1000W Electric Voiturette - Electrical System          (Main Home Page)

2 24V 500W DC Electric Motors

Not Shown - Instrument panel with ignition switch, battery meter and reverse switch

24V 150 Amp 4-Quadrant operation Motor Speed Controller with Heat Sink

click on the links for descriptions and DETAILED PRINTABLE ENGINEERING PLANS for the main sub-assemblies

Electrical System & Circuit

Assembly Sheet

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Standard low power 24V DC electric drive system - motors, motor speed controller, battery pack and throttle/control components.

24V 76AmpH Rechargeable Lead Acid Battery Pack

(Also required is a multi-mode charger)

Foot operated spring return throttle mechanism

The principal elements of the electrical drive system are the DC battery motor controller, the DC electric motors and the rechargeable lead-acid batteries. In addition the motor speed controller requires low power speed "demand" signals (from the throttle potentiometer). There is also an on/off switch, a reverse switch and optionally a battery condition monitor to let you see the stage of charge of the batteries. The DC battery motor controller is at the heart of the system - it takes the fixed nominal 24V from the battery pack and outputs a variable 0 to 24V to the motors. This delivers the voiturette's variable speed. By reversing the polarity to the electric motors the speed controller also provides the reverse drive. The motor controller suggested in the plans can be substituted by other similar current rated DC battery motor controllers - you choose.

The 24V 150 Amp speed controller used in our build is the 4QD-150-24/36. Detailed user instructions for this including detailed wiring arrangements can be found in the user manual available from 4QD here.

The 24V 500W DC electric motors are commonly available as electric scooter/trike spares and are easily mounted and connected to the drive transmission by roller chain.

Standard sized 38 AmpH 12V rechargeable lead acid batteries are used. These are manufactured by a large range of suppliers and can provide several hundred charge cycles during their lifetime. You'll also need a good multi-mode battery charger to keep the batteries in good condition.

The drive time between charges should be of the order of 2 hours but this does depend upon the drive conditions and rider weight.

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