I am hoping to find an electric motor that could have the same/greater horsepower and torque as a Volvo D13 diesel engine, I am hoping to convert a shuttle bus into an EV and I need to know if an electric motor exists that is powerful enough.
I am hoping to find an electric motor that could have the same/greater horsepower and torque as a Volvo D13 diesel engine, I am hoping to convert a shuttle bus into an EV and I need to know if an electric motor exists that is powerful enough.
The D13:
You can’t just get an electric motor with these specs and slap it in and go. EVERYTHING is different!
Since an EV carries a really limited amount of fuel (100kWh = 3 galons of petrol) the entire setup MUST be as efficient as possible to get any range at all. An EV therefore consists of an entire cooperating ecosystem: motor(s) + high voltage battery + BMS + charging system + cooling/heating system + 12V.
It all starts with reducing aerodynamic drag… A shuttle bus’s exterior is shaped like a shed. It is NOT aerodynamically shaped. The enormous air intake is completely useless in an EV, causes huge amounts of drag too. Highway energy consumption will be horrendous.
Still want to continue the conversion?
Do what everybody does: get 1 or 2 (you need a LOT of batteries) crashed Teslas as donors. Transplant their entire system. A Tesla Semi is propelled by 3 Tesla Plaid motors (= 1 Tesla Plaid car, $90k new), but the semi battery is 1000kWh where the car has 100kWh…
Biggest issue with the will be form factor. Big engine is replaced by small motor. Cooling is smaller too. Big battery(ies) need to be fitted somewhere, preferably to the bottom of the vehicle.
Good luck.
Hey, anything cheaper than 6 mpg works, it’s a big project but worth it.
Only if you’re ok with the 85 mile total range that a full $20k 100kwh battery pack will give you.
I’m probably going to build my own
Build your own pack?
Wow? How are you going to handle cooling? BMS? You can’t just air cool the suckers and you need a cell-aware BMS with appropriate control software.
Well, you air cool it can but the old Nissan Leaf demonstrates how bad an idea that is and that was a pretty small motor it was driving.
People go with Tesla packs because it includes a full water cooling conduit and pump system and sensors and BMS and balanced DC/DC inverter, etc.
It depends on the weight of the vehicle. A 100 kWh pack might give you 300 miles of range at 3 miles per kWh. Also batteries are available for $100 to $150 per kWh so that might only cost $10,000 to $15,000.