Development and Construction of Electric Propulsion System for Go-Kart

Abstract

Go-kart ride is accessible to everybody, regardless the old age and driving expertness. Economic and environmental influences have raised the demand to change from conventional combustion engine to electric propulsion systems for go-kart. This project is focusing on design and development of propulsion and energy storage system. Electric propulsion system will improve energy efficiency and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This project is lead to practical experiment to analyze and explore the action of modifying combustion engine powered go-kart to an electric powered go-kart. Several aspects need to be considered to design a good performance of an electric go kart that involves hardware and electrical energy propulsion system. In this project the calculation of force and power was done base on both the weight of go-kart and driver. The power calculation with certain degree of slope was also done to determine the maximum power demand for motor selection. The project is expected to drive a total weight of 120kg including the weight of the go-kart and the driver. The design is also included the installation of the gear, propulsion, battery and controller in electric go kart. The electrical component that consist in go-kart are battery, brushless DC motor and controller, wiring harness with on, enable and forward/reverse switches and motor cable. These selections of components are based on calculation analysis for each selected device. Lastly, the performance of electric go kart will be analyzed in term of power, speed and energy work. As the results, the propulsion system could drive the go kart and speeds can be regulated, also the maximum speed of the go-kart reaches its desired speed.