1999 ford escort sport

After taking out the gasoline motor we installed a DC electric motor directly to the automatic transmission with a flex coupling - no torque converter.

We put one battery in its original location for accessories ,lights & ignition. Another 12 volt battery is hooked up to run the Dc motor -the transmission is not engaged ,why?

I'm not sure what I'm missing here but an automatic transmission is not going to work without a torque converter to pump the fluid.

The DC motor is directly connected to the input shaft of the transmission.
So there is pressure build up if the motor is running.
I think in order to engage the transmission the electric circuit must show the engine running. May be an electrical circuit that has to be satisfied before transmission is engaged?

Most, if not all, electric cars don't even use transmissions. I'll be honest, I still don't totally understand how an automatic trans and torque converter works, but you might want to take a read of this. Just spinning the input shaft isn't what the torque converter does.

http://www.transmissionrepaircostguide.com/torque-converter/