[brian_]

My view - its hard to find things in forum threads, especially at the start when I don't know what the question is / what the search terms might be.
It helps if general info is in a wiki or other similar central location with lots of links pointing at it or referring to it (so I can't miss it )
Sorry - I know this is more work.

There is a wiki within this forum (EV Information), but it has major issues:

• the entries which are supposed to be the wiki articles have mostly disintegrated into discussions;
• the associated discussion entries (in DIY Wiki Discussion) are not effectively used to build the wiki content, yet are not organized like the forum discussions; and,
• many entries in the wiki section are not wiki articles at all, but just misplaced regular discussions.

If someone wanted to, they could try to fix the wiki articles (clean them up, then update them), rather than creating reference-style forum entries scattered through other categories.

 

[brian_]

Disagree I would say that the price for performance bifurcates
You can go to "New" parts especially AC - which are expensive and wimpy
Or Old DC parts which are a LOT cheaper than salvage EV parts and at least as powerful - sophisticated? NO - powerful - YES

A Leaf motor puts out over 200ftlb, runs to 10k RPM, has an option for 8:1 gear reduction if you want it, and can be had for $500 (plus gearbox). What forklift motor can touch that for a car you would want to drive on the street?

I don't think that comparison - between OEM salvage and "forklift" motors - is what Duncan is talking about. His point is that among the alternatives which are not OEM salvage, there are two very different paths, and he is comparing those two non-OEM-salvage paths:

1. new aftermarket components (e.g. AC motors from HPEVS), or
2. old brushed DC motors

Of course, it's not that simple. Not all new aftermarket motors are "wimpy", even though the most popular ones marketed for DIY conversions (such as the HPEVS line) are. The more powerful aftermarket AC motors are even more expensive.