Design and Manufacturing of EV Go-Kart

Abstract

Abstract: Go-karts are small-size and small-weight vehicles that were developed for racing. These are made with materials that are strong and durable. It consists of many parts which include a chassis, engine, steering and braking system, and electronic controls. The chassis is the main part that is responsible for the stability of the vehicle. Chassis is made with the material having greater endurance and rigidity. It was developed in the 1950s in the USA and now getting popular. These are now used in amusement parks as a recreational activity. Many researchers have done work on go-karts and improve their design. This project was intended to design and fabricate a reliable and durable go-kart. Its primary objective to build a go-kart using local resources and applying different techniques to limit the cost of vehicles. These objectives were achieved by going through a detailed literature review and studying different techniques which can be implemented. A reliable design was chosen which can be implemented and can be completed in our period. Critically evaluate the design of the vehicle and then different parts were designed. This paper presents an approach to a go-kart chassis design, vehicle dynamics calculation, Li-ion battery capacity analysis, and electric motor choice for optimized vehicle performance. The chassis analysis shown in this paper was performed using a CAD/FEA software package, SolidWorks Student Edition. Three highlights can be found in this paper: An original design was implemented; the basic analysis was composed of chassis optimization using beam elements and modelling such an optimized chassis “locally” with solid elements for sub-modelling purposes. The most stressed tube joint was sub-modelled to calculate the risk of tube wall stability. Vehicle dynamics were calculated for the case of braking on a curved path and the case of a collision with the front tire due to road imperfection. The authors intend to install a data acquisition system in the future to analyse the stress of local chassis tubes.