Prius inverter capabilities

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conductiveclassics
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Prius inverter capabilities

Post by conductiveclassics »

New to the forum. Have done a couple of conversions but using mostly "stock" components or proven methods. What I am thinking of doing is trying to use a Prius inverter to control the front drive motor from a Tesla model 3. I have a Model 3 with a broken gear box and want to remove the motor and use it for another project. It appears it is a "slave" unit to the rear motor from my understanding and no one to my knowledge makes a controller for it in a stand alone application. These motors are pretty cheap and widely available so if a solution could be worked out I think it would be great for the conversion world. I have plenty of fabrication skills so building an adapter of some sort is not an issue just need to control the motor.

I have seen someone make one turn with a prius controller but that was all they did, make it turn, no load, no real rpm they were just testing to see if the motor was good.

Thanks!!!! I look forward to hearing what some of you have to say and learning more from this forum!!
MattsAwesomeStuff
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Re: Prius inverter capabilities

Post by MattsAwesomeStuff »

Should be possible. Gen 2 and Gen 3 have been decently reverse-engineered.

https://openinverter.org/wiki/Toyota_Pr ... 2_Inverter

https://openinverter.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius_Gen3_Board

And there's tutorials for how to use OpenInverter to power any motor.
Pete9008
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Re: Prius inverter capabilities

Post by Pete9008 »

I'm planning to use the Prius inverter but would have reservations about getting more than 100kW out of it (dependant on battery voltage). I think the Tesla Model 3 front motor is rated for nearer 160kW and so it's unlikely that you would get the full potential out of it using the Prius inverter.

Does the Model 3 front motor still have the inverter built into it like the SDU and LDU do?
conductiveclassics
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Re: Prius inverter capabilities

Post by conductiveclassics »

Pete9008 From what I understand the front motor is a "slave" motor to the rear. I assume it must still have some sort of inverter built into it as there is DC power running into it and the motor is AC but I think some of the "control" aspects in it are missing and provided by the rear motor.

Thanks for the info, I will keep researching to see what I can find. Prius inverter just seemed the least expensive and most available route to go. Maybe I can look into a Leaf inverter...
Pete9008
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Re: Prius inverter capabilities

Post by Pete9008 »

The Prius should be able to drive it, it just depends on what power levels you would like.

The Leaf inverter is worth a look, also arber333 has previously mentioned the Volt inverter as being a possibility, see viewtopic.php?p=47397#p47397

If there is DC running to it then it's very likely that it has a built in inverter and given time someone will reverse engineer it, depends what your timescales are...
arber333
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Re: Prius inverter capabilities

Post by arber333 »

Hm... joining the fray...
Can you tell what kind of rating does that motor have?

Chevy Volt inverter single side can give 115KW official power. I can attest Leaf motor can pull 140kW from it.
If you would parallel both inverter sides i am sure it would give more than 200kW.

You could even drive 2 motors if you excercised some restraint to power. I mean each igbt bridge can provide 600A which should be enough for start.

I think Leaf inverter has 800A igbt bridge though...
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