Popular Electric Car Motors

There are three common types of electric motors that are used for electric cars; they are

The DC Series Wound Electric Motor

The Permanent Magnet DC Motor

The Three Phase AC Induction Electric Motor

The DC Series Wound Motor is capable of of providing all it's torque or turning force from the time it is started; like you experience when using an electric drill.

The short coming of the DC Series Wound Motor is that it does not do a good job in conditions that require fairly constant speed and varying load condition. This means that a DC Series Wound Electric Motor is really only good if your driving on a flat straight road.

If your going to be driving on hilly terrain and zigg-zagging a lot the efficiency of the motor drops and you won't be able to climb that hill quickly.

Another negative aspect of the DC Series Wound Electric Motor is that it must be run under full load. What this means is that you can not test the motor without it being fully installed in your electric car.

If the motor is operated with no load the speed at which it turns can damage the motor and it spins with so much force that it can seriously injure someone near the motor.


The Permanent Magnet DC Motor is the second most popular motor used in electric cars. This type of motor uses brushes to function but unlike is DC Series Wound Motor and Three Phase Ac Induction Cousins it generates and extreme amount of noise and lots of electrical radio interference.

I'm sure you've used a hair dryer before and you know how much noise this appliance makes. Also unlike the DC Series Wound Motor which has a natural built in filtering capability due to the winding configuration which suppresses electrical noise interference; the Permanent Magnet DC Motor has no such filtering mechanism.


The third most used motor for electric cars or electric vehicles is the Three Phase AC Induction Electric Motor. These motors offer the best of both worlds, they provide high starting torque and are able to work well in all terrain conditions. To use a Three Phase AC Induction Electric Motor requires a more complicated and thus more expensive type of controller.

The Direct Current provided by the batteries must be converted into Three Phase AC this is done with an sophisticated inverter set up which replaces the controller that is normally used for a DC Motor set up. Another upside of a Three Phase AC Induction Electric Motor drive system is that it uses energy more efficiently, as great regenerative breaking - all this means is that the batteries are charged as you slow the car down to stop it, as a result you obtain performance that close to that of a gas power vehicle.


Learn more about Electric Car Conversions, where to find and how to select the best car, motor, batteries, controllers and how to assemble everything easily and quickly with a our complete step-by-step video tutorial package.