Shifting Gears in Electric Car Conversions

by Bryan
(Ohio)

Can I shift gears to meet both city and highway speed limits in my conversion? I keep reading about pinning in second or third gears. In my case I need 25 to 60mph.

Hi, Brian -
This got me thinking...why do we shift gears, anyway?
Well, to get up to speed smoothly, efficiently as possible, and keep the engine from stalling. But your average series DC electric motor (the most popular kind) won't stall, even if you start it out from a higher gear.

The controller acts like a big dimmer switch that "controls" the output of the motor based on information gathered by the "pot box", which gets its information from the foot on the accelerator.

The truth is, you don't really NEED that transmission. It's just more convenient to leave it where it is and use it.

A series DC motor has all the available torque from a complete standstill, and needless to say, your gasmobile's transmission wasn't designed for that kind of challenge. If you enjoy employing that low-end torque - and who doesn't, really - your poor old tranny will sooner or later pay the price; )

You can do what others have done, and leave yourself one lower gear (not the lowest) for city driving, and one higher gear for freeway driving. You don't really "need" to shift into the freeway gear, but it'll save your battery.

Regards,
Lynne