DIY Electric Car Forums banner

Planning to make EV from scapyard parts. which motor controller?

4K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Daniel.Nathan  
#1 ·
hello my name is ronnie 26 years old and i am from the netherlands.

After reading various topics, I came to the conclusion to build my own electric car.

I myself have a lot of experience in the mechanical part, I was a car mechanic for a few years also do i have a garage that i can use for the conversion.

I have now bought a Peugeot 206 for 100 euros. And I will soon have to look for electric motors of a forklift.

Anyone have any suggestions for a controller? is that of a prius usable?

This are 2 diffrent motors anyone suggestions ? which one to choose?

"Thanks
R.

Image


Image
 
#9 ·
It was Easter weekend, most people were visiting family.

Now I'm looking for a cheap motor controller. does anyone have an idea? Out of a prius is not an option I saw.
Prius is still what I would go with. Nothing else is going to be cheap or available used.

Apparently, Damien's original DC motor controller from a Prius will work, the upgraded one designed by EV8 that he hasn't had time to document yet is, better and different?

I presume this is where you've heard of the Prius Gen 2 inverter running a DC motor.

...

Building a scrapyard EV is pretty easy to do... except for the batteries. You're not going to find them cheap or free, and by the time you invest in them, it doesn't make as much sense to cut every corner and save every dollar on everything else. You want to aim for a consistent level of crappiness across the project.

I probably would have gone with a Prius transaxle and a Prius Gen 2 or Gen 3 inverter controller, and kept it AC. Probably just as cheap a DC build, and actually better and more stable progress on the inverter side of things. Plus with field weakening, you can cheat at least a bit and get some higher speed out of it. Also, it has a built-in voltage booster. It's only good for 40kw or so I think, but, that's as good as you're getting anyways.

Shop for a battery. Almost everything else you decide depends on a battery.
 
#3 ·
My suggestion is to use the motor and transaxle out of a nissan leaf, then use the OpenInverter or Resolve controller.

EV conversions are expensive, the components and control modules are expensive. the batteries are expensive.
You probably won't find all that many useful parts at the scrap yard unless you strip their forklift while they aren't looking
 
#4 ·
Looking at the 2 motors you have pictured, they are both DC motors, so your making a DC electric conversion then? Not AC?

So, for a controller for a DC motor, you want a Curtis or a Zilla (Or several other brands)
Which motor is better out of those 2? No idea. Neither? Id probably pick the biggest one and go with that. Could have good performance, could have bad performance. No way to know for sure.
 
#5 ·
Yes, I bought the top motor for 150 euros. it's a pretty big one.

I went for DC because it is cheaper.

I am now looking for a correct controller I am familiar with curtis and zilla but I can not find it second hand. So my question is, is there any other solution? for example an 80 volt system from a forklift?