DC MOTOR HORSEPOWER RATINGS:

The Horsepower ratings for Electric Motors are a little deceiving, Electric Motors have about 3 times the torque than gas motors and the peak horsepower is basically limited only to the controller used. An Advanced DC motor rated at 17.5 hp will power a Geo-metro car to over 70 mph.

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Most Large applications use a series wound DC motor. There aren't any magnets, but instead a field winding of wire that becomes an electro magnet when current flows through it. A series motor means that the same current that flows through the rest of the motor (armature) also flows through the field windings. Heavy duty wire and connections are used for every aspect of the motor to withstand the high current. There are also some benefits concerning torque. The motor is wired so that the negative output side of the controller goes into the field winding, the field winding output is shorted to the armature, and the other armature connection is hooked to the positive side of the battery pack.

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Permanent Magnet motors:

These motors are about the best and most efficient motors you can find at reasonable prices for light electric vehicles and general industrial applications. Reliability is higher than separately excited field motors due to fewer electronic parts and no possibility of shorting out the field. They operate more efficiently at lower speed control than separately excited field motors as well, and produce more horsepower in a smaller, lighter motor. Horsepower ratings on these motors is the nominal rating at the motors most efficient operation. Each motor can deliver considerably higher HP for intermittent periods during actual use.

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 "The brushed series DC motor is the best overall motor for affordable High Power drive applications. AC motors operate at high rpm that have to be stepped down and have expensive and complex speed control systems. Brushless DC motors (actually another kind of AC motor) also require expensive and unreliable controllers. Permanent magnet motors are very efficient, but only in a very narrow rpm band, and quickly lose their efficiency in the varying speeds of normal usage. Shunt and compound motors are more expensive to build and have poorer acceleration than series motors.

Tags: Motor Information