Let’s have a quick and exclusive look at the Renault Zoe R240 motor. This – in theory – would be a perfect candidate for the conversion of the Renault Fuego. Sharing a bit of history with the Renault family, with similar power and dimensions (length) like the original Fuego engine, it would have been a pretty good match.
Unfortunately, I have tried to look a bit closer into this motor, but I couldn’t get any further.
With three lines and a neutral, it looks like the motor is Y-wired whereas most usual 3 phase motors are delta-wired. I think this is due to the fact that Renault used the motor as a part of the Chamaeleon charging system which allowed charging up to 43 kW (!!) on the Continental model and 22 kW on this R240 Renault inhouse unit without water cooling using the stator windings as part of the charging circuit – presumably as a transformer for charging from an AC source. This might be the reason for the unusual stator winding (with a neutral). Remember that all other EV’s (including premium cars like Tesla) only offer charging up to 11kW as they are working with a separate, dedicated charger.
The problem for me with this motor now is that due to its powered rotor and wye-wired stator the only practical way to drive this motor currently is the OEM inverter-controller. It wouldn’t respond to any other standard industrial or automotive inverter. Unfortunately, the OEM Renault inverter unit is still a black box at the moment, so we have no practical way to gain control access directly to the motor as we speak. I have one of these R240 motors in storage at the moment, so in case somebody will eventually find a solution to drive these motors, I can still look into this option. If anybody out there would have more information, please get in touch with me!
