Prius motor and inverter with Gen3 dual motor kit in Land Rover S3 conversion

[JeffAU]

I am very much sold on the Dual Motor Gen3 as Prius parts can be obtained very cheaply in Australia, but not much else can.

In the long run I would ideally like to have a dual motor set up with one driving the input to the gearbox with or without the clutch and (probably later as an upgrade) install a second one connected to the front drive shaft just after the transfer case, which will only run part time when gear ratios are matched and will mainly be for 4 wheel regen braking.

After discussing on Diyelectric car the option of splitting motors for main and front won’t work because of the master-slave configuration. I will probably have to go with two complete sets of motors, inverter, and kits for this. I will probably only concentrate on using one set for the main drive for the original build and get it roadworthy like this.

I would like to still use this kit and setup with both motors as a single drive. If the gear reduction can’t be removed to run into the car’s transmission - Does anyone have ideas of wheather prius transaxle can be connected to gearbox from the damper (that went to the ICE) and somehow integrating it into the vehicles existing clutch plate?

Or if this set up with Prius inverter can be used with a different AC motor?

[LRBen]

That's an interesting idea for dual motors on a Land Rover. The common methods I have seen before have been to go onto the gearbox with something like a leaf motor, or remove the gearbox and go into the transfer box with something more powerful. Or to take out the gearbox and transfer box and have a transaxle motor like a Tesla large drive with outputs to the front and rear differentials. But none use dual motors.
Would you disconnect the front diff from the transfer box in that case in order to connect the motor?

You can use many different motors with a Prius Inverter. I am using a Mitsubishi Outlander rear motor on my gen 2 inverter.

[JeffAU]

Just a question regarding the Prius Gen 3 Dual Motor Controller Kit - Does this allow using the boost converter to provide around 600v for both motors from a Battery pack of around 200v?(basically can I use this for a conversion using both original Prius motors and put a 200v pack in it instead of building a 600v pack?). I’m assuming the boost converter is contained in the inverter itself.

[Jack Bauer]

Why would you need 600v?

[arber333]

Why would you need 600v?

Please calm down...lets not go there...

[SRFirefox]

Just a question regarding the Prius Gen 3 Dual Motor Controller Kit - Does this allow using the boost converter to provide around 600v for both motors from a Battery pack of around 200v?(basically can I use this for a conversion using both original Prius motors and put a 200v pack in it instead of building a 600v pack?). I’m assuming the boost converter is contained in the inverter itself.

The buck-boost section of the inverter is only capable of 30kW in either direction - not enough to comfortably move the car in most road situations. However, in Damien's videos he shows a place to access the HV bus through a side cover where you can skip the buck-boost and connect a battery straight to it. This input will reasonably take anything above 30ish volts and below 500 volts to run the transaxle. While the main bus capacitor for the inverter is indeed rated for 650V, running continuously at this voltage level is unnecessary and will likely damage the capacitor much more quickly than at a more modest 300-450V bus.

Additionally, johu's software implements good field weakening algorithms and internal permanent magnet (IPM) machines like those in the vast majority of automotive applications take good advantage of it, winding all the way out to their rpm limit without a bus voltage that will get them there without field weakening. The motors in the Gen 3 Prius transaxle also have their highest efficiency range between 3000 and 8000 rpm of a rated 15000 or so rpm, which is where you will do the majority of your driving anyway.

The lower bus voltage is fine and will work perfectly well and be more reliable and safer for you. Don't worry about getting a 600V battery and aim for a 72 to 100 series cell pack and call it a day.

[JeffAU]

Hi, It's been a while since I posted about this project. I received the Dual motor kit quickly after ordering from EVBMW in good order but so far haven't got the chance to work on this and yet to get a prius Gen 3 inverter to use this with but fairly cheap and easy to get where I am in Australia. I did get a Gen3 Transaxle but haven't got around to do any work on mechanically modifying this to use in EV with both motors.

I'm just wondering If anyone has progressed further with any similar projects involving using both motors in a Gen3 prius Transaxle and any recommendations such as welding planetary gears or otherwise, and if anyone has got a project using this design on the road and how well it performs?

I would also be keen to hear from anyone who has had experience with the EVBMW Dual Motor logic board, using Gen 3 inverter and Transaxle as to what a minimum battery voltage should be to get reasonable performance out of this, if this is around 300volts in real life. I am about to order some of my batteries from Xuba batteries Alibaba store (highly recommend by diysolarforum but selected a 94ah cell recommended for EVs) and about to order a quantity for one series string - about 94 cells and trying to work out if I could get away with less to start with. I'll be ordering more cells later to increase battery capacity and range, probably change to 2 or 3 parrallel to upgrade then or just have 2 seperate battery packs If I can't get the same cells later or if cell balancing with existing ones doesn't work. I've decided to start with the smaller quantity in the first place, both to test the design as I will need a power source for this, and to test those particular batteries before I commit to my entire final battery cell quantity. Any recommendations for a good value BMS to work with this size system (around 94s initially using 1p 94AH cells, but ideally upgradable to 3p 94AH cells) would be greatly appreciated. I've been looking at some Orion ones.