I'm intrigued with the idea of going direct drive. I would love to get rid of the transaxle that the Probe had originally. I know that most of the gears won't be used (often or at all) and think it is a wasted burden for the motor to propel. So, the next thing to think of is direct. The TransWarP series include a 'coupler' to attach to a standard universal joint.
My questions are is it possible to make this work with a FWD vehicle and is it worth the hassle?
Not worth the hassle in my opinion. You'd need to create some custom way to hook the transwarp yolk to a cv joint driveshaft, and you'd lose the ability to change gearing for different driving conditions, plus you'd have to electronically reverse the motor instead of using a reverse gear. I think you'd lose more in efficiency by not being able to select the proper gear than you'd gain by not having a transmission.
The only way I see a transwarp being worth it is in a very lightweight high voltage rear wheel drive setup.
Today I went some back road and had to down shift to first when I couldn’t maintain speed at 250A on a curvy, half mile grade (a personal limitation to avoid motor and long term battery damage). That meant 22-25MPH (axle ratio 2.56) at that amperage. Road speed limit 35. The beat up, rusty S10 behind me passed on a double yellow line and almost hit a motorcycle that crested the hill. I know I don’t own the road, but why someone can’t put up with an EV for half a mile or less doing 25, I can’t explain. They do for a loaded dump truck. But I’m not about to fry my equipment because of their “Speed Racer” mentality. For the most part, I try to keep up with most (not all) traffic, so as not give EVs bad press.
As for gears, I think it was Solectra that took a Geo Prism(?) and “pinned” the transmission to second gear. They assumed that excessive motor amperage would seldom happen. I guess it worked out for them. (Any owner feedback?) Starting out in second IS slow in my ride.
My 9” ADC motor is designed to run at 3-4k RPM to keep its cool continuously at 182A max (26HP) 205A for 1 hr, 340A for 5 minutes.
So, what are your motor RPM design specs? What grades will you encounter? How well can you merge into traffic with no transmission?
I'm thinking of using the NetGain WarP 9 motor. Probably using the Curtis 1231C. And from the sound of it, I'll be using the original Tranny, because there are some hills, though not big ones, and we may need to be able to merge into traffic onto a bad highway.
Saw on your blog that you removed the exhaust system. Where's the cat? Yesterday I took the 2 cats from my 98Tahoe to a recycle yard and got $40 each!!! Helped pay for the replacement pipe. Price varies per vehicle.
Just thought I'd mention it...
Yeah, thanks! I kept everything... I planned on taking it all to salvage/recycle. All that steel shielding from the exhaust... everything....hopefully I'll get something decent for it.
Aha... knew they were worth more, wasn't sure why... There was something on the local news the other week about thieves stealing cats off of SUVs....
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