Is Go-kart a Motor Vehicle? All about Go Kart Motor

A go-kart can be powered by both an electric motor and a gasoline engine. An electric motor can be seen from minor to mid-range. Since there is a variety of go-karts in forms and shapes, parts and machines are also different from one another.

Most of the go-kart found in Amazon is built with an electric motor and some are even pedal-powered. Some individual workshop also develops Go-karts in their own choice of shape. So there is no global standard for how a go-kart should be. Some karts look like a golf kart while others look as low as a kids toy.

A motor is used in a go-kart depending on its size, load capacity, and body weight. If you need more load capacity, the vehicle chassis has to be stronger to bear that load. A heavier weight will require a more powerful motor to move. So let’s focus on the motor list chart.

Go Kart motor motor power

Some electric motor requires higher Voltage like 24 and 36v for stronger torque. This can be achieved by connecting the batteries in a series. This is how voltage increases.  Remember, an increment of Voltage requires a series connection while the increment of current requires parallel.

Some Go-kart is designed to run at alternating current for which an inverter circuit is used to change DC to AC. An AC electric motor uses 110V and 220V AC but the battery is still DC. Because the battery can be only DC.

So, 12V or 24V DC to AC inverter machine is used rated by required power at VA meaning Volt ampere. But VA is not the actual power rating. It’s the product of the highest current capacity and Voltage. The Inverter is considered a PSU (power sourcing equipment) that doesn’t know the load PD’s (powered device) power factor. That means the inverter circuit doesn’t know the PF (power factor) of the motor any other devices that we will use. So the product of VA and PF can let you know the actual power your inverter can supply to the kart motor.

An electric Go Kart is famous for various reasons. Let’s focus on what they are.

• It is low-cost and budget-friendly.
• It has fewer components in comparison to Engine vehicle
• It’s more available in the market.
• It’s ready-made and predesigned.
• Lightweight and low maintenance cost.

Why does a motor perform less than a gasoline engine?

Electric motors run on a battery and so their performance not only depends on the battery but also on the battery charge. If the battery charge goes down, the motor performance will decrease. But the engine will be performing similar to full half and quarter filled tank fuel. On top of that, an electric motor began to grow bigger with the increase of its horsepower. Let's say a 110 cc engine is a small size engine. Its size might be as big as 1.5 CFT. But provides the torque equivalent to a 6.8 Horsepower motor.

Now imagine a 6.8 HP. It can be as big as 4 CFT. So you have to invest in that higher current battery to power up this giant motor. Besides, this big size motor has a huge weight that might be as much as 100 KG which will make a heavy load on your Go-kart. So the power loss will occur by its weight since it has to pull itself too. You can’t also allocate an abnormal size motor to anywhere you need.

User experience

Users who bought Go-kart from Amazon have provided their valuable feedback about how a go-kart is. They pushed their own opinion and experience about the particular go-kart they have bought. A few users said that the vehicle has a poor operating speed. They thought it has a good speed and they were in illusion. However, Some said that its body build condition isn’t as good as they found in the picture. Some said that the body is too lightweight that it doesn’t feel good while running since a vehicle needs a good ratio of body weight and speed. When the body becomes lighter than it requires it feels jerk off while on road and mostly off-road.

Some user who wanted to modify pedal go-kart with hoverboard seems happy because they spent less but modified to something great. A group of buyers said they found the go-kart to slip on the road.

Pros

• Easy and safe for the kid since it has four-wheel
• Lightweight so low power consumption
• Budget-friendly
• It requires less power
• It has fewer components
• It’s easy to fix

Cons

• The motor go kart is lightweight and its negative side is its lack of balance.
• The wheel has a poor capacity for grip on the road.
• The runtime is poor because of battery-powered
• Large sound of speed increase
• The kart faces often loss of control on fast U-turns.
• It might cause high electromagnetic radiation that can cause harm to the rider.
• It doesn’t come in the design of a racing kart.

Whay Go Kart famous?

Area of use

• A motorized Go-kart is suitable for personal use
• An individual can buy and enjoy himself
• It’s good for kids since some parents don’t like a mini motorcycle
• Where availability of fuel is scarce
• For those who have a low budget.

Can I join a racing with Electric Go-kart?

Mostly not. Racing with Go-kart requires some standards to be maintained in a motor vehicle. The most electric go-kart is made by unknown manufacturers and they are of different size and shape. But, a racing track go-kart has to be all same.

However, a specially organized go-kart racing might manage special electric go-karts for junior racing. The same is done in case of other racing like motorcycle races.

Can I fix a go-kart?

A motorized go-kart has a poor number of devices and components. That’s why all the components and designs are open to clearly identify any issue. So fixing a motorized go-kart is not a big deal. You can check the battery and the battery unit if they are all fine. Most of the time the battery is found discharged and down. This occurs when this is not used for a long period of time.

If you find the battery down, you should manually charge it. You need a battery charger to do it. If you need help you can go to an electric shop to buy a charger. However, You should also focus on the battery charging unit about if that is ok and capable of charging the battery.

Go-kart with Hoverboard

Some users of the go-kart had bought the go-kart as an individual kart and then modified it to an automated vehicle. They add their existing hoverboard to it to make it run by itself. The addition of a hoverboard to a go-kart is easy. They open the cover of the hoverboard and then they add an extra battery and circuit to make it more powerful to be able to pull the kart.

Some users individually buy a hoverboard to install in their go-kart. They get satisfaction in it.

Is Go-kart on road or off-road?

Go-kart is basically designed for plain road but that doesn’t mean a public road. To run on a public road, a vehicle needs to have legal features. Standard go-kart doesn’t have all those features. But some go-karts are made with the purpose of making them street legal. So that deserves a road permit and license.

Most moderate ranges go-kart has poor grip capacity on the wheel. So they are not suitable to operate in rugged areas and passages. Driving a go-kart over there might result in vehicle capsize and casualties. So precaution should be taken while you take your decision about where to ride.