Most factory electric vehicles use a 3 phase motor. For vehicles these come in two "flavors"
1. Standard induction motor using squirrel cage rotor. Power from battery and speed is controlled with Pulse Width Modulation (commonly called Variable Frequency (Speed also sometimes) Drive
2. Again basically 3 phase except squirrel cage rotor is replaced with high strength magnets (neodynim - dont trust my spelling). Commonly called Brushless DC (BLDC) More properly called Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor. Same basic setup as for induction except VFD has a different control to control for magnets.
Has better torque than a squirrel cage.
500 mile range ?? Well if you want to drive 500 miles in one day OK with me - my butt gets tired. National average is around 30 to 40 miles per day. That is the average and of course there are those who are higher and lower. Electric vehicles will probably not meet the needs of those who drive longer distance
say > 100 miles per day. For them hybrid would work quite well. Kenworth and International have 26,000 GVW with electric drive - operates on startup to about 30 mph then diesel clutched in.
For long trips some people tow an additional battery or a genset. SO long range can be done if you really need it.
RE 120 vs 240 on motors. Wont make a differance on power draw. Not sure about being able to start faster on 240 but doubtful. Each "half" of the winding does the same thing whether connected series or parallel. 240 has some savings on wire cost and definitely on contactor cost / availability.
Dan Bentler
