2007 EV Motor Controller Round-Up

By Robert Green on December 18, 2007 4:40 PM | Permalink

2007 is almost over so to wrap up the year, we've decided to make a chart of all the major motor controllers that were available for purchase in 2007. This should prove to be a good reference to people still planning their EV or others who are looking to upgrade. The types of controllers covered are for DC series-wound motors and AC motors. The major manufacturers this year are Alltrax, Cafe Electric, Curtis and Zapi. We searched for information on DC Power's controllers but either they are no longer in business or they have no working website anymore. Read more to see the chart!

As far as pure power goes, the Zilla series from Cafe Electric is still king. Boasting a peak power of 640kW, no other controller comes close to being able to touch it. On top of that, it can live re-wire between series and parallel configurations for multiple motors which makes for those crazy low quarter-mile times in the drag races.

Power isn't the only thing people are demanding now. Features like programmability, inclined-start, and many safety checks are becoming essential to adoption in a daily driver. The big feature people are starting to demand is regenerative braking, which is still missing from many controller models.

Pricing is left out as MSRPs just weren't available on many controller models.

Manufacturer	Model	Power Configurations	Peak Power	Type	Regen Braking	Reverse	Programmable	Product Link
Alltrax	NPX 4834	24-48v / 300a	14.4kW	DC		X		link
Alltrax	NPX 4844	24-48v / 400a	19.2kW	DC		X		link
Alltrax	AXE 2434	12-24v / 300a	7.2kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 2444	12-24v / 400a	9.6kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 4834	24-48v / 300a	14.4kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 4844	24-48v / 400a	19.2kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 7234	24-72v / 300a	21.6kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 4845	24-48v / 400a	19.2kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 4855	24-48v / 500a	24kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 4865	24-48v / 650a	31.2kW	DC		X	X	link
Alltrax	AXE 7245	24-72v / 450a	32.4kW	DC		X	X	link
Cafe Electric	Zilla 1k	72-348v / 1000a	320kW	DC		X	X	link
Cafe Electric	Zilla 2k	72-348v / 2000a	640kW	DC		X	X	link
Curtis	1230	24v / 150a 24v / 200a	4.8kW	AC	X	X	X	link
Curtis	1234	24v / 350a 36v / 300a 48v / 250a	12kW	AC	X	X	X	link
Curtis	1236	24-36v / 500a 48v / 350a 80v / 300a	24kW	AC	X	X	X	link
Curtis	1238	24-36v / 800a 48v / 650a 80v / 550a	44kW	AC	X	X	X	link
Curtis	1204	24-36v / 175-275a 36-48v / 275a	13kW	DC				link
Curtis	1205	24-36v / 400a 36-48v / 350a 12v / 400a	16.8kW	DC				link
Curtis	1207A	24v / 250-300a	7.2kW	DC		X	X	link
Curtis	1209B	36-48v / 450a 48-72v / 450a	32.4kW	DC				link
Curtis	1214	24-36v / 400a	14.4kW	DC		X	X	link
Curtis	1215	36-48v / 500a	24kW	DC		X	X	link
Curtis	1219	36-48v / 600a	28.8kW	DC		X	X	link
Curtis	1221B	24-36v / 600a 36-48v / 550a 48-72v / 500a	36kW	DC				link
Curtis	1231C	96-144v / 500a 72-120v / 550a 72-120v / 400a	72kW	DC				link
Zapi	H0	24-36v / 230a	8.2kW	DC			X	link
Zapi	H1	24-48v / 300a	14.4kW	DC			X	link
Zapi	H2	24-80v / 600a 96-120v / 500a	60kW	DC	X		X	link
Zapi	H3	36-96v / 800-1000a 120v / 800a	96kW	DC	X		X	link

While Curtis and Alltrax controllers all well-established, less is known about the line of Zapi DC controllers. The H3 certainly is suitable for a quick EV with its 96kW and regenerative braking. Visiting the manufacturer site doesn't show much information on the product, so any feedback from a Zapi owner of the H2 or H3 would be appreciated.

All in all, it's mostly the same players it has been with most of the same products for the past few years. Curtis has demonstrated more programmability as opposed to models a few years ago and the Zillas now have 3 different voltage-range-based models for both the 1k and 2k to help with pricing.

Hopefully this chart will help you in your controller-purchasing decision. It looks as if EV tech may be making some major gains in the next year or two so with any luck, we'll have a much more feature-rich roundup in 2008 or 2009.