Design and Testing of Solar/Electric Cart

Abstract In the current study we report design and testing of a light-weight electric/solar four-wheel drive cart capable of running at speeds in the order of 30mile/hour. The cart can carry 4 passengers and transport attached additional load of about 500 kg. The battery block consists of LiFePO 4 cells and provides 6000Watt power to 4 hub motor wheels, each of which are rated 1500Watt. The 600Watt solar array secured on the roof provides steady recharging for the lithium-ion batteries. The power distribution and control of hub motors is executed by special programmed microchip controllers and is very important for safe operation of this of four-wheel drive vehicle. The commercial MPPT charge controller is installed to operate the amount of power for battery recharging. During operation the battery recharge could be executed using power of solar panels. Willingness to minimize