Can you tune an electric car?
Can you tune an electric car?
Yes you can!
The Electric Motor
Sitting at the heart of an electric car is the motor. Compared to a traditional combustion engine, the electric motor is much simpler with far fewer moving parts. Manufacturers build a variety of electric cars, all with different output levels. Some EVs have as many as 4 electric motors! The size of the motor, cooling efficiency, inverter speed and battery size all limit the amount of torque a motor can produce.
Thankfully, we can upgrade and tune the complex control systems inside these motors!
The Battery
Although not currently available, developments in technology point towards soon being able to increase your EV’s battery capacity. Increasing the battery capacity, and running a slightly higher voltage will increase the motor power. The car management computer (CMC) will generally decide how much power goes to each motor by calculating factors like range, temperature and demand from the driver to calculate this. By modifying the CMC it’s possible we can raise these limitations by intercepting the sensors. Increasing power to the motor will cause increased motor heat and lower range, of course. Tesla batteries are a good example of this, with the case they are housed in keeping the electrodes/electrolytes cool. This allows for a much more efficient battery. This technology will always improve, offering more dense storage of power and less heat generated.
The Car Management Computer (CMC)
We are working with tuning tool manufactures to read the software from the CMC. Once we can access the management, we can usually modify the software to extract more power. As with all cars, manufacturers limit power output to meet reliability, warranty requirements and market placement. Tesla has already been rolling out new software updates for their cars, producing even more power!
The Inverter
The Inverter takes the DC (Direct Current) from the battery, and outputs it as AC (Alternating Current) for the motor. The inverter switches the AC current which spins the motors. By increasing the switch rate you can increase the power of the motor.
Formula E cars switch at over 10,000 times per second. This switch or Pulse needs to vary according to load, and voltage peaks need to be consistent and strong. The higher the frequency, the more power can be released from the motor. The optimum switching rates for each motor will be different and that’s where our research and development takes place.
Electric Car Tuning
We can already directly tune the Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf and most of the hybrid cars on the road today. We do this by downloading the current software from the CMC, modifying it and re-uploading it. We then test this on our 2000BHP AWD Mustang dyno to ensure it’s safe and efficient. We monitor battery cell temperatures, motor temperatures, RPM at full torque for long periods to really put the tune and the car to the test.
We also have plug in tuning modules that can override the main CMC. These are great as a plug and play system that can be removed at any time without trace. Check out our online shop for a range of electric car tuning products.
