GM BAS Gen1/2007-2009: Worthy to mess with?

Hello everyone, good morning/afternoon/evening as well.

Like the title says, i'm wondering about if messing with those mild hybrid alternators could be a good idea for a small project. I saw (and read with a lot of interest and curiosity) the Buick eAssist mild hybrid project ( https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=85514 ), seeing that it was really powerful and versatile, and i began to think: "If the Gen2/eAssist (2012-onwards) is capable of double the nominal HP figures, or maybe even more than that, maybe the Gen1/BAS (2007-2009) could be used as well."

Yeah, i know that the BAS/Gen1 is more of an alternator than a motor (being hybrid PM/field coil+brushes instead of AC induction), and i already checked out the thread "The One True Alter-motor" ( https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=31584 ), created by AcuteAero in 2011, but unfortunately i didn't saw any more time invested or other people talking about it, haven't seen tests of any type.

Then i had the idea of trying to buy one of these BAS pieces for me to test in a close future. The first part would be "find a part to begin with", and with help of Car-Part(dot)com, i found one for 45$, and converting that to my local currency would be close to 250BRL (the starting value of a new alternator in some auto parts places), so that's not the problem. The problem would be how the BAS motor would be sent from the store to my home, and in that i'm still thinking about, because previous calculations fell in the ballpark of 200USD shipping, without counting the added value of the redirecting company going face-to-face and buying it for me.

Any tips, advices, or anything relevant to this topic and i would love to read your answers.
Have a good day/night, and stay safe everyone.

If you have the voltage to run it to its potential, the Hyundai HSG is a far better option than either BAS/eAssist motor. There are several threads on it now.

coleasterling said:

If you have the voltage to run it to its potential, the Hyundai HSG is a far better option than either BAS/eAssist motor. There are several threads on it now.

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Well, i was checking the threads about the HSG and: It looks powerful (up to 20kW following what some people already said before), and showing really good results (even more when two are coupled together, like the kart i saw), but they're being tested and used well above the voltage that i was going to keep it (below 72V/20s). Batteries aren't easy to get here as well (only heavy/weak lead-acid batteries, no EV modules, no 18650 batteries of reputable brands, almost no chance of importing lithium batteries from places like BatteryHookup or other websites by myself, its hard when countries aren't allowed to make those "simple" things easily and/or legally), so i would try with RC LiPo's in series, low-voltage beepers, and a VESC (below 100USD i think i have a chance of import it and not being taxed with 60% or more of the importing taxes (some people had already paid more than double the product cost+shipping cost here)).

Well, if stuff is hard to import, then how about going the other way:

What exactly do you have available there? What kinds of electric motors are in things you can buy, at prices you can afford?

What kind of electric-motor-powered devices or vehicles do you have around you?

It may be cheaper to get one of those, and strip it for the parts you need, and sell the rest off to pay for what you keep, if a suitable one comes up.

I would suggest posting a list of what you can get, but since we don't yet have any idea what your project is or requires, it wouldn't really help us help you.

amberwolf said:

Well, if stuff is hard to import, then how about going the other way:

What exactly do you have available there? What kinds of electric motors are in things you can buy, at prices you can afford?

What kind of electric-motor-powered devices or vehicles do you have around you?

It may be cheaper to get one of those, and strip it for the parts you need, and sell the rest off to pay for what you keep, if a suitable one comes up.

I would suggest posting a list of what you can get, but since we don't yet have any idea what your project is or requires, it wouldn't really help us help you.

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First of all, my idea is to make a kart, i'm not a light person (290lbs) and that's why i was thinking in the BAS alternator instead of a standard alternator or any other kind of motors.

In my country, checking brazilian eBay equivalents, i can find small brushless motors (800-1500W 48V) costing next to 185USD, ebike controllers up to 2500W costing up to 256USD, bicycle hub motors costing up to 280USD, and nothing more in this range being electric (Predator 212CC-like engines and motorcycle engines are similar in price as well).

In the matter of electric-powered vehicles, i see ebikes with small hub motors, e-scooters and e-mopeds costing up to 1,830USD new (used ones are difficult to find), Razor products costing up to 640USD, golf cars cost up to 2,740USD, used EV cars are expensive, and even wrecked ones are from other states and hard to find.

So y'all don't have old forklifts, or lawnmowers, or anything else with medium-large-ish electric motors in them? Old harvesting equipment? etc?

I don't just mean what's on ebay/etc. What is laying around in junkyards? The local fixit guys? Rusting away somewhere unused?

I'll bet there are quite a few motors that would do what you want, at least for short runs, without serious external cooling methods. Some may be far overkill, and be kinda big and heavy...but if they're cheap enough....


If you have to, you can link up multiple motors, if they're all teh same. LIke old wheelchair/powerchair motors. They're only about 350-500w each, but fairly easy to put sprockets on the wheel hub mounts on the gearbox axles, and link them all to the same wheel input via chain(s).

amberwolf said:

So y'all don't have old forklifts, or lawnmowers, or anything else with medium-large-ish electric motors in them? Old harvesting equipment? etc?

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Forklift motors are close to 800-1000USD here, but i need to check the updated prices and models with the people that work with them when the lockdown is over. Ride-on lawnmowers here aren't common as electric models, and harvesting equipment i only know one place near me that works with this.

amberwolf said:

I don't just mean what's on ebay/etc. What is laying around in junkyards? The local fixit guys? Rusting away somewhere unused?

I'll bet there are quite a few motors that would do what you want, at least for short runs, without serious external cooling methods. Some may be far overkill, and be kinda big and heavy...but if they're cheap enough....

Click to expand...

Well, junkyards here don't have websites, nor fb pages where i can check what they have, so i need to wait for them to open, so i can see what they can have. "Fixit guys" around my house don't touch electric motors unless they are inside washing machines that they need to fix.

amberwolf said:

If you have to, you can link up multiple motors, if they're all teh same. LIke old wheelchair/powerchair motors. They're only about 350-500w each, but fairly easy to put sprockets on the wheel hub mounts on the gearbox axles, and link them all to the same wheel input via chain(s).

Click to expand...

This last option is beginning to be the only one that is feasible enough for me to follow, so i will begin to search those wheelchair motors.


I still want to check with a friend if he can help me to check electric motors and propulsion systems in Paraguay, because if i found motors cheap there, i can travel by bus, cross the frontier between both countries and buy the motors there, because the import limit bringing them by feet is 500USD, 5-10x higher than importing them using postal packages