Every Blue Shock Race electric kart has 4 main components – An electric motor, controller, battery, and chassis. Since we use standard racing kart chassis we will skip the chassis part and will go straight to the Power unit.
In Blue Shock Race a set that contains an electric motor, controller, and a battery we call – Power unit. Blue Shock Race power units you can put on any standard racing kart chassis, just like with a regular internal combustion engine.
THE MOTOR
Electric motors work by converting electrical energy to mechanical energy to create motion. In our case, we use this motion to run the kart. For each category, we use a different type of electric motor for 7, 18, 25, and 25+kw karts we use PMAC (Permanent Magnet AC) motors. And BLDC(brushless DC electric motor) type motor for a 1,5kW kart.
Both BLDC and PMAC motors require almost no maintenance and offer long bearing and insulation life. The robust construction provides years of trouble-free operation.
THE BATTERY
For an electric motor to work energy is necessary. The electric motor gets energy from the battery. Usually, we use the terms battery or battery pack because every battery contains a lot of battery cells. Size varies from battery to battery. The less power needed, the fewer battery cells we have to use. A bigger battery gives not only a longer range but also more power. For kart racing, we aim for 15-25 min.driving range (flat-out racing), because that’s normally the time racing kart spends on track in a single race.
Blue Shock Race uses 4 different battery packs
CONTROLLER
PMAC motors use alternating current to generate a mechanical output power. They are simple in design and operation, however, in electric vehicle applications, it is important to be able to control their output. Since the battery supplies DC (direct current), it must be converted to AC for it to be used by the PMAC motor. This is exactly what the controller does. It converts the DC from the battery to AC, which can then be used by the motor. At the same time it also meticulously controls the AC to the exact parameters that are needed to precisely control the PMAC motor at a certain RPM and power.
To put it in simple terms – The controller allows the motor and battery to communicate and for the user to control the energy flow from the battery to the electric motor. Also, the controller is constantly monitoring the system and temperatures in the system so that no damage or overheating happens.
By using a controller we can control the power, torque maps, control overall performance, and characteristics of the kart. This is why we can make equal karts that are performing equally on the track, which is the main goal for karting as a sport.
At the end of the day, we need to put all that together and make it work. It’s always a challenge to get the most power and range while keeping weight as low as possible. This is a new technology for kart racing but already we are knocking at the doors of the fastest petrol karts by achieving the same results as the fastest shifter karts. Considering that this is still new technology the potential in the future is huge!