Your decision to convert your gas powered car into an electric car is a smart one. You will not only be doing the nature a favor but will also be reducing the cost of driving your car.
Before you embark on your electric car conversion project, it is necessary to decide what motor you are going to install on your electric car. An electric car can have either an AC motor or a DC motor.
AC motor works on alternating current while a DC motor uses electricity stored in batteries. There are both advantages and disadvantages in using Ac Motor and DC motor for your electric car. The power input for an AC motor is more.
An AC motor needs volts in between 48 and 96 whereas a DC motor needs only 6 or 9 volts. Since an AC motor uses more volts, additional safety features must be incorporated into an electric car’s design.
AC motors are preferred over DC motors on two counts; they are lighter in weight and a mechanism that produces power while you apply the brake can be installed. The power thus produced is used to recharge the batteries of the car. Because of these advantages, most commercially produced electric cars use AC motors.
The main disadvantages of an AC motor are its high cost and the difficulty in installation. Only skilled technicians can install an AC motor on an electric car. If an AC motor is used in the car, there has to be a converter to convert AC into DC.
While AC is converted into DC, there will be some current loss too. DC motors are cheaper than AC motors and it is easy to install them. There is no need of invertors and there is no loss of power. A DC motor lasts longer than an AC motor.
To reduce the cost of converting your car into an electric car, you can use a second hand DC motor which you can get from the local scrap dealer at a very low price. If proper care is taken, a second hand DC motor will last throughout the life of your electric car. An ideal DC motor for your electric car should measure between 9 and 13 inches in diameter.
A DC motor of this size will not be too heavy and it will be powerful enough to propel the car. Taking all the advantages of a DC motor into consideration, car conversion using a DC motor is the best option. The only things where you need to pay special attention are the size of the motor and its voltage input.
A DC motor just needs connection to the batteries through the control unit which is again connected to the accelerator of the car. The accelerator cable of an electric car is similar in function to the carburetor which controls the amount of fuel that goes into the engine of a gas powered car.
Depending on the size and voltage input of the DC motor, the battery size has to be changed. As a general rule, a bigger sized and more powerful motor will need more voltage and therefore the battery has to be a bigger one.