Newbi wanna see if worth making electric go cart

[Porsche650]

I was in the idea to make and electric go cart but very confused on how to come to my conclusion. I've seen tons of videos with high voltage go carts want sumthing with torque but nothing too crazy. What type of motor should i use (how many volts?, How many watts, will 24 volts and 2 motors be better then one?). Can you get any type of speed controller for motors as long as you know how many volts and watts they are?. What should u expect with batteries is their anytype of fast charge possible instead of 2 or 3 hours? where should u get batteries car battery or something like an allterrain vehicle battery. The motor would also i would persume gears to reach any sort of high mph besides tons of torque and it goes to a wopping 5mph after all that torque? What type of gears to use? Is their a way to find out the speed and an idea of drive time on paper or is it guesstimate? I know its a ton of questions but wanna understand a few things before i try very excitied to know sounds like a cool weekend toy to race around a parking lot.

 

[wingnut]

I'd say that the easiest way to go without getting too technical is to use an existing, commercially produced electric vehicle as a guide. Why re-invent the wheel? As it happens, there's a real good example of a highly evolved and commonly used electric vehicle to use. It's called a golf cart . With an upgraded motor and a good set of batteries, golf carts can do burn outs and last beyond 30min of drive time on a charge. Voltages are typically 36 or 48 volts using banks of 6v lead acid batteries.

One way to improve performance is to build your go-cart lighter than a golf cart. Shouldn't be hard since it's just for one person and if your building for road use you can forgo the suspension. Another advantage to this approach is that you can buy used golf cart motors on ebay for under $100. Controllers are also relatively cheap. The most expensive part will be the batteries but I understand that you can get those at junk yards.

There's just one catch to using a golf cart motor. You have to find a way to support the output side of the motor's armature. They generally have an open face with no bearing or support at all. Search for "Neuroti-Kart" on youtube to see an excellent example of what you can do with this kind of setup. There's even a video with construction details.

 

[carbon]

750 watts=1 hp, but electric works different from gas
you only really need about 2000 watts to have a great, fun cart
more is always better though
you'd be surprised how powerful some common electrics can be, for example, some vacuums have almost 2 horsepower (1500 watts)
the only drawback is most common electrics run on 120 volt (read 10 BATTERIES), so an inverter is a good option (12v to 120v)

 

[Porsche650]

So if 750 watt = 1 hp and u need to get a big motor to make a 180lbs person even move, taking in to consideration u have to buy a motor with enough power, batteries,controller,throttle, wire, connectors such as battery charger poles, seems like ur lookin at over $500 easy on just that not including sprockets and other essentials or maybe i am seeing sumthing wrong. In terms of the golf cart motor how many watts does that produce? Any helpful websites? Been googling but nothin with in depth detail on calculating motor ratio and watts and time the go cart will run considering watts and voltage

 

[carbon]

i'm building a kart, very heavy on DIY, i have used parts from two old bicycles and a vacuum. i dont need to buy any more parts other than batteries and i've only spend $80 so far. take stuff apart, be creative and use everything you have.
for golf cart motors, check the manufacturers site. it will probably give hp, but just multiply by 750 to get watts. run time depends on battery amp-hours. a 12 volt battery with 12 amp hours will run for one hour at 12 amps of current draw, half an hour at 24 amps of current draw.
P.S. you dont need a controller if your motor isnt too powerful or if youre too heavy. you only really need it if your motor is powerful enough to do burnouts. the kart wont be as smooth, but you can modulate the throttle by turning it alternately on and off. it wont damage the motor

 

[Porsche650]

How did you convert the AC motor to use DC Batteries? Will the motor also perform regenerative braking since its AC? What would u consider along the terms of motors AC or DC?

 

[thatkidrob]

If i were you, i wouldn't even consider making an electric go kart, you won't get as much power as you would with a gas engine.

 

[carbon]

How did you convert the AC motor to use DC Batteries? Will the motor also perform regenerative braking since its AC? What would u consider along the terms of motors AC or DC?

a vacuum motor is universal, which means it runs on both AC and DC. the only problem is that it uses 120v, not 12 so i have to step up the voltage using a transformer or inverter
i dont think it will perform regenerative braking, but i dont know.

"along the terms of motors AC or DC?"
?
do you mean power?