Nissan Leaf Motor Go-Kart

[MPaulHolmes]

Here's my Nissan Leaf Motor go-kart (safety will be added later haha. Just a quick test). I finally pulled the trigger and deciced to make one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FUEo_TXSDg

[LeftieBiker]

I see people with young kids on moving lawn mower-tractors and want to have them arrested. I see someone taking a kid on a 108HP go-cart with plank "seats" and no seat belts or helmet, and...well, I'm sure you can guess. I clicked on this topic expecting to like it, too.

[DuncanCunningham]

I wish I was that smart, I could then make my Classic VWs be electric.

[MPaulHolmes]

Because the motor is capable of 108HP doesn't mean it's set up for 108HP. IT's totally programmable, and is set up for a serious limp mode right now. There wasn't the slightest bit of anything dangerous about that test with my son at that speed under those circumstances.

[ydnas7]

Impressive, your son is lucky to have you as a father.

That landscape looks majestic and dry.

What voltage does the motor run at? that battery pack seems about 1/4 of LEAF nominal voltage.

[MPaulHolmes]

Thank you. You can even run the leaf motor on about 12 or 24v without any problem. but you have a 2D voltage disk. As you require more torque or more rpm, it needs a bigger and bigger disk to command the current (Id and Iq). So if you keep rpm and torque low you can use low voltage. If you want high speed and high torque you need high voltage.

Paul

[GerryAZ]

How much power or torque can you get out of it without overheating (with just convective air cooling)? What are you using for controller and inverter? The Leaf motor is a compact, lightweight package so I can see possibilities to reuse old Leaf motors.

Gerry

[rmay635703]

Would love to have that setup in my comutacar couple with volt batteries and voila, I could exceed 50mph and have regen

[MPaulHolmes]

Here's a forward/reverse demo after configuring throttle to a "wig wag". It lets you get forward/reverse/brake all in one little twist grip throttle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_97xBLvRdcw

GerryAZ: This is my own controller. I did the software/hardware/pcbs. It's all open so you can use or modify whatever you like. I also make and sell completed and tested boards that you can plug right into 3 IGBT half bridges. Then if you add a bus capacitor, you are basically done with a full inverter. Here's an instructables on how to put everything together on an older board I had done:
instructables.com/id/200kW-AC-Motor-Controller-for-Electric-Car

The process can be a lot easier than that if you get some basic 2-terminal film capacitors instead of the 16 terminal ring caps.

Great question about the Leaf motor cooling! I'm going to run some temperature tests so soon I'll be able to answer that question.

[MPaulHolmes]

Here's another video. This time, I modified the MPPT charger from the solar panels so the go kart can charge at about 5.6kW (in the summer), and probably around 4kW in the winter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxp8kX_golA