Hello Everyone. I was reading up on the new Tesla car and how it runs on an induction motor. I have a quick question. I have been learning about induction motors recently. If you see the loops and coils of wire in the picture below, are those loops and coils of wire bare copper? or are they "magnet wire" that has a copper colored enamel on them?
In other words, I want to know if these strands of wire are insulated or not; because if they are bare copper, i would think all hell would break loose when we connect them with power.
Thank you for your replies.
p.s. The motor in the picture is NOT from a tesla car. I put it there for my question.

 

They are magnet wire.

 

If Tesla uses an induction motor I wonder if it is the wound rotor/slip ring style motor?
Max.

 

They obviously have to be insulated, otherwise as you say "all hell will break loose". Looking at the way that winding is done I would not be very happy about the workmanship.
As far as the Tesla motors go, its hard to say, I would expect them to have some sort of VFD drive to control speed/torque.I dont think they use a gearbox. Cant recall offhand which type of motor is best suited to this application, although a brushed DC series wound motor is great for traction drives but there are modern substitutes.

 

They obviously have to be insulated, otherwise as you say "all hell will break loose". Looking at the way that winding is done I would not be very happy about the workmanship.
As far as the Tesla motors go, its hard to say, I would expect them to have some sort of VFD drive to control speed/torque.I dont think they use a gearbox. Cant recall offhand which type of motor is best suited to this application, although a brushed DC series wound motor is great for traction drives but there are modern substitutes.

I am surprised to hear that they use induction motors. In my experience permanent magnet motors have more power density.

The brushed series wound motor has been a criwd pleaser for a long time in DIY EVs because they are pretty simple to employ and hard to destroy.

 

Powertrain
75 kWh or 100 kWh microprocessor controlled, lithium-ion battery
Three phase, four pole AC induction motor with copper rotor
Drive inverter with variable frequency drive and regenerative braking system
Source: https://www.tesla.com/support/model-s-specifications

 

Thanks for the reference. I wasn't questioning the validity of your statements, just expressing my surprise in their choice.

 

Locomotives started switched over to 3phase motors from the 70's-80's on.
Max.

 

The wires have an insulating coating.

 

For some good pictures of the insides of a Tesla's motor have a look at this site - https://chargedevs.com/features/qa-with-teslas-lead-motor-engineer-full-interview/ . You need to go through all of the pages to see them thought.

Tesla is now working on an electric semi tractor. https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/16/this-is-teslas-big-new-all-electric-truck-the-tesla-semi/

 

Hello Everyone. I was reading up on the new Tesla car and how it runs on an induction motor. I have a quick question. I have been learning about induction motors recently. If you see the loops and coils of wire in the picture below, are those loops and coils of wire bare copper? or are they "magnet wire" that has a copper colored enamel on them?
In other words, I want to know if these strands of wire are insulated or not; because if they are bare copper, i would think all hell would break loose when we connect them with power.
Thank you for your replies.
p.s. The motor in the picture is NOT from a tesla car. I put it there for my question.

As others have said, they are insulated. But the coating is not "copper colored enamel", it is just a clear coating. It may be enamel or some other suitable insulating system.

 

From this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formvar#Magnet_wire Wikipedia link (Formvar), you can go to magnet wire.