Came across this today via a Facebook share by EKN.
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That’s a whole lotta battery! I do want to try these fast electric karts. All I’ve ever driven are the electric rentals which are great but not too quick.
It’s interesting that David’s comment was “it’s physical. I feel like I did a whole indycar race in this thing”.
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OK… is there a video of the race on Youtube?
All I’ve seen so far is this short clip from HPD
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Excellent sleuthing! Thanks for taking the time to share it.
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Still a 2kW (2.5hp) engine … This is pointless
Yeah that’s pretty low alright, OK (mostly) linear torque helps and all, but the power/weight ratio is low. Interesting that they repurposed hardware from their generator range.
Each MPP supplies around 1.31 kWh of power, and Honda says that allows for a run time of around 35 to 45 minutes before the batteries need to be recharged. The batteries recharge in chargers that can be mounted on a wall or set into a small compact floor charger, where they take around five hours to fully recharge, according to Honda. The company has been investigating how to use the MPP system as a way to store renewable energy for everything from vehicles to corporations.
The eGX motor is a high-power, three-phase brushless DC power unit that incorporates insulation and coiling technology from Honda generators. The 2-kW-class motor can run between 3,000 and 3,600 rpm and gets internal and external cooling fans to dissipate heat. There are also rubber mounts on the motor, power drive unit, and battery pack to reduce vibration and extend the life of the motor. The motor in the eGX kart has been tuned by HPD to provide more performance and power.
Honda says the kart weighs around 230 lbs (104 kg) without the two batteries that sit just behind the driver at each hip. Each battery pack weighs around 26 lbs (12 kg), bringing the total weight of the kart to just shy of 300 lbs (136 kg). That’s still heavier than most gasoline-powered kid karts (which weigh anywhere from 150 to 175 lbs/68-79 kg, roughly), but it’s on par with many karts that adults race in various karting series.
@hallkbrdz Bryan, can you translate? What’s the engine like? it doesn’t sound like a 2.5 hp weakling.
Why do I get the feeling that a company like Honda is likely to come up with viable e-karting.
Wow even without batteries installed this thing is heavy. Most TAG karts are going to be in the 175-185 with fuel. That electric motor, cooling, and cradles to hold the batteries must be nearly 100lbs.
I think making karts viable is more-or-less there in many ways. The challenge is finding a financially sustainable way to roll out the infrastructure to support (say for example) a club race of 50-100 racers.
Dom, I assume that 2kW figure is the rated (continuous) power from their 2200 series generators, so it possibly could put up 50% more peak. It’s definitely a minimal cost effort using a production generator as the motor, and the rather slow max RPM shows that. At least it should very reliable.
Battery weight. I agree, it’s too high. There is a more advanced battery design that could reduce that by about half - but right now they are about 10x as expensive due to limited production.
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I guess I’m not sure what differentiates this from a typical rental kart with swappable batteries.
But hey it’s a kart at Indy car events with a big brand behind it. So there’s that.