- Why Electric Vehicles?
- Types of Electric Vehicles
- Bikes
- Boats
- Busses
- Cars
- Other vehicles
- Planes
- Trains
- Trams/light-rail
- Technologies
- Constructing an electric vehicle
- Helpful websites
- Myths
- Parts and Suppliers
- The history of the electric car
- Wacky, Wild and Wonderful
Go-Kart example
Here is an example of the requirements for building an electric-powered Go-Kart, with prices as of August 2011 from EV Works:
Drive system:
- Motor: Motenergy 48VDC Brushless motor - $450
- Controller: Alltrax AXE4844 DC Motor Controller - $535
- Contactor: Nanfeng 400A - $68.50
- Throttle control: Hall effect pot box - $75
- Charger: Kingpan 48V 10A - $255
Battery system:
- Battery: 15 x ThunderSky 40AH batteries - $855
- Cable, lugs, battery interconnects, connector to charger - $120
An alternative would be to use HeadWay 3120P cells - each 15-cell string costs around $225-$300 depending on source.
Total cost of system without battery management: $2358.50. An equivalent Yamaha 100cc motor alone costs $2000.
A battery management system from EV Works for the ThunderSky batteries would cost around $480.
Comments
Go-Kart batteries.
I have been thinking about batteries for this type of use and to be honest I think a LiPo setup with RC style charging would be the way to go. You don't need unattended charging and you want great puch for weight.
Say something like this...