Tesla Swap Conversion on Chevy Volt

Topics concerning the Tesla front and rear drive unit drop-in board
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jpindustries
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Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2022 3:13 am

Tesla Swap Conversion on Chevy Volt

Post by jpindustries »

Hi everyone, I recently was given a tesla model s front-drive unit. I've been waiting to find something to do with it and then I bought a salvage chevy volt. The front end was really damaged so I figured I might as well try and do a tesla motor swap on the volt and remove the drivetrain (without the battery). I have the motor mounted but I'm trying to figure out how to control the motor. I came across this Github repository: https://github.com/damienmaguire/Tesla-Drive-Unit which led me to a shop. It seems you can purchase an open-source inverter logic board here. I'm still unsure how that would help me control the motor. How would I wire a BCM throttle to the inverter to control speed? I found this yt video with what appears to be a very minimalist setup: I want something similar to this setup. Can someone please explain to me how they'd recommend I use the open-source tesla v1 logic board for throttle and other components such as relay etc? I tried my best to understand the files in the GitHub repository but I still don't fully understand the setup. I'm not familiar with this type of stuff so I'm sorry if these are really elementary questions. Help is appreciated. Thank you.
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Re: Tesla Swap Conversion on Chevy Volt

Post by P.S.Mangelsdorf »

The Open Inverter SDU board is installed inside the Tesla inverter in place of the factory control electronics. This board then controls the power stages of the inverter, allowing you to operate the drive unit without having to convince it that its still in a Tesla (which is what some aftermarket controllers do).

Start by reading the support thread found here:
https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=77

And the wiki here:
https://openinverter.org/wiki/Tesla_Mod ... %22SDU%22)

Might also be useful to review this:
https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256
especially this:
Jack Bauer wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2019 7:15 pm The support threads on here are the user manual.
I will restate something that Damien and Johannes have said many times: The community is here to help (and I can certainly attest to many people providing invaluable help on my project, and answering plenty of my dumb questions) but you need to begin by reading everything you possibly can, and seeing what you can figure out first. Many people have successfully gotten the SDU working in projects, so nearly everything you need to know has been documented on this forum.
If at first you don't succeed, buy a bigger hammer.

1940 Chevrolet w/ Tesla LDU - "Shocking Chevy" - Completed 2023 Hot Rod Drag Week
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Re: Tesla Swap Conversion on Chevy Volt

Post by arber333 »

Chevy Volt is one complicated beast. If you want to convert it to EV, good luck. A friend modified Opel Ampera (the same car essentially) with LPG gas for engine. Car actually knew how much gasoline it consumed and it spit quite a few errors stating that consumption is not normal!!!
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