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A~C Controller & Motor Technology Lowers the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) The Technology The key elements of the drive system of any electric vehicle are the battery, the speed controller and the motor. Simple put, the purpose of a motor speed controller is to take a signal representing the demanded speed, and to drive a motor at that speed. The electric vehicle power source is the lead acid deep cycle battery delivering direct current (DC) over a number of hours. The motor converts supplied curent into rotation to drive the vehicle. Older electric vehicles use DC controllers and motors. These controllers have two major drawbacks, they consumed some of the available amps thus reducing the overall number of hours available to drive the motor. And the DC motor uses small brushes inside the motor, these carbon brushes are one of the least costly parts in the electic motor. On the other hand, they usually are the key part which delivers the durability ("life-time") and performance to the motor they are used in. The call out time and down time of the motor when the brushes need replacing are the biggest cost factors with this type of motor. The A~C motor operates without brushes. The new generation A~C controllers take the DC current and convert it into alternating current (AC) and regulate this to the amount needed by the motor to reach the desired speed. Very little current is used in the controller compared to DC controllers. The A~C controller is a sophisticated microprocessor controlled device and can also contribute to lower operating costs via regenerative braking. The motor when driven takes current from the battery and converts this to rotation, under braking this 'free wheel' rotation can be used to generate current that is put back into the battery, regenerative braking. A motor and a dynamo are in effect the same device. The Savings The total cost of ownership can be expressed as: COA + ( AMC + AFC ) x Y = TCO COA = Cost of acquisition of the vehicle AMC = Annual maintenance cost AFC = Annual fuel cost Y = Years of vehicle life The A~C motor and controller combined have three major advantages over the DC controller and motor that will lower the total cost of a vehicle over its lifetime (TCO) 1) Batteries last longer between recharges, no power loss in the controller. 2) Regenerative braking tops up the battery while working 3) Cost of maintenance, no brushes need replacing, reducing maintenance and lost time. A major manufacturer produced the following data over a period of 2,500 hours of vehicle usage.
This table illustrates how a petrol or diesel vehicle can have a lower COA but the cost of fuel and maintenance greatly increase the TCO after the sale. An electric vehicle will have a relataively higher COA but the running and maintenance costs are much lower over the vehicle life. The A~C vehicle has the lowest maintenance costs and running costs due the contribution from regenerative braking. For more information > Contact Us |
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