Many of us could have been lucky enough to have some form of pedal go-kart in our formative years, and among such lucky children there can have been few who did not wish for their ride to have a little power. Zipping around the neighborhood remained a strenuous affair though, particularly for anyone whose hometown was on a hill. What a shame we didn’t have [Matto Godoy] as a dad then, because he has taken a child’s go-kart and turned it into the electrically-propelled ride of dreams.
Out come the pedals and in goes a wooden floor panel, and at the rear the axle is replaced by a set of hoverboard motors and associated batteries and controllers. The wheels are off-the-shelf wheelbarrow parts, and the 36 V lithium-polymer gives it plenty of go. It looks too small for us, but yes! We want one.
If you want one too, you could do worse than considering a Hacky Racer. And if more motor power is your thing, raid the auto recyclers!
yes I do want this, I admit it
but I have some concerns for children that might drive this on the road or footpath
assuming this has a range of 4 kilometres or more, and a top speed of 10-15 kph, this is almost exactely what I need to do the weekly shopping but where I live they are not legal on the footpath or road
I wouldn’t say no, but I’d rather have that Tesla!
Why not both?
https://www.hackyracers.co.uk/wiki/index.php/CYBR_TRK
That is a really nice build!
I made something like this a few years ago, albeit nowhere near as well executed. The thing was a deathtrap running 25+ km/h with a dodgy battery causing it to randomly shut down the controller when braking or accelerating hard.
The original electronics from the hoverboard can often be reprogrammed, and a lot of functionality has been implemented in open source firmware variants, including support for RC control (see https://github.com/EFeru/hoverboard-firmware-hack-FOC and it’s many forks)
Yes, the EFeru firmware works great! Using it on different vehicles
It seems to me that using MDF (without apparently sealing it) as a load-bearing component of a vehicle that is likely to get damp (going offroad, left outside, etc) doesn’t seem like a terribly good idea. I predict that it will swell and disintegrate fairly rapidly.
I’d imagine that some marine ply would be a lot longer lasting, especially if it is varnished as well.
Or soak the mdf in used motor oil
wow it’s assertively creative (destructive?) to reach for mdf in this role, when plywood exists. amazing. i’m amazed.
We never got our son a power wheels car. If we had, you better believe I would have put in remote capability INCLUDING steering.
The Scene:
Allright buddy, time to come in for dinner.
No, I wanna stay outside and play.
You can’t, I need to get ready for work tomorrow.
NO (kid drives off up the road)
This.
I love this design but I would want it with external controls added so i can herd the monsters or stop them from running into the road.
Interesting. Longer wheelbase so you can lower the center of gravity, relocate pedals so your legs can stretch out a bit. Then I might admit to want.
Add mouse.
Aside from the rather problematic implementation (e.g. unsuitable chassis, no brakes, MDF), this is an enormously bad idea. First off, you really can’t run this vehicle outside enclosed private property. The whole point of electric toy vehicles for children being so boring is to make them safe enough for other people.
Regulatory and technical issues aside, it’s also completely misguided. Giving children motorised vehicles sets them up for a sedentary lifestyle without reason. Using your own muscles and energy for mobility is fun, helps you get to know your environment and develop motor skills. It’s also completely non-competitive if you choose to, which makes it accessible even for people who are bad at team sports.
The solution to somewhat boring pedal-powered vehicles for children isn’t to remove the pedals and attach motors. These vehicles are built to a price and are also purposefully made inefficient as to restrict mobility and keep children much more under control, which, granted, is warranted at times. However, the money could have been spent to make this an efficient and offroad-capable pedal powered vehicle (for example, by proper ergonomics, stiffening the drivetrain, tensioning the chain and introducing some kind of transmission) which can be driven around in public, is reasonably exhilarating and dangerous for all the right reasons and allows for some experience of self-efficacy.
I think we should all make more of an effort to be supportive of each other. Yes there are things about this project that might have been done better, but I think the original post shows that the author learned a lot in the process and had fun doing it, and isn’t that what Hackaday is all about really?
Look, this is a terrible article.
It made me go meet up someone for possibly the sketchiest meetup in easily ten years to buy four hoverboard for $40. Three of them turn on, but I have very silly thoughts of stupid adventures this summer.
How dare you all.
Works with 3 wheels as well:
https://der-frickler.net/spass/hovertrike
build mine from an old hoverboard and a kids bike. the Kids (and adults) love it. Goes up to 30Kmh and has 3 switchable speed ranges to make it save for the kids
Right now i am rebuilding an old 50ccm kids quad to run on 4 hoverboard motors with the same tires as the go-card above. Battery is a build from 12 20Ah EVE LiFePo cells.