Bitluni Builds a DIY Electric Go-Kart

If your childhood was anything like mine, you always had that one kid in your neighborhood whose parents could afford cool toys like go-karts — and you were envious of that kid. At an age when most are relegated to peddling around on bicycles, that kid could zip around in motorized comfort. Fortunately, you’re an adult now and go-karts are likely within your reach. They can certainly be purchased, but Bitluni decided to build his own DIY electric go-kart from scratch.

For this project, Bitluni mostly reused parts from a couple of his previous projects, including a self-driving kart and the chair from an unfinished flight simulator. Mechanically speaking, this kart is essentially a scaled-up version of an RC car. Each of the four wheels has its own 1000W hub motor, and those are powered by a large bank of hobby LiPo batteries. The kart is controlled by a regular RC transmitter through a receiver connected to the motors’ controller board. That means it can be driven from the seat, or remotely.

The frame was constructed from mild steel and welded together. A plywood platform provides a surface to mount the salvaged car seat onto. After charging up the massive battery bank, Bitluni took the go-kart out to a gravel lot for testing. Thanks to the powerful hub motors, the go-kart is impressively quick. But, as Bitluni points out, the tank-style steering is quite difficult to control and almost always ends up drifting. He plans to improve on the steering in future iterations, but the go-kart still looks like a blast to drive.