Brushless DC Motor Powered EV Project
OVERVIEW
The aim; to develop a high quality, high efficiency, long range and cost effective demonstration Electric Vehicle. Performance must be the same or better than a regular car.
Only the highest quality components are being selected for this project.
Specifications:
- Brushless DC Permanent Magnet motor
- AC 3 Phase Variable Frequency Drive controller
- Regenerative Braking
- Range - 120km+
- Battery - LFP90AHA
- Battery Management - EV Power TS90 BMS with new microprocessor MCU.
- Car - thats a badly kept secret ;-)
OCTOBER 2009
I finally got the battery box installed in the tray of the car. Today I took it for a drive, 80km round trip of mostly freeway driving at 90-100kmh. It consumed 43 Ah for the journey at 288V nominal. This translates to 155Whrs / km. Thats pretty good!
MARCH 2009
Purchased the IC donor car. A 2005 model XXXXX XXXXX for $13500. I am in two minds about converting it as it is such a fun car to drive as an IC. Its kind of expensive to make a mistake with so I will have to do some homework on the motor.
I already have 94 x TS LFP90AHA cells (300V nominal) ready to go and have also imported a BLDC motor and controller. The manufacturer claims 15/30kW which is on the low side but should see the car going at highway speeds.
JUNE 2009
Rob and I have been doing bench tests on the BLDC motor. We used it to power up an old Lincoln Welder outfit connected to a high tech fencing wire resistor in a tub of water. It actually has amazing power for a 40kg motor. We clocked it a 25kW and it wasn’t even showing any strain.
However there was an imbalance causing it to vibrate at high RPM so we took it apart and balanced the drive shaft which had a keyway key sticking out. It now runs alot smoother.
JULY 2009 Ok I bit the bullet. We removed the IC motor and there is no turning back. This is a BIG job as all the cooling system, exhaust and fuel system also have to be removed. About 8 hours work with all the right tools available at the MPC workshop. IC cars are such messy business!
AUGUST 2009
BLDC Motor has been installed and after some teething problems with the controller the car has been road tested and drives quite well. I clocked it pulling more than 300 amps under acceleration with 90 cells (288V). So allowing for sag this takes it to 75kW. This gives pretty impressive pickup! It is pretty rare that a product actually exceeds the manufacturers specifications.
I took the car for a 30km drive in normal city traffic, a bit of 100kmh freeway and a bit of lights. Acceleration from the lights is slightly "coggy" at low rpm but not unpleasant. It runs quite satisfactorily if just left in 3rd gear. This will see it accelerate all the way to 90kmh (5000rpm limit) with no fuss. 5th gear can be used on the freeway.
The most pleasant aspect of driving it is that you don’t feel like you are accelerating fast from the lights but suddenly realise that all the traffic is in the rearview mirror! On arriving at my destination I popped the bonnet and checked the engine temperature. It was only slightly warm to touch so the efficiency must be pretty good as it has no fan cooling. The controller has big fans and heatsinks and also was only just warm to the touch. Maybe my punt will pay off.
The only problem is seatbelts are required when using the regenerative function. I am in touch with the manufacturer who claim to be able to rectifiy this, if I pay them! I am a bit miffed as it would appear I am doing their R&D for them.
SEPTEMBER 2009
After some internal debate I have decided to switch to 94 x Sky Energy SE100AHA cells. This is a big punt with a relatively unknown company but I have done some tests with their cells and they look very promising. Capacity is good and perfomance appears to be the same as TS. In due course I will have a slightly used pack of TS-LFP90AHA cells for sale.
Watch this space...
Willetton Senior High School WSC Solar Car
Rod is providing in-kind sponsorship for the Willetton Senior High School World Solar Challenge (WSC) Solar Car entry. The race is from Darwin to Adelaide in October 2009 and the car is progressing well.
The team is on a shoe string budget facing international teams that have budgets of millions of dollars. The car is being built by students, teachers and parents. These kids will be the future of electric transport!
It will have Sunpower solar panels and a 3kW regenerative hub motor. Thunder Sky batteries provide auxiliary power up hills.
In previous years the car has been unable to finish due to lack of performance. Hopefully this year will be different.
Willetton Senior High School WSC Solar Car
Rod is providing in-kind sponsorship for the Willetton Senior High School World Solar Challenge (WSC) Solar Car entry. The race is from Darwin to Adelaide in October 2009 and the car is progressing well.
