Tellgren Karting

So as I’m still looking for parts to put on to my kart it was now time to look for the biggest hurdle of all electrical vehicle manufacturers in making EVs fully competitive, the Battery.

When I looked at the karts being built by many people around the globe most where using the famous Lead-Acid batteries we know from our gas guzzling automobiles. Still with pretty decent performance these batteries suffer from one problem when it comes to putting them on a kart though: Weight!!. If I would like to get a 96 V system on my kart I would have to put 8 of these 12 V beasts on the kart and they would amount to a total of approximately 120 kg* (~265 lbs)!!! Ouch! that is not acceptable for me. So what option do I then have?

Well the answer would be Lithium Ion batteries, that are by far the most used batteries at this moment for high power long running hour gadgets and vehicles. There are however a few issues with them. First issue is that they are quite unstable and some have even been known to explode. Not a desired effect when your sitting next to a quite big bunch of them. Fortunate enough for me the scientists and R&D people around the world agree with this and are working full force to solve this problem and some have already. Problem is that so far none of them are really commercially available and my attempts to approach the companies directly has ended all with a nice and firm “no thanks”:

• AltairNaono: Very interesting nano materials as electrode in the Lithium Ion cells that allow for more secure power, higher power, more charge/discharge cycles. Very promising but unfortunatly no interest from their side to even sell batteries for a test :/. Worth mentioning is that they are sponsoring the current record holder in Electric dragracing, Current Eliminator.
• A123Systems: Very known in the EV business as a supplyer for among other the much anticipated Chevy Volt. Same story here though that they are uninterested in supplying the amount of cells needed for such a small project as this :(. Positive here is that I can get 10 Cells from a Devalt 36 V battery pack. So they are available on e.g. ebay.
• ActaCell: This startup who recently accuired funding from (among others) google.org to ramp up their research and manufacturing. Not yet been in contact with them, also not much info on website yet. Will return with more info.
• Alelion Batteries: An interesting company specialized in custom made Li-Ion packs, chargers, controllers for wheelchairs and applications up to 3500W. Most interesting with this company is that they are based very close to where I was born in Sweden, which also happens to be home to one of the best karting tracks in Sweden. No contact made yet.

Of course I am not as you know by now either loaded or made from money which does not allow me to omit the fact that buying a 96V cell pack with descent running time would cost an arm and a leg, but for now I will look calmly the other way and keep on dreaming

*based on technical specs of the Optima Red Top RT R 3.7 battery.  More lightweight versions are available but not investigated.