Re: [electricboats] Silly question - powering with a 120V AC motor?

Perhaps what might be a way to do this is use a 220 /240 volt generator run that into a VFD to make 3 phase to run a motor. 

You will need to calculate the KW or HP needed then double the size of the drive. An example would be a drive that's good for 5 hp would be able to run a 2.5 hp motor. 

I don't know how to calculate gearing or if you would need any. 

On Tue, May 25, 2021 at 10:21 PM, john via groups.io

<oak_box=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:

This is probably a really silly question, but....

Is it possible to find a 120V AC motor that can be speed controlled (and maybe even reversed??) for at least a proof of concept on a boat?

For those of us that prefer electric motors to gas or diesel engines, but are challenged by the investment of a huge battery bank, wouldn't it be cool if we could run an AC motor off an inverter from whatever battery bank we have handy, and use a generator to supplement - or just run off the generator entirely at first?

We've discussed the efficiency gain of running off a higher voltage / lower current.

I'm guessing that there just isn't a suitable way to control and/or reverse an AC motor??

John