Chatted with the VenomKarts people today on Facebook. Sounds like they are getting closer to releasing details on their bolt-on kit to replace a gas engine with an electric engine to specifically target 206 races as the first stepping stone until they have enough numbers for their own class. They targeted that class because it has the lowest required kWh battery requirements as well as motor size, which will keep the costs down. It will still be more initially, but there are essentially no ongoing costs after that other than a few cents of electricity to recharge.
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Thanks Bryan. It was great talking to you today. Looking forward to sharing and learning from this forum. The VenomKarts Team
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That thing is gnarly!
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Thanks. The battery has been the most challenging part for us.
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Short video regarding regen braking. It is not as noticeable as when you drive a Tesla but it demonstrates the basic idea of current flowing back into the battery pack.
As a vaper, I see a small fortune in 18650 batteries. These cells seem to last a good while. What would you hope this would last, time wise?
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Great question. The goal is 5 - 7 years. That assumes people follow proper charging and discharging protocols. A 5 - 7 year time frame would allow someone to partially recoup their initial investment since there would be no motor rebuilds carburetors, clutches and no gas or oil.
Thanks for the answer. I suppose it’s easy to identify and replace dead or dying individual cells?
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Basically a one-by-one process. Not fun if you have 400+ batteries. 
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Gary’s been working building his batteries and big motor for his kart. Since he didn’t post anything, here is what he accomplished this year running a drag race. Pretty respectable for the equipment he has to work with.
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Gary has pushed the motor a little harder. Pretty impressive for that heavy motor.
Both for drag racing and circuit racing:
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Short video of back-to-back dragstrip runs. Very pleased with how well the battery performance in the hot weather (93 degrees F).
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