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Rigante
Rigante New Reader
6/22/21 3:30 a.m.

yep, his videos are really fun and his Honda is pretty nuts. 

frenchyd
frenchyd UltimaDork
6/22/21 10:00 a.m.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Back in the early 1980's I sold Electric forklift's  Clark

We had an electric forklift with regen capability brushless etc. plus a simple controller. 
      They ran 48 volts but I suspect since it was industrial application used 24/7/ 365 in a lot of cases, it would handle more 

triumph7
triumph7 HalfDork
6/22/21 10:19 p.m.
frenchyd said:

In reply to triumph7 :

If A Mod is the class you're in that means it has the potential to be the fastest car.  
In other words,  if you do your homework  you shouldn't have to spend a great deal of money to be a winner. 

Battery cost kept me from going that direction, I found a wrecked Yamaha R6 for $500 and I'm in the conversion process now.

With the characteristics of an electric drivetrain it should be the fastest thing there... but it won't be cheap.  The titanate batteries aren't cheap but they are the best choice for autocross.  Remember, when you build a pack like that you'll need an enclosure, a Battery Management System and a lot of wire.  You could probably make the charger into non-vehicle mounted.  Then you still need the motor, controller, solenoids.......

At least you don't have to interface to an existing set of vehicle control systems.

frenchyd
frenchyd UltimaDork
6/23/21 2:56 p.m.

In reply to triumph7 :

The new Tesla Plaid has 1020 horsepower. Stock.  
     That's the base. Get the required battery's and stuff them into a minimum weight car That is both narrow and short.   
 To quote that famous "expert" Jeremy Clarkson   How hard can it be? 

lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter)
lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
6/23/21 3:12 p.m.

I have this body/chassis sitting up on a shelf just waiting for the right time to build it. Watching this thread with LOTS of interest!
 

 

Chris_V
Chris_V UberDork
6/23/21 5:10 p.m.
GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE Dork
6/23/21 10:56 p.m.

In reply to triumph7 :

The Japanese Mitsubishi i-MiEV actually used Titanate batteries; considering how cheap used Japanese cars tend to be, that might be an option (though since it was made for a ~50HP motor, you'd need two packs minimum to get any desired current to go fast...)

Bent-Valve
Bent-Valve Dork
8/3/21 10:01 p.m.

DC motors are ok and you can find controllers easy, but they not efficient.

Tesla are ac type motors and are very efficient. Check out the video.

I started learning ac motors when I started flying electric model airplanes.

I would try to find an ac motor and controller if possible.

I haven't looked at newer forklifts, or maybe newer mine equipment, which would have to be efficient and powerful, to see if the use ac motors.

@lotusseven7, please put that together!

GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE Dork
8/3/21 10:33 p.m.

In reply to Bent-Valve :

There are plenty of AC motors and controllers for forklifts, but from talking to a local company the controllers are "coded" to them using sensors for stator position- it's very complicated to force an unlike controller to fit with an unlike motor. They are also typically ~48 volts, so you're just not dealing with a lot of speed when DC can be rewound.

Bent-Valve
Bent-Valve Dork
8/8/21 9:46 p.m.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

I was afraid of that.

RC motors and controller can be swapped around pretty easy, and there are some/many that have protocols (code) especially in drones, that respond to the flight controller.

I have seen things where they take a dc starter motor from a semi, strap it and bunch of rechargeable batteries to a mini bike or go kart frame and race around. It inspires me to do something stupid with a car.

Chris_V
Chris_V UberDork
8/9/21 8:04 a.m.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRnFzklXi4o

Cheap EV MINI Cooper powered by a Volt battery and a cheap motor and controller. Looks pretty fun and could be made much lighter as a locost.

GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE Dork
8/9/21 1:42 p.m.
Bent-Valve said:

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

I was afraid of that.

RC motors and controller can be swapped around pretty easy, and there are some/many that have protocols (code) especially in drones, that respond to the flight controller.

I have seen things where they take a dc starter motor from a semi, strap it and bunch of rechargeable batteries to a mini bike or go kart frame and race around. It inspires me to do something stupid with a car.

Yup, they're brushless DC and it's one of their biggest benefits over you're contemporary 3-phase AC; you only need a position sensor to tell your controller where the stator is in the magnetic field, and you're 3-phase power to drive it. You loose on the frequency driven benefits of AC (like Torque at low RPM or much better efficiency with power, AC will only use what it needs to spin) but you still have crap like regen and you don't need inverters. Just make sure your battery pumps enough volts that as it gets drained it's not slowing the car down. There have been at least a couple Brushless DC-powered EVs outside of China, but the only one I know of is the Smart EV which was a Zytek 55Kw plant (73hp). There was a Hackaday.io thread about cracking it's controller open for projects.

Starter motors are a fun thing but you gotta cool them properly.

In reply to Chris_V :

I don't even have to watch to know that's Rich Rebuilds.

He shows off how great those stock Brushed DC motors can be if you're willing to work around their deficiencies- a 20HP and 200lb/feet motor can double it easily as long as you have the amperage and you can force air through the motor to cool it and the brushes. Honestly making them do drag racing is pretty simple, but the information to do so is super-hidden because apparently RC car owners also do drags and don't want to reveal their secrets.

sobe_death
sobe_death Dork
8/9/21 1:55 p.m.
GIRTHQUAKE said:

In reply to triumph7 :

The Japanese Mitsubishi i-MiEV actually used Titanate batteries; considering how cheap used Japanese cars tend to be, that might be an option (though since it was made for a ~50HP motor, you'd need two packs minimum to get any desired current to go fast...)

You'd need to order the batteries from Japan though, as every other market still rocked the lithium-ion packs.  However, the titanate pack could help with much higher regen profiles since they'll take the higher input current, dropping the need for heavier brakes!

GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE Dork
8/9/21 2:01 p.m.

In reply to sobe_death :

Yep, though if you need to take high input currents Iron-Phosphates could also be perfectly usable too- and there's a few more of those than Titanates, though here in the USA you're mostly looking at a Chinese import and I refuse to support China in any capacity but that's neither here nor there.

triumph7
triumph7 HalfDork
8/9/21 10:16 p.m.
GIRTHQUAKE said:

In reply to sobe_death :

Yep, though if you need to take high input currents Iron-Phosphates could also be perfectly usable too- and there's a few more of those than Titanates, though here in the USA you're mostly looking at a Chinese import and I refuse to support China in any capacity but that's neither here nor there.

Well, any lithium battery is going to be a Chinese import.

The phosphates will be heavier but have a higher energy density.  The titanates can flow more current (in both directions) up to 10C compared to 5C for phosphates.  They will also last longer giving up to 10,000 cycles compared to 5,000 for LiFePo4 cells.

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