Need suggestions for a DIY EV Inverters

[machusenpai]

Alright guys, we are designing our own motor, we started from RC cars then Gokart and then Road EV. We are moving from lower voltage to higher voltage since the maximum voltage kelly can support is 168v Nominal. However, we are stuck between buying some controller just for testing or we could probably just reuse some inverters from cars. The thing is we need it to be customizable. Give me your suggestions!

[jrbe]

What kw range are you looking for?

[arber333]

..... However, we are stuck between buying some controller just for testing or we could probably just reuse some inverters from cars. The thing is we need it to be customizable. Give me your suggestions!

I can suggest Chevrolet Volt inverters for those in the US and make openinverter replacement board so you can really control any motor you choose.
It has two identical IGBT units so it could lend itself good to two motor testing brake...

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If you are in EU or other places Chevy components are not easy to get maybe you can use Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV rear inverter or Nissan Leaf inverter. Those can be controled by CAN bus. While its native motor is not a problem to control via resolver i will soon connect one Mitsu inverter with Kia HSG motor to it directly through native CAN interface. Well see what happens....
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Other option is to replace its brain board with Openinverter board like here...
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[machusenpai]

What kw range are you looking for?

40kw per motor continuous (we made some pretty neat custom direct drive hub motor. And some ways to support level 3 chargers.

I can suggest Chevrolet Volt inverters for those in the US and make openinverter replacement board so you can really control any motor you choose.
It has two identical IGBT units so it could lend itself good to two motor testing brake...

viewtopic.php?t=1027

If you are in EU or other places Chevy components are not easy to get maybe you can use Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV rear inverter or Nissan Leaf inverter. Those can be controled by CAN bus. While its native motor is not a problem to control via resolver i will soon connect one Mitsu inverter with Kia HSG motor to it directly through native CAN interface. Well see what happens....
viewtopic.php?t=4307
viewtopic.php?t=2167

Other option is to replace its brain board with Openinverter board like here...
viewtopic.php?t=682&start=325
viewtopic.php?t=179

I am in Canada, so we might be able to... How customizable are Chevy Volt inverters? Can we Customize the torque curve, amps, etc? You said identical IGBTS, which mean it is able to drive two motor simultaneously? We need to drive two motors.

[arber333]

I am in Canada, so we might be able to... How customizable are Chevy Volt inverters? Can we Customize the torque curve, amps, etc? You said identical IGBTS, which mean it is able to drive two motor simultaneously? We need to drive two motors.

What exactly is your application? What kind of control you would like to use?
Each Volt power section is 115kW in power! 650V at 600A.
If you watch my videos i did exactly what you require, Its just that i used two openinverter interfaces and Prius/Auris throttle pedals.
Interface is torque control FOC for IPM PMSM. But lately there is a possibility to drive OI by CAN as well.

For other flavours i used Lebowski drive as well, which was designed for ebike but is successfully driving several cars in a sort of FOC torque control.
It can accept 120deg hall sensor signal or sensorless in case of propellers and other application that is not torque intensive.
Look here for 300Hp from Leaf motor by custom inverter with Lebowski...


If you also need to drive one motor by torque and set another to fight it by regen you can. Like i said each of Volt power sections is completely independent directly from the HV input. There is a large capacitor inside that will drive both sections.
Check this video on disassembly:

I think i still have some empty boards here. Also i have one Volt inverter as well. If you want to begin testing i can quickly build one dual board for you so you can start to use inverter. Later on you can design your own board per your own requirements. PM me if you like.

[machusenpai]

Our motor are wired in WYE (Y) atm and for now we wouldn't benefit much from field weakening etc, but we could benefit of FOC for torque control so we can modulate the torque curve. They are huge BLDC Direct Drive motor custom made by us. We were able to achieve 7.3km/kwh on the highway using outdated 140v square wave Kelly controller. (Now we are changing our design to accommodate more voltage which is why we want to go that route.) Many companies are staying away from hub motors because of the poor low end torque and the unsprung weight. (which is not really noticeable daily driving this converted 2016 Honda Fit..)

For the KW rating, we wont go higher than 400A 400V peak but we want atleast 400v100a continuous.