This is a custom built electric go kart by Tony Kalniev. He lives in Thailand. He has been an EV enthusiast for almost 9 years now ever since he tested the Tesla Roadster in Los Angeles in 2011.

33Kw Electric Go-Kart

This go kart was his long term project. In his YouTube channel, you can notice that he wished to build something that can beat ICE go karts for 3 years. However, he had difficulties to find a frame to begin his project. Since go kart are imported into Thailand, they can be very expensive to purchase and he wasn’t able to buy just a frame without an engine.

Eventually, after a long search of a couple of years, he found the affordable frame for just $400. So he began planning the layout of the electronics. There were uncertainties at the beginning of this stage, as current battery cells tend to overheat, especially in the hot climate of Thailand.

Thailand’s hot and humid climate can affect passive cooled batteries massively. Since the gokart will have a huge amp draw as well as a fast charging system, heat would be an issue during charging and discharging. The ambient temperature would not help!

The motor is based from QS motors. They design their motors with high performance magnets, therefore able to sustain massive power. Tony went for the 3000W motor for this design.

Next, the controller is a VOTOL 96v controller capable of outputting 300A. Tony has set this system at 250A, just to be on the safe side.

Finally, after some time of searching, he found the complete battery module from Samsung. These are called Samsung SDI battery cells. These modules are used in the BMW i3 and i8 series. Each module is 48v and Tony combined them to make the 96V capable system.

Electrical system weighs just around 35-37kg while the total go kart weights 70kg!

The total system instant power peaks at 33KW!

Components necessary to complete this project. These include:

• The 96v 16A input, 40A output charger
• A Chinese BMS system
• All the high voltage cables to carry this power
• All the high voltage plugs

The total cost was around 80,000 baht, or $2,700 USD

Check out his other videos on Youtube channel Ev Speed