Cheap Electric Motor – Inexpensive Electric Motor For EV Conversion At eBay
In this blog post, I wanted to write about electric motor. To be more specific, how to find cheap electric motor. If you are doing your own Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car conversion, the electric motor is one of the key component of the project. When the internal combustion engine (ICE) is removed, the motor will be the primary torque generator for your electric car.
There are many places where you can get an electric motor for your EV. If you have the budget, it is best to buy a brand new one. If you do not have the budget, then it is time to be creative in order to find inexpensive motor.
In my last couple of blog posts, I mentioned the electric car conversion guide by Les Oke, Convert 2 EV. From his e-book, Les showed how to find cheap electric motor at eBay. I decided to do a quick search at eBay to see if I can locate some cheap motors.
It took me only a couple of minutes and I managed to find 5 great deals on electric motor. You can see the screen shots on top. How did I do it? It’s easy.
First, go to eBay main site at www.ebay.com. If possible, choose a local eBay site closest to you. By doing that, you will saving on shipping and transport charges.
When you are at the web site, you should see a search bar on the top left. Type in the phrase “electric car motor” and then press the “Search” button on the far right.
When you do that, eBay’s search engine will display all the listings with the key phrase “electric motor” in them. The last time I did the search (July 24th 2009), there was a total of 64 results.
Now we have to find the right electric motor for your electric car. From the book Convert 2 EV, Les suggested to look for a motor with voltage between 50 to 80 volts. That was the criteria I used to locate the 5 offers above. Most of the motors were rated 48 volts and I think that’s close enough.
When you have located the best deal, you can now start bidding for it. Remember, to be a legit bidder, you have to sign up as a user with eBay. User registration is very easy.
Here’s a tip you can use. When purchasing the electric motor from eBay, it is a good idea to ask for a 60 days guarantee from the seller. Because you are not physically inspecting the motor, you do not know its true condition. If the seller is sincere, he will comply with your request. If he declines, just walk away and look for another offer.
If you want to know other tips and tricks on how to find cheap parts for an EV conversion project at home, be sure to check out Les Oke’s Convert 2 EV. His ideas will save you thousands of dollar.
==> Click here to visit Convert 2 EV now!
High Torque Electric Motor For DIY Electric Car
Some electric car enthusiasts, when they are building a Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car, they are think of a speedy electric vehicle (EV). Who would want to drive an electric golf cart on the road? I would choose a Tesla Roadster anytime. Unfortunately, the high end and high priced EV is beyond my reach. The only alternative is to convert a gas driven car to electric, while at the same time, install a bad ass torque spewing electric motor.
If you are looking for a high torque electric motor, should you choose a DC or AC motor? What is a reasonable priced maximum torque for a DC electric motor? If you have the budget, take a look at WarP 13″ monster electric motor. It costs about $5000 and it can kick out 2000 horsepower! Simply awesome.
The WarP 13″ diameter series wound DC Motor is a high performance motor used in some racing Electric Vehicles and could be used in very large vehicle. You can’t beat a series wound DC motor for pure low-rpm torque. On the other hand, AC motors can run at very high rpm and geared down to make torque.
Both DC and AC motors have their advantages and disadvantages. The DC motor is usually cheaper and easier to control. The AC motor has a much more complex controller adding to the cost. DC motors have brushes and a commutator to wear out. The AC does not. If you like to hum of an electric car, DC motors do sound better.
If one style of electric motor had any serious advantage over another, we wouldn’t be scratching our head trying to figure out which one we should use for our DIY electric car. An example of this would be the Permanent Magnet (PM) motors. It is quite expensive to use a 13″ PM motor for use in an EV. That’s why there are series wound and AC motors.
One other advantage of AC motors is that a lot of them have a liquid cooling system. The more amps you throw in a motor the hotter it will get, but an AC is more efficient so you don’t need to dissipate as much and is liquid cooled so it can dissipate more. Also the higher voltages mean its easy to get the amps to the motor.
AC motors are beginning to gain popularity as the production cost comes down. It is a matter of time before it will be the preferred electric motor for electric car retrofitters.
Related web sites:
1) Electric Car Conversion Guides Review
Electric Car Motor – Choosing The Right Motor For Your DIY EV
Choosing The Right Electric Motor For EV Conversion
In this blog post, I though of writing something on electric car motor. Specifically, how to select the right electric motor for your Do It Yourself (DIY) electric vehicle (EV).
If you are looking for an electric motor, either at a workshop, EBay or on the internet, look for a unit that weights 100 – 150 lbs.
Depending on your donor car, if there is a lot of weigh, there would be a lot of inertia and it needs large amount of force to push it around. Imagine this, you don’t want a small and skinny guy to pull on your EV.
Probably, you would not want to feed a sumo wrestler either. What I’m trying to say is you don’t want an electric motor that is too small or too big.
When you are searching for electric motor, look at the core. Look for insulation that is wine colored with yellow banding. Make sure the brush leads are still copper color and not scotched.
You also want to make sure the commutator is not grooved or pitted. If you want a closer look, just open the cover band and probe inside the electric motor.
Here’s another tip. Look for armatures that have a commutator with a large bar count. The larger the bar count, the higher the voltage it’ll take. If you want to build a speedy electric car, this is what you have to look for.
If you are looking for a series motor, get one with solid field leads or you might end up with compound would motor that may not suit your DIY electric vehicle needs.
One key aspect of selecting an electric motor is the shaft. Make sure you look for a shaft that you think you can attach or modify with a coupler. There are certain motor shafts that aren’t easy to modify.
If you make a blunder, that are no “standard” replacement parts either. If you mess up, you might have to discard the whole motor.
Choosing the right electric motor for your DIY electric car conversion does not have to be difficult. But you need to think about what you want and also know what to look for.
If the information above seems foreign to you, you may want to get some basic knowledge on electric car conversion. In that case, check out Les Oke’s Convert 2 EV.
Related web sites:
1) Convert 2 EV Review
