As James and I begin designing the chassis for the electric go kart we must also take into account the drivetrain,major electronics and motor controllers, as well as wheels/tires and axles.  To drive the go kart we are going to run an old car alternator converted to a brushless motor.  The main reasons we chose this instead of a conventional brushless motor setup was the cost to power ratio. In the 2022 power wheels rules an alternator can go on our bill of materials for $10, which is much cheaper than running a full priced new brushless motor for around ~$120.  Because the bill of materials cost is so inexpensive for running an alternator, we are planning on running two on the go kart for extra speed and power.  No specific alternator was used, but the brand we happened to get our hands on is an Ultima. 

For the battery we are going to run a 50AH 48V lipo.  This should provide us with enough juice for the dual alternator setup as well as run our own custom wire leads for the increased power draw. Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W245MXD?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_9RTX18QR6S64XJ98MEVS

          In terms of wheels and tires we are going to run a 10x5-4.5 size tire on all 4 corners of the go kart to save space and because we have some of that size lying around in the shop.  For a rear axle a 1-¼ in should be plenty and will allow us to attach a custom sprocket size as well as a nice brake disk.  The front axles and spindles we will use have been lying around from another project and will be cheaper on our bill of materials as a result.  Here is the link for similar kart wheels we are running: https://www.bmikarts.com/5-VanK-Pro-Maxx-Polished-Kart-Wheels_p_8159.html

I also did a preliminary frame design in Autodesk Inventor to see where things would sit and how much room we were working with.

 It is by no means finished and still needs many additions and edits, but this preliminary design will help us to see what we are going to be working with.  Think of it as a rough draft.