It will have Sunpower solar panels and a 3kW hub motor. Thunder Sky batteries will provide auxiliary power up hills.
Rods goal is to help them get to 70kmh average speed. At this rate they will be able to finish the race within the time limit. In previous years the car has been unable to finish due to lack of performance.
Watch this space...
CERES ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Congratulations to CERES in Melbourne on the completion of their first EV. Rhys Freeman has been the driving force behind this project and has seen it all the way through from concept to fruition. Well done Rhys! EV Power has provided some components and Rod is providing ongoing support for the project.
University of WA Renewable Energy Vehicle Project
EV Power congratulates UWA on the official release of its REV car. This project has special significance for Rod as it was his first sale of Thunder Sky Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries (2007) and an early version of his battery management system.
In particular Rod would like to thank Dr. Lawrence Borle from UWA who had the courage and foresight to purchase batteries from an unknown new vendor and thus assist the birth of a new business.
Prof. Thomas Braunl has taken on the REV project and seen it through to fruition with many new ideas for the future. This could become a whole new course for UWA.
Swan TAFE EV Challenge 2008
EV Power sponsored the "River Raiders" team this year in the Swan TAFE EV Challenge . This is an electrathon style of event where vehicles race for one hour around a winding circuit. At the end of the hour the numbers of laps are compared.
The team consisted of Rod Dilkes (electrics), Wayne Pragnell (body design) and Peter Fitchat (steering/suspension).
In all we entered three cars in two classes:
Electric Chair - Yuasa Class (No cost limit, SLA batteries provided)
Carbonnay - C Class (Open class, $1200 cost limit)
Hot Rod - C Class, Yuasa class
The results for our team were as follows:
C Class - 1st Hot Rod, 3rd Carbonnay (also engineering award)
Yuasa Class - 1st Electric Chair (also engineering award)
We wish to thank all the teams and the organizers of this great event. As all the teams well know 95% of the effort is in just getting to the start line! We hope to see it grow and promote the use of EVs in the future.
The cars used hub motors and brushless controllers. Batteries were LiFePO4 400Whr capacity, 4.2kg. The first three cars in the C class were powered by LiFePO4 battery packs supplied by EV Power, LiFePO4 batteries are our specialty.
A short clip of the Swan TAFE EV Challenge coutesy of Wayne Pragnell is available here
Congratulations go to South West Regional College of TAFE who came second in C Class using EV Power batteries. Also to Donnybrook Senior High School who came second in Class A using an EV Power hub motor/controller. Well done guys.
Solar Power
By using Grid connected solar power we now effectively have a solar powered car!
Solar Assisted Electric Vehicle
In 2003 work began on an Electric Vehicle. A Suzuki Mighty Boy was converted from petrol to electric and has been used daily ever since. In Februrary 2007 Thundersky LFP90AHA Lithium Ion batteries were installed. These batteries mark the beginning of the Electric Vehicle revolution.
In August 2007 a grid connected solar array was mounted on Rod’s home. The car is charged using off-peak power at night which the solar array generates during the day. It also gets some charge from a solar panel mounted on the roof of the car itself. As such it is the first and only completely solar powered commuter vehicle in Australia.
Lithium Ion Battery Management System
The Battery Management project began in mid 2006. After examining all the available options it was decided that a simple but failsafe solution was the best course of action. Extensive prototyping was embarked upon and finally a design established. This BMS has been tested extensively in the Suzuki Mighty boy since Feb 2007.
As of July 2008, the BMS cell modules are being mass produced. The design has been through several iterations and is finally mature. Check our products pages for info and pricing.
Conversion to Thunder Sky LFP90AHA Batteries
In February 2007 the Suzuki Mighty Boy was converted to run on Thundersky LFP series Lithium Ion Batteries. This was the first such installation in Australia. As of Feb 2008 the car has done 8000km of faultless service on these.
EV POWER IN THE SWAN EV CHALLENGE
In our first year of participating in the Swan EV Challenge we managed to place 2nd in the Yuasa Evolution class of the Swan EV Challenge hosted by Swan TAFE in Midland WA.
The driving team comprised Rod Dilkes, Tuarn Brown, and Andrew Brown.It is an endurance event where the teams are given two Yuasa 18Ah batteries and have to drive a car for an hour around a closed circuit with other competitors. Although the speeds are low ( 30kmh) things can get exciting and a few accidents occurred, not the least of which one car broke in two!
