Thinking of making an electric kart

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Caesium

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I've always wanted to make a kart and I love electric vehicles, so why not?

I'm thinking of using an ES-33 motor at 72V along with a Comet 94C series torque converter, which they say is okay to use up to 40hp. I'm not really sure about the drivetrain for electric vehicles, but it looks like most of them are direct drive with a single gear. What kind of effect would a torque converter have when joined with an electric motor?
 
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BradenM

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I don't think thats going to be possible, because typically, electric motors don't have very high RPM. Your going to have fun engaging the clutch, let alone utilizing the gear ratios of the torque converter.
 
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Caesium

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I believe the ES-33 can go up to 5500 rpm, and the torque converter has a 1600-4600 rpm range. Would that be sufficient, or would I have better luck if I used something with a lower range? The 700 series has an 800-4000 rpm range.
 
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Qmavam

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Caesium said:
I believe the ES-33 can go up to 5500 rpm, and the torque converter has a 1600-4600 rpm range. Would that be sufficient, or would I have better luck if I used something with a lower range? The 700 series has an 800-4000 rpm range.
Click to expand...

What is the purpose of the torque converter with an electric?
I can't see any reason to have one.
In case you haven't watched it, here's a kart my son and I put together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MKjbXltAew
Mike
 
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utilizing a tav or other tranny in an electric will reduce the amp load thereby increasing driving time. correct me if i'm wrong.
 
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Qmavam

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mike75925 said:
utilizing a tav or other tranny in an electric will reduce the amp load thereby increasing driving time. correct me if i'm wrong.
Click to expand...

I have to say "I don't know"
If you look over the electric car forums rarely does anyone
use a transmission.
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/

It is true that when you first jump on the throttle it draws
a large current but the quickly comes down as speed increases.
I suspect any driving time increase would be small, also the tav
would add loss to the system.

Electric motors have maximum torque at zero rpm, so you don't need to get the rpm up in the torque curve before the clutch
engages.

The electric motor on my gokart is rated 2600rpm at 28 volts.
But I run it at 48volts so it probably hits over 4000 rpm.

Do you have a graph of any TAV showing engagement and
ratio versus rpm?
Mike
 
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truesprocket

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would a motorcycle clutch assemblly work good? & how can I make a controller for a golfcart sized system? I think the clutch will work & if it`s on a shaft thats driven by the engine with sprockets & a chain you could play with the sprocket teeth count to get its best out of it, try it maybe Mike will learn some thing, maybe I will to
 
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truesprocket said:
would a motorcycle clutch assemblly work good? & how can I make a controller for a golfcart sized system? I think the clutch will work & if it`s on a shaft thats driven by the engine with sprockets & a chain you could play with the sprocket teeth count to get its best out of it, try it maybe Mike will learn some thing, maybe I will to
Click to expand...

I don't see why you need a clutch. A clutch allows you to get the rpm of the motor up so you have some torque to move the vehicle. An electric motor has all of its torque a zero rpm. The controller allows you to start slow so you have good control.
Here's a page with a graph of torque for an electric versus internal combustion (IC) engine. Note, the IC engine has little torque until you hit a few hundred rpm so you need the clutch
to wind up the engine a little before you try to drive the wheels.
Read the line about 100% torque 100% of the time.
Mike
 
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