Electric Go-Kart
End-of-high-school personal build — the project that kicked off my engineering journey.
This build really kicked off my mechanical journey. I learned and applied mechanical, electrical, and hands-on knowledge and was mentored by my father in the process. Here's a YouTube video I made on the subject when I was making it.
Frame & chassis
The tubes that make up a razor go-kart are made up of primarily AISI 4130 (Chromoly) this material is known for having an incredible strength to weight ratio.
In order to work as a cost-effective and lightweight option, I just decided to pick up aluminum sheet metal for my riveted parts and steel angle iron to mount the aluminum sheet metal.
Powertrain
The go-kart is powered by a 3.5 hp DC motor which is supplied ample current by 4 12V batteries hooked up in series. In other words, a 48V source.
Lessons that stuck
When making a chassis and frame, material selection matters more than you think. When welding the pieces I used a standard steel angle iron piece as opposed to a more corrosion resistant material. Even while I did do some painting with TremClad rust paint in the flat black I have seen some rust start to build in the years since I initially made the go-kart. Aluminum or stainless would have been way less workable so this was a fair trade off in terms of convenience for me.