Just plumbing

Now wait a minute. Plumbing? In an electric car? Let me explain...

Although electric motors are more efficient at energy conversion than gasoline engines they are not 100% efficient. Some of the energy is lost as heat within the controller.

The Zilla controller I am using is capable of drawing more than 300amps at 144+ volts. That's over 43,000 watts (think of lighting 4300 light bulbs at once). Now the controller is more efficient than a light bulb in terms of heat loss...but you get the point.

In order to keep the controller from overheating the Zilla is equipped with a liquid cooled heat sink. Coolant is constantly circulating through the controller to capture this heat. The coolant then flows through a small (book size) radiator to discard the heat before being pumped back through the Zilla.

Here is a picture of the pump (bronze, round thing at the bottom). The valve at the top is for adding coolant to the loop and purging air. You can see the green antifreeze in the tubing.


Here is the radiator.