting a rebuild on the brakes and suspension. Important stuff I don't want to do.Next step is picking the motor and controller.
I've decided to go new-school, and use a 3 phase AC induction motor. In the past years this sort of setup was out of reach of hobbyists, but Curtis has a new PMC AC motor controller (with regeneration) that makes it possible.
Right now I need to pick the motor size.
Here are the specs on the original motor(s) that were in the vehice:
633 cc straight-4 OHV, 21 hp Peak ( 15.66 Kw)Not much motor. Which is good. There seem to be three AC outfits selling what seem to be the exact same Curtis Controller and AC motor matched setup. Noone seems to know who makes the motors:
767 cc straight-4 OHV, 29 hp ( 21.63 Kw)
hiperformance golf cars
electric motorsports
thunderstruck motors
They all seem to have comparable setups.
If I could get away with this one:
AC-13 1238 36-48V 650 amp 26hp 90ftlbs 6000rpm $2900 ( 21.63Kw/ 121.89Nm)Which very closely matches the power ratings of the larger of the two original engines, I could get away with less batteries, like maybe 12 cells of 3.2volts each. That might put LiPo batteries in reach!
the next step up would be the same motor and controller, tuned up to run more volts:
AC-15 1238 48-84V 550 amp 46hp 105ftlbs 7500rpm $3200 (34.3Kw/ 142.20Nm)More than enough power.
There seems to be a question of how much heat build up there would be, and at what portion of full power the car would be running. That might suggest getting a bigger motor. But I think I'll try the smaller one first, given the light weight of the car.
##update...
I visited Ray and Lorrie and took a look at the progress. Ray has found and built new parts for the critical areas of the suspension. This little 60o now has four wheel disk brakes (From a Scorpion, which is handy), new wheel bearings, bushings, tie rods, and more.
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