[VFM_Systems]

Somewhat new to this process and looking for controller recommendations for the Ford Eluminator. I have been told that I can basically use what I want for this so long as it is compatible, but a bit more guidance and discussion would be appreciated.

 

[brian_]

This is not really a recommendation, but rather an observation:

AEM Electronics mentioned (as an aside in a YouTube video about an unrelated project) that an Eluminator installation which was at the SEMA show used a Cascadia inverter, borrowed from AEM's project.
See 1:45 in Our '71 Pinzgauer EV Conversion is FINALLY Coming Together!
They mentioned a team working with Ford, so although a consumer probably gets no information or support, a commercial operation building something for a show promoting Ford gets assistance.

The Eluminator is a drive unit from the Ford Mach-E, and is supplied by BorgWarner. Cascadia Motion is the division of BorgWarner which offers BorgWarner EV products to the aftermarket, and was created by the acquisition of a company which built motors using BorgWarner HVH cores (AM Racing) and a company which made inverters that were commonly used with those motors (Rinehart Motion Systems). The (formerly Rinehart) inverters from Cascadia are an obvious choice for any BorgWarner motor, and the (un-named) SEMA project illustrates that it does work... at least with the technical support that was provided to that project. Since that project has been done, the people at Cascadia presumably now know how to set up their inverter to run an Eluminator, even though it is not the inverter used in a Mach-E.

If I were considering buying an Eluminator (I'm not), I would contact AEM to find out who that other company was, and I would be contacting Cascadia to see what they know about using their inverter with an Eluminator. There is at least one current (or recent) Cascadia employee who is (or has recently been) active in this forum - I would hope to hear from them when they see one of these discussions, and if it were me I might search earlier discussions for which member that might be.

 

[remy_martian]

For those that don't know, Cascadia is owned by Borg Warner, the designer & supplier of the Eluminator drive unit to Ford.

I think AEM is also owned by Cascadia, but I'm still struggling with regaining my Covid-smoked memory, so not 100% certain there.

My understanding in talking with Ford a couple of days ago is that Ford has sanctioned AEM to provide a controller for the crate motor. I believe this is what the SEMA "Eluminator" pickup truck used. Our AEM guy here can weigh in on all this, if allowed.

 

[Gihan]

I think AEM is also owned by Cascadia

AEM was acquired by Holley in April 2021.

 

[Mojave]

I think AEM is also owned by Cascadia, but I'm still struggling with regaining my Covid-smoked memory, so not 100% certain there.

This is incorrect, AEM is part of the Holley Performance group. We have worked very closely with Cascadia on various projects (like our Tesla LDU implant) and they use and resell our VCU's to some of their customers but we are not exclusive to Cascadia nor are they exclusive to us.

My understanding in talking with Ford a couple of days ago is that Ford has sanctioned AEM to provide a controller for the crate motor.

Yes. Due to our past work with Ford on the eCobrajet 1400 quad motor drag car, they apparently felt a level of comfort with the VCU and allowed that to extend to the Eluminator product line.

I believe this is what the SEMA "Eluminator" pickup truck used.

I believe the Eluminator pickup showed at SEMA and PRI was based on a full MachE driveline rather than just the Eluminator motor. AEM had no involvement in that build.

 

[brian_]

Yes. Due to our past work with Ford on the eCobrajet 1400 quad motor drag car, they apparently felt a level of comfort with the VCU and allowed that to extend to the Eluminator product line.

Good to know. So where is this product? As it stands, Eluminators are just fancy paperweights for most potential DIY customers. Either Ford Performance's introduction was premature or the controller support is late; either way, it's a complete fail in communication with potential customers.

The VCU would presumably act as supervisory controller with the stock Mach-E front inverter (for the BorgWarner motor), which is not offered through Ford Performance... what is the intended configuration?

 

[brian_]

AEM was acquired by Holley in April 2021.

Holley.com links to both AEM and AEM EV in their "brands" list... but it looks like that's the extent of integration between AEM and its new owner.

 

[Mojave]

Holley.com links to both AEM and AEM EV in their "brands" list... but it looks like that's the extent of integration between AEM and its new owner.

There has been a bunch of integration going on behind the scenes. The "old" EV development group at AEM is 100% intact and will remain in it's Hawthorne CA location but has been bolstered by a ton of new resources.

I don't have any special inside track to Ford information regarding the Eluminator. I literally learned about it's initial release on the internet. It might have even been from a post on this forum.

 

[57Chevy]

@Mojave with all this cool stuff going on behind the scenes, would somebody there be interested in having a forum for involving customers/enthusiasts? There is the somewhat cringy "HP Academy" which provides that interface with regular tuners/enthusiasts but nothing exists for EV gear because the gear doesn't really exist yet. Having an AEM/Cascadia/LDU implant/VCU/Eluminator central point for learning, information exchange, bugfixes, feature requests etc would go a long way to both promote your products and provide us customers with a point of contact that isn't a zillion private emails. Our local ecu guys have done a reasonable job of this and I have used their products extensively in part because of how they went about supporting enthusiasts.

This requires a driver person though, there are plenty of stale company forums that are not monitored in a useful way by the company because it isn't in their understanding of how the industry works. It'd need to be a company direction/desire from the top to have interaction with enthusiasts as opposed to the 'buy it and bugger off' model of conventional over the counter car parts businesses. Please can we have some involvement in how the products are supported and developed.

 

[remy_martian]

This is incorrect, AEM is part of the Holley Performance group. We have worked very closely with Cascadia on various projects (like our Tesla LDU implant) and they use and resell our VCU's to some of their customers but we are not exclusive to Cascadia nor are they exclusive to us.

Yes. Due to our past work with Ford on the eCobrajet 1400 quad motor drag car, they apparently felt a level of comfort with the VCU and allowed that to extend to the Eluminator product line.


I believe the Eluminator pickup showed at SEMA and PRI was based on a full MachE driveline rather than just the Eluminator motor. AEM had no involvement in that build.

Some more details here on Ford's Eluminator pickup truck, shown at the most recent SEMA show: