How Much Does an Electric Go-Kart Weigh?

The world of electric motorsport has been on the rise recently. Since people started using electric cars (mainly Teslas), it was only a matter of time before the world of motorsports introduced them too. After all, Formula 1 always had some of its innovations coming to road cars, like the push-button start or the paddle shifters. Nowadays, Formula E is getting really popular, and so are electric go-karts. This raises many questions about how they compare to gasoline karts, but I’ll specifically talk about their weight in this article.

Electric go-karts can weigh anywhere from 300-400 pounds. This is quite a lot for a go-kart, especially when you count in the weight of the driver. Once you add the weight of the driver and their equipment, the total weight goes up to at least 500 pounds.

However, the weight of electric go-karts depends on many factors. Being electric means that they don’t have a regular engine, nor do they have the need for fuel. So, this raises the question of why electric go-karts. When I first thought about it, I figured that not having an engine fuel will make it lighter. But, that isn’t the case.

Why Are Electric Go-Karts Heavier?

There’s no doubt that electric go-karts are heavier than gas go-karts. But why does that happen?

Well, electric go-karts are pretty different from gas go-karts. The frames of both types are similar, and so are components like the pedals, wheels, etc. But, things get complicated regarding the engine and the fuel.

Gas go-karts have 2-stroke or 4-stroke engines, which require fuel to run, while electric go-karts have an electric motor that runs on a set of batteries. While a regular engine is heavier than an electric motor, the number of batteries needed for an electric go-kart to run is very high.

So, despite looking like they should weigh less, electric go-karts weigh more than double the weight of gas go-karts. The batteries that are needed for the electric go-karts weigh much more than the fuel and the engine on a gas go-kart.

But, instead of just talking about the apparent weight difference, let’s see how the weight of a gas go-kart and an electric go-kart affect their speed.

How Does Gas Go Kart Weight and Electric Go Kart Weight Affect Speed

While gas go-karts are much lighter than their equivalent electric go-karts, that doesn’t mean that they’re faster. In fact, it has been said that electric go-karts are usually quicker than similar gas go-karts. But that usually comes down to the track rather than the actual go-karts.

Generally, gas go-karts have a higher top speed but tend to lack acceleration because of their engines. This is especially true in tracks where the engine runs in low revs. On the other hand, electric go-karts have lightning-speed acceleration, but their top speed is usually much less than their gasoline counterparts.

The effect that weight has on the speed of the two types of karts comes down to two things:

Torque and Horsepower – Electric motors are known for having much more torque than gasoline engines, which means that they can get up to speed faster. But, engines have higher horsepower than motors.

So, despite being much heavier, electric go-karts can get up to speed much faster than gas go-karts, meaning that they’ll excel in more technical tracks with numerous corners. That being said, they’ll fall back when it comes to tracks that have high-speed corners and straights.

But, let’s not forget that the weight distribution of the two types is much different. Electric go-karts have batteries and a motor that are evenly distributed throughout the kart for better handling. Gas go-karts have most of their components in the back of the kart, making them unstable. 

So, this will also benefit the electric go-kart in technical tracks, but it won’t make much of a difference in tracks where speed is critical. Speaking of that…

Does Kart Weight Matter?

The weight of an electric go-kart doesn’t have as big of an effect as it does in gas go-karts. I haven’t had the chance of testing that out yet, but the racers that I asked stated that electric go-karts work differently from gas go-karts in that aspect.

What matters more than the kart’s weight is the track you’re racing on and your weight. I can definitely say that a difference in weight makes a difference in how fast you go on a gas go-kart.

But, electric go-karts aren’t as much affected by your body weight as gas go-karts. In fact, because of the large amount of torque of the electric motor, the kart’s power overcomes the extra weight.

You would expect that being heavier would also make you a couple of tenths slower since your body weight affects the go-kart. But, this isn’t the case in electric go-karts. While there’s a difference, it’s minimal. 

This was demonstrated perfectly by the people over at K1 Speed.

However, as I mentioned above, the track that you’re racing on plays a huge role. Generally, the heavier your kart is, the more grip you’ll have, but the slower you’ll be. As you can imagine, in technical tracks with tons of corners, being heavier will be a benefit, while in tracks with long straights, it will be a curse.

Still, I believe there’s one specific go-kart that won’t have an issue no matter how much you weigh: the Daymak C5 Blast.

Daymak C5 Blast Power-Weight Ratio

The Daymak C5 Blast is the fastest electric go-kart on the market. While its top speed is still known, the claim that the go-kart can do 0-60mph in 1.5 seconds! This is faster than most supercars. 

In the video that I’ve shared below, you can see the C5 Blast in action, and I have to say that I was surprised by how quick it is. However, before you scroll to find the video, let’s talk a bit about the power-weight ratio.

The power-to-weight ratio is an element that allows us to understand why go-karts go so fast. While kart engines don’t have tons of horsepower (or torque in the case of electric go-karts), the weight of the kart allows them to go so fast.

In order to find the power-to-weight ratio, you’ll just need to divide the horsepower of a kart by its weight. The closer it is to 1, the better, the faster your kart will be. This becomes complicated in electric go-karts, and especially the C5 Blast.

Simply put, while the standard version of the Daymak C5 weighs 200 kg, the Blast version slices the weight by half because of a set of EDF motors on the back of the kart. So, when you consider that the C5 has a motor of 10KW (around 13HP), the power-to-weight ratio is 0.13. 

That’s all I had to say about electric go-karts and their weights. As they get more popular, you can be sure that I’ll cover more information about them.

Stay tuned for more articles just like this one!

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