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.
