Do electric cars have to be manual transmission?
because i’m thinking about in the future, converting one of the cars that my parents already own and its an automatic. does it have to be manual? or can i get one of those motors that don’t have a transmission like the one in the tesla roadster? not one of those cheap ones that only reach 80 km/h, i mean the ones that can reach highway speed on one gear.
well, here are a few questions that i have.
do electric cars have to be manual? or can they be automatic?
can i convert the transmission to manual? keep in mind that the gear selector is on the steering column.
how much is it to get an electric motor that doesn’t need a transmission?
and last question, which option you go with if you were doing a conversion yourself? (money is not an issue)
thanks
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Tagged with: conversion • Electric Cars • highway speed • last question • money • parents • steering column • tesla roadster
Filed under: Electric Car Conversion
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Manuals are better for EV conversions for several reasons. First, electric cars don’t idle – at stop lights the motor stops completely. Automatic transmissions work best when they idle and keep the main hydraulic pump working. The second reason, and the one most quoted, is that they shift at the wrong times. Electric motors usually spin faster than gasoline engines, so they don’t need to shift into high gear. And finally, automatics aren’t quite as efficient as manuals.
I have just finished an EV conversion on a Geo Tracker, and I used the original 5-speed manual. I also kept the clutch, which some people like to get rid of. I rarely use 4th or 5th gears – it does 55-70 in 3rd.
But you could use an automatic. For late models, you can drive the car in one of the lower ranges – just don’t shift it into “Drive”. For some popular transmissions like the TH350/TH400, C4/C6 or TorqueFlite, you can get a kit that converts it to a manual shift or programmable shift points. And for some later computer-controlled transmissions, you can get a “performance” computer chip with PC interface that lets you modify the shift points.
Yes, you can run an EV without a transmission, but you need a big, torquey motor to do this, or else have a very lightweight vehicle.
Write me directly if I can help you answer any other questions – onetruerick2008@yahoo.com.
http://www.electricmotorwarehouse.com/three_phase_OPDP1-15hp.htm
http://www.cmggroup.com.sg/
The second link is best. If you want more info do what i did either google it or ask.com
It is easier to use a manual transmission, an auto is possible though but I would not want to use one (lower efficiency and a pain in the rear to program the logic for that to work).
Without a gear change a typical electric motor can not spin fast enough to drive at even an average speed with it. The Tesla has a single speed transmission in it (changes the ratio from the motor to the axle).
The option that I would do if I were to design another one (first was a miata), would be to start with a manual transmission, the auto is not worth it.
EV have neither an auto or manual, they change the speed of the motor.
If money is no object then save money and buy an EV. The cost to convert is twice that of buying one.
I am an engineer and if I built an electric car I would not use a transmission. The transmission is there to make up for weaknesses in the gasoline engine. In that a gas engine only has an effective RPM range of about 5:1. and an even narrower range where it is efficient. Electrics do not have this problem.