Drive Motor Control Module

Controls a traction motor on a hybrid or electric vehicle. Where a vehicle has more than one — motors on both axles, or a separate motor and generator in a hybrid transmission — each has its own.

Losing one produces a vehicle that still moves and is markedly different, and both halves matter. It still moves because the remaining motor can drive it, which is designed-in rather than lucky. But a dual-motor vehicle running on one axle has changed its driven-wheel layout — a car that was four-wheel drive is now driven at one end only, which changes its behaviour in the wet, in snow and under acceleration.

Regenerative braking through the lost motor is also gone, so pedal feel and the amount of deceleration on lifting off both change. On a vehicle where one-pedal driving is normal that is a change to how the car slows down, and worth adapting to deliberately rather than discovering at a junction.

The high-voltage caution is not boilerplate. Traction motors and their inverters operate at voltages lethal on contact, and their cabling is orange to say so. Nothing here is to be investigated at home.

Also known as: traction motor control module, motor control module, mcu, drive motor inverter, motor inverter module

Referenced by 15 codes

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Codes involving this component (15)

Other components in Hybrid Propulsion

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