PACK IT UP, PACK IT IN, WHERE TO BEGIN
How to Choose an Electric Motor for Your Build
COMPILED BY EVBG STAFF AND LEGACY EV
T
HE blank canvas. One part opportunity, one part frustration. Be it a lump of clay or an empty engine bay, when the possibilities are endless, where do you start? For an EV builder, one of the biggest challenges is to decide where and how to place all those batteries needed to get their motor spinning in a way that is both safe in design and slick in appearance.
A great way to start painting a blank canvas is to give yourself constraints that guide your work. So before you start building your own EV battery pack, let’s familiarize ourselves with some examples of industry best practices to help you design a bespoke battery pack for your EV repower!
Full disclosure: Battery pack construction is often considered to be the Wild West of the EV industry. There is a lot of opportunity but a significantly larger amount of danger. The notes below are a thought exercise for what to consider before building your own pack. As the industry grows, more standards will develop, and pack development will become a safer and more standardized process.
Industry Best Practices
However you decide to put together your battery pack, there are certain requirements that the finished pack should have to meet industry standards:
INGRESS: Batteries need to be protected from exposure to substances that can affect their performance, such as moisture and dirt. Battery packs that are protected from water or dust ingress keep environmental solids, liquids, and gasses from entering the pack.
VENTED: Battery packs can house thousands of individual cells, meaning there is a significant amount of air in the pack that can fluctuate in volume as the driver travels through different altitudes and temperatures. Furthermore, while lithium-ion battery systems do not release flammable or toxic gasses under normal operating conditions, they will release gasses under failing conditions, such as during thermal runaway. Most EV battery pack vents use dual-stage venting to make sure pressure remains equalized under normal operation, and that excess pressure can be vented quickly in the case of thermal runaway.