INTRODUCTION to Solar Go-kart / Electric Vehicle

This project is from March 2014 when I was a second-semester Engineering student. That time I was very new to technology and had just started learning microcontroller programming. I was also trying out other fields like Mechanical Engineering as always. This project was for a Solar Go-Kart making and racing competition called ESVC (Electric Solar Vehicle Championship), which was organised by the Maker Lab (RISC-LPU) in our University. Even this was my first experience of Electric Vehicle driving.

STORY

My contribution towards this project was more Electrical and Electronics than Mechanical. I had designed a Voltmeter for the Lead Acid batteries in our vehicle and had done the wirings for Solar Panels, Charging circuit, Motor etc. There were Four (4) 12V Car Batteries connected in series to power a 3 Phase 1kW 48V BLDC Motor that powered the Go-Kart. The Voltmeter was made using an 8051 Microcontroller with an external ADC and a 16×2 LCD Display to show the voltage.

E Rickshaw 3 Phase 48V BLDC Motor

: 16 x 2 LCD Display for Voltmeter

: 8051 for Voltmeter

CONSTRUCTION

: Team Mate Welding the Solar Go-Kart Chassis

: Solar Go-Kart Chassis with Some Components

: Electrc Go-Kart Chassis with the BLDC Motor Mounted

: Solar Go-Kart Steering Testing

: Solar Go-Kart Team Working

: Electrc Go-Kart Chassis with the BLDC Motor Mounted

: Solar Go-Kart Team Working

: Solar Go-Kart Team Working

: Team Member Cutting

: Team Discussion

: Team Member Sleeping In lab

: Solar Go-Kart Team Working

COMPETITION

The competition held in our own University campus. I exactly don’t remember for how many days but I think it was a three (3) day event. The first day was technical inspection and some presentation round. Next Day was Brake Test and Auto Cross round. We won the Best Auto Cross Award due to our team mate’s driving skill and manoeuvrability of the Go-Kart. Last day was the racing/endurance round where metrics like speed, battery backup and maximum distance covered were used to judge the winner.