In February 2010, my wife and I decided that a go-kart would be a great combination birthday present for our two kids. As some of you may know, I’m a proponent of electric vehicles and I see them as our future (there is only so much oil in the ground). Rather than spending money on cheap Chinese plastic toys that break in a matter of hours, we wanted to get them one big gift that would last for years and could even be resold when outgrown. In addition, our plan was to immediately remove the internal combustion 110cc 
gas engine and replace it with an electric motor, pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller, a battery pack and a handful of other electrical components. I wanted this go-kart to be silent, safe, easy to operate, and powerful. With my engineering background and college experience in extended range electric vehicles, this conversion offered something satisfying for me as well.
Enter the Kinroad XT110GK-2 go-kart which set us back around a $1000 (minus proceeds from the Ebay sale of the 110cc engine at a later date). This go-kart was straight out of China (sold through a USA rep) as most go-karts are lately. The frame welds didn’t impress me and there were a few other quirks with the vehicle that bothered me from the start. No worries though, as I’m converting this thing to electric. It took me awhile to get it assembled and fire up the gas engine, which had an idling problem. With no installation manual and a handful of unknown parts left over, I decided to call the company who sold me the go-kart (Go-Karts USA). Numerous emails and phone calls were ignored and I was only able to speak to a human after posing as a potential buyer on a new sale. The rep told me to throw away the extra parts and he quickly ended the call. Comical.
At 6’4″ and 225 lbs, it took everything I had to squeeze myself into this small go-kart as I raced down my street at 30 mph. I spent a few hours testing the horn lights, remote kill switch, and other critical components before parking it in the basement in preparation for the conversion to electric. I was very happy knowing the gas engine was going to be removed. In the meantime, I had to learn more about e
lectrical vehicle components and begin purchasing the parts necessary for the conversion. In addition, custom motor mounts and other equipment had to be designed and built.
Here is the wiring diagram that was customized for my go-kart. This is where you need to start and it’ll likely take some time to understand how everything works. Realistically, this isn’t much different that what you’d need if converting a full-size vehicle (minus power brakes, power steering, AC, etc.).
After removing the gas engine and associated wiring, I wa
s able to have a local sheet metal shop fabricate a black tray that would mount behind the seats and hold the majority of electrical components. This tray was designed to hold two 12VDC batteries in series, which provides 24VDC to the system. The motor controller, circuit breakers, contactors (single and double), charging port, pot, and other components were secured to this tray via machine screws.
……this blog entry is work in progress, stay tuned for more detail soon