What motors used in these electric cars?

[Silverbullet86]

I'm sure many of you guys have heard of the Tesla Roadster (

http://www.teslamotors.com/

), the electric sports car. There is also this other company that is making Shelby Cobras and new Mustangs with full electric motors. I can't seem to find any information on who manufactures these motors. I was wondering if anyone had any info?

 

[GregLocock]

Tesla's motor is from a company called AC Propulsion, founded by Cocconi, who worked on the EV1 and the SunRaycer, from memory.



Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[LateApexEE]

Brusa and Siemens are also making some very nice AC motors specifically for automotive use. Check out

http://www.metricmind.com/

 

[Watthour]

Kollmorgen, G.E., and Swiger have been in the traction motor game for quite a number of years.

 

[turbocohen]

Siemens sold out to Continental so check their site.
Denso is another palce to look.

 

[GreasyRider]

SilverBullet86,

I don't know about the company that you mentioned, but most home EV builders are using DC motors instead of AC motors like the Tesla. The most common for homebrew EVs that I've seen are series wound from Advanced DC.

 

[globi5]

Teslamotors produces their own motor. They probably don't sell - if that's what you wanted.

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=30

Fast forward once more to 2003: Tesla Motors’s Power Electronics Module (PEM), in turn, uses a similar kind of variable frequency, IGBT inverter, based on what we learned from our friends Al Cocconi and the rest of the team at AC Propulsion, as well as from what JB and I had learned in our own careers as electrical engineers. Over the last 3 years, this PEM has been refined and improved by Tesla’s team of electrical, firmware, and manufacturing engineers.

At the same time, Tesla’s motor engineering team developed our own custom 3-phase AC induction motor – based on Tesla’s patents, based on the EV-1 motor, based on the AC Propulsion motor. Like Tesla’s motors, the EV-1 motor, and the AC Propulsion motor, ours gets its incredible efficiency largely due to its copper rotor.

We’ve studied the EV-1 motor carefully. The technique they used to construct their copper rotor was not great, resulting in suboptimal efficiency, and (I suspect) low manufacturing yield.

We have studied AC Propulsion’s rotor manufacturing technique. Their process creates a motor with much better efficiency. But there is quite a bit of hand labor and tweekmanship in the process, and it would not work for the production volumes we forecast at Tesla.

 

[turbocohen]

Unless I am mistaken the state of the art is Ac reluctance. Some modern Locomotives and light rail use it again unless I am mistaken. I know some recent fuel cell demonstrator busses use ac reluctance type motors.

 

[globi5]

Actually, all Hybrids (Honda, Toyota etc.) have DC brushless motors with permanent magnets. They offer higher peak efficiencies, but are less efficient at low loads. They also offer lots of torque per power.

Teslamotors is an exception with its 3-phase AC induction motor (an asynchronous motor with a squirrel cage rotor).
No need for permanent magnets and high efficiency over a wider range - although with lower peak efficiencies.