Budget Electric Kart

[weaselman50]

A friend of mine is selling a racing go kart frame for about 200 dollars and it got me thinking about building it.
And just recently my parents for some reason bought 3 industrial tow car things. Similar to this http://www.taylor-dunn.com/vehicle-details-standard.aspx?id=61

From what i've read on this forum the motor probably won't be the best for crazy acceleration, but the batteries should be great.

I could use some advice about whether or not I should get into a project with such supplies, because I don't want to spend more than 300 dollars on a gokart that I won't be able to ride legally.

 

[weaselman50]

Ok I figured out one of the motors is rated at 24/36 volts and 50 amps.

Is this good or bad?

 

[Chuechco]

Electric power going into the motor is 36V * 50A = 1800Watt
Assuming the efficiency is 75%, you get 1350Watt of mechanical power. You wont be fast with it. Maybe you can combine two of these motors?
Batteris is 217 amp hr., 6 volt. That sounds way to heavy. A couple of them and you can get a car going for many miles.

 

[Odonnellp24]

Electric power going into the motor is 36V * 50A = 1800Watt
Assuming the efficiency is 75%, you get 1350Watt of mechanical power. You wont be fast with it. Maybe you can combine two of these motors?
Batteris is 217 amp hr., 6 volt. That sounds way to heavy. A couple of them and you can get a car going for many miles.

Run 6 Batteries in series to get your volts up and you should be able to run your motor 3-4 hrs at a stable rate, maybe half that with starting and stopping, starting current on a motor like that can momentarily top 500A but will go back down to running amps once its up to speed.