forklift motor for electric car


Forklift motor for electric car spins the right direction for the first time!

23 Responses to “forklift motor for electric car”

  • BenjaminNelson:

    Yes, this car now has a 12V vacuum pump which runs the power brakes. It also has a vacuum resevoir which can hold enough for 10 full pumps of the brake pedal. (Gas cars can usually do 3 without the engine.)

  • BlackLightStar:

    Nice! This was very informative! :) I’m planning to rebuild my Subaru Domingo van into a electric vehicle. I’m gonna keep the transmission, since it provides the 4WD. I have a question however: what’s your solution to providing vacuum for the brakebooster? Are you gonna add a vacuumpump?

  • 380Banshee:

    counterclockwise…

  • hboyce4:

    Change the bearings, but its normal for a motor to drawn many amps with no load, since the efficiency of the motor is very bad with no load, this means that when you will load it, the consumption wont increase so much

  • AccuracyMarked:

    Yep, I’d go with 8 HP, D.C, 72 to 96 amp motor to reduce the current draw….I’d also use a gearbox with clutch feature….are you trying to go directly to the gear box without clutch??? If you are then you will have more of a headache controlling the speed….and won’t have a disconnecting means as good as a clutch feature.

  • tommyrgood:

    Hey, great work. I’m looking to use a dc electric motor potentially from a forklift to power a boat. any ideas? how should do you think I should go about sealing it? How much does your motor weigh? (capacity issues; motors and batteries weigh massive amounts).

  • peckiledorf:

    good job bro

  • BenjaminNelson:

    The noise wasn’t the bearings. Turns out there was a “bearing cover plate” inside that was loose. The bearings themselves were just fine. Once the cover plate was tightened down, the noise went away.

    This motor has run very well on a 400amp 72V Curtis controller

  • UNDERGROUNDMAFIA:

    your drawing more amps- cause of the bearing makig that grinding noise replace the bearings and use the controller if you have one it will reduce your amps dramaticly..

  • BenjaminNelson:

    I don’t know the HP rating. The motor was unmarked when I got it. The car currently runs at 72V and uses a 400 amp peak Curtis controller. So that would make it 48 HP peak I think!?

  • Jacob1986:

    Nice work on this!!! How many horsepower is this motor?

  • Jacob1986:

    nice work, how much horsepower does this motor have?

  • 1100tech:

    A drive motor free amps of 25 ain’t too bad BUT if you need a spec then i would call “Fontella’s in chicago with the motor numbers and they could give you a spec …the color of yellow it is looks like a clark motor but calling them with the motor numbers would get an answer right away !

  • BenjaminNelson:

    This is 36/48 volt motor. It’s in my car and I have ZERO problems with overheating.

    AC is fantastic. It’s also very expensive, and you need lots of batteries to get to the high voltages needed for the AC motors.

    The noise was later nailed down. It was a weird disc on the front end of the motor, which is sort of a bearing cover.

  • OneCupOfCoffee204:

    You are using a 12 volt motor that is going to heat up pretty good. Try a 36 or 48 volt motor. Or better yet AC motor technology has come a long way. With AC motors you don’t have brushes. By the way the noise is most likely comming from one of the bearings or the cooling fan.

  • khanastenabulat:

    Thanks for the great video. Did you ever figure out what was causing the high current draw while free running? Maybe this is normal?

    Today I managed to get a free series forklift motor from a repair shop. It draws 35 amps when free running off 12 volts! I tried running it in both directions too. It’s only a small one (7″ dia x 9″ long) destined for an electric motorcycle.

  • BenjaminNelson:

    I don’t know what it costs new, but there are a suprising number of places around that rebuild forklift and other motors. Try finding a “motor repair” “motor rewinding” or “electrical rebuilder” through your local yellow pages.

    I am sure they could give you a good price on a rebuild.

  • jvmalum:

    got any idea how much a motor like that goes for brand new, and where to get one.

  • BenjaminNelson:

    I bought the motor from a guy who had a stripped down forklift in his garage. You could get one from a junkyard or a place that specializes in rebuilding motors.

  • matthew13div2:

    Wear did you get the motor? I am thinking of making an electric car I just need the motor.

  • BenjaminNelson:

    I was able to figure how to reverse it.

    The brushes are square on – same amperage both directions. It was originally a drive motor for a forklift, so it had reverse, so the forklift could backup.

  • randycarter2001:

    Reconnect the motor to run backwards, measure the current. If it is lower you have phase problem or what is known as advance, with your brushes. The motor was built to run only 1 direction so the angle between the brushes and the field windings of the motor was set to improve efficiency. You have to set it to the opposite direction. Again this is the problem if you see a big current difference between the 2 directions.

  • jmoyet:

    it would be cool to see that metro driving down the road and electricity.

    hopefully more videos than forkenswift when driving it.

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