A DIY Electric Go-Kart Is Just as Awesome as It Sounds

As a kid, nothing was cooler than getting behind the wheel of a go-kart and cruising down the street. Fast forward a couple decades, and now you can construct your own electric version using some commonly available components along with a repurposed chassis on eBay.

This is exactly what the Maker duo of Adrian Georgescu and Masoud Johnson did with the help of some Arduino and an old Subaru alternator that they converted into a three-phase motor.

To complete their build, Georgescu and Johnson used an electric scooter’s motor controller, three LiPo battery packs, and a few Arduino (three Pro Mini + one Mega) to handle throttle control, speed sensing, RPM measurement, and sending the data over to an Android app to display the information on a virtual dashboard.

For the finishing touches, the Makers added LEDs to the front and rear of the e-kart, as well as a nice little red and black paint job. Even cooler, the DIY vehicle has been clocked at 53km/h (33mph) — which isn’t too shabby if you ask us!