EpsilonZero
...still cheaper than a boat!
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The free market already chose electric. For my personal use, an ICE-powered car is never a better option.
Electrathon America
- Thread starter Functional Artist
- Start date
ezcome-ezgo
G'me sumthin to write on
Is this event really still a thing? The calendar is empty.
Functional Artist
Well-known member
It looks like Electrathon is mostly made up of High School & Colledge teams that work on a car during the school year
...& then, race 'em at the end of the school year
...so, most races are in the spring/early summer
Also, looks like it hasn't been as popular since all of the Covid crap
From what I've found, they still race 'em in Michigan & Wisconsin
...& also, down in the Florida & Alabama area
This is a race from back in April 2023
Functional Artist
Well-known member
This is an interesting example of an Electrathon car 
"in 3 days of racing (at Ft. Meiers Raceway) the car traveled over 126 miles
...went ~40 MPH on the straights
...& averaged 24MPH" overall"
"in 3 days of racing (at Ft. Meiers Raceway) the car traveled over 126 miles
...went ~40 MPH on the straights
...& averaged 24MPH" overall"
Budget-Beater Electrathon car
Functional Artist
Well-known member
Here is a video on the thoughts, materials & construction methods used to build the Budget-Beater Elactrathon car. 
Beware: The materials & construction methods in this video, are NOT what we usually use & do to build go karts
...& I don't advise to do it this way
...but, it's very interesting, to see how others have done things
Beware: The materials & construction methods in this video, are NOT what we usually use & do to build go karts
...& I don't advise to do it this way
...but, it's very interesting, to see how others have done things
Functional Artist
Well-known member
Here is the third (& final) video in the series
I cover's more of the technical stuff like motor, controller, battery pack & gear ratio
I cover's more of the technical stuff like motor, controller, battery pack & gear ratio
Functional Artist
Well-known member
While doing more research, I found this "oldie but a goodie" (~1980)
Anyone ever heard of the Lucas Engineering School in Burnley?
Check it out, they certainly had/raced some really interesting "creations"
Anyone ever heard of the Lucas Engineering School in Burnley?
Check it out, they certainly had/raced some really interesting "creations"
Denny
Canned Monster
That’s where they teach you to suck the light out of everything! Joseph Lucas “The Prince of Darkness”.While doing more research, I found this "oldie but a goodie" (~1980)
Anyone ever heard of the Lucas Engineering School in Burnley?
Check it out, they certainly had/raced some really interesting "creations"
ezcome-ezgo
G'me sumthin to write on
The electrics were required to be random, confusing and redundant. The team from England won.
nobled2
Member
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Can't believe I hadn't seen this thread until now. We do something similar here in SW Florida
Master Hack
Well-known member
What? I just noticed this....
Should the name Lucas and the words electric and/or engineering be included in anything?
Thats like saying "doomed" and "to failure" in the same sentence.
Functional Artist
Well-known member
Electrathon America has a Solar Class
...& AFAIU they still run races in a few places, in Florida
Here is an excerpt from the EA rule book
27 SOLAR CLASS
All other Standard Class rules apply with the following additions:
1. Solar panels are permitted provided they are an integral part of the vehicle body and do not protrude to the front, sides or rear.
2. Wings or trailers are not permitted
Here is a link to the rule book
https://www.electrathonamerica.org/_files/ugd/032d61_adf13ba2aa674698914f6caa4a78f49d.pdf
nobled2
Member
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Our solar panels protrude everywhere, lolElectrathon America has a Solar Class
...& AFAIU they still run races in a few places, in Florida
Here is an excerpt from the EA rule book
27 SOLAR CLASS
All other Standard Class rules apply with the following additions:
1. Solar panels are permitted provided they are an integral part of the vehicle body and do not protrude to the front, sides or rear.
2. Wings or trailers are not permitted
Here is a link to the rule book
https://www.electrathonamerica.org/_files/ugd/032d61_adf13ba2aa674698914f6caa4a78f49d.pdf
I think those guys might be a little ahead of us....
My big concern at the moment is finding out how I can get the power curves for a new different motor for us, can't find anything on the ME1003. Only one I can find is for 48volt, we can't really go higher than 36 with our battery limitations. Would love to know what kind of rpm I can expect
Functional Artist
Well-known member
Have you looked into something like this?
MY-1020 36V 800W brushed electric motor w/controller & throttle (~$100.00)
Voltage: 36V
Watts: 800W
Amp: ~30A (peak)
Rated RPM: 2,750
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1665402254...BeTdjH6JW6zwEuN/pfeKO1sSeY|tkp:Bk9SR9Tw2o63Yw
MY-1020 36V 800W brushed electric motor w/controller & throttle (~$100.00)
Voltage: 36V
Watts: 800W
Amp: ~30A (peak)
Rated RPM: 2,750
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1665402254...BeTdjH6JW6zwEuN/pfeKO1sSeY|tkp:Bk9SR9Tw2o63Yw
nobled2
Member
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I don't think 800 Watts will do what we need and we already have the ME1003, it came on another kart from a different school here in the county that is not participating in this any longer. We have used an ME0909 since I inherited this project and made it work great. So good that we can no longer test it on the track at school, too fast to handle the turn. We got 30 mph out of our old kart with that motor before it dumped itself over on its side.
If we can't find the specs for the newer motor, we will probably just swap in one of the spare ME0909 motors that we have and run the snot out of it.
Trying newer batter set-up this year using lithium batteries combining starter batteries and deep cycle batteries in parallel then series to run higher voltage and have what amounts to added capacity due to more of the capacity being useable. Still have no idea if it will work right for the whole race, lol
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Denny
Canned Monster
The problem is your kart is too top heavy. If I were you I’d be looking for a lighter panel or thinking thin film solar panels. Along with some improved driver skills.
nobled2
Member
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Those are flexible panels up there, we have no other place to put them, and they are already 100 pounds lighter than the old solid ones were. A wider track width would help but the track we will run at for the actual competition has no real turns. It is a 1.88 loop around the campus.
Not worried about stability there but it does make testing difficult, hard to know what it does if you don't have good place to actually do it.
Driver skill was also a problem when she dumped it over, she did not recognize when she was starting to get unstable and lift off accelerator to keep it under control
Functional Artist
Well-known member
OK but, those are both HUGE (power hungry) motors for such a small kart
For comparison,
I have a ME0709 (~8HP) powering my full size motorcycle @ 48V (~50MPH top speed)
...& it can & will draw over 200A at times
...& it can & will draw ~100A
...but, only draws ~20A (peak) & ~12A - 15A (constant)
nobled2
Member
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What do those weigh in at? We have to meet min weight of 440 pounds plus driver. Once we get up to speed we run at 90ish amps with the 0909 motor. It's a full frame go kart with solar panels added on.
If we can average 30 mph, we can complete each of the first two heats in a minute thirty seconds giving us over 22 minutes to do nothing but recharge batteries.
These are the motors we have available to us. I'm leaning toward just swapping in what we know and running it.