Part 2 - What kind of motor should I use?

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The most commonly used motors in EV conversions are series wound DC motors. Most new parts suppliers carry the Advanced DC or Warp lines of motors. There are also quite a few folks using older General Electric, Baldor, and Prestolite motors. Many older conversions were based on surplus starter/generators. While these are still available, they are difficult to mount, inefficient, and generally incompatible with modern controllers. A conversion based on one of these might be functional, but it would ultimately be disappointing. There are a few decent surplus motors available from time to time. Forklift and elevator motors are usually much too heavy to use, while golf cart motors are too small. Recently, AC drive motors have become available, and it is likely that more conversions will be using them. One current source for AC drive systems is Metric AC motor selection differs from DC motor selection because AC motors MUST be matched to a controller. In fact, most AC motors for EVs come with a controller. These controllers often (but not always) include a built-in charger and DC-DC converter.

Here is the detail comparison between DC and AC motors:

DC Motor:

Advantages of a brushed DC motor are low initial cost, high reliability, and simple control of motor speed.
Disadvantages of a DC motor are some maintenance (80-100K Miles), low life-span for high intensity uses. regen would have you doing maintenance every 3,000 miles. Maintenance involves periodically replacing the brushes and springs which carry the electric current, as well as cleaning or replacing the commutator. This is commonly done at 80K to 100K miles

AC motor:

Advantages of an AC motor are long life, high power, High reliability and little maintenance.
Disadvantages of an AC motor are high initial cost and requires mated controller.

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