Patent ID: 7825623

Claim:
An electric vehicle drive apparatus having an electric motor serving as a power source and a motor drive device, wherein the electric motor comprises: a stator; a rotor disposed coaxially with the stator in a rotatable fashion; a coil winding provided to one of the stator and the rotor; a permanent magnet provided to the other of the stator and the rotor so as to oppose to the coil winding; and a moving means capable of moving one of the stator and the rotor in an axial direction of the rotor to change a distance between the stator and the rotor and thereby change an amount of magnetic flux of the permanent magnet that passes through the coil winding, and wherein the motor drive device comprises: a rotation speed detecting means for detecting a rotation speed of the rotor with respect to the stator; a motor current control circuit for controlling a drive current and regenerative current of the motor; a current detection means for detecting the drive current and regenerative current; a target current setting means for setting a target current in a regenerative control of the motor; and a movement control means for, when the rotation speed is higher than a no-load rotation speed during the regenerative control, controlling the moving means to increase the distance between the stator and the rotor if the regenerative current is larger than the target current while controlling the moving means to decrease the distance between the stator and the rotor if the regenerative current is equal to or lower than the target current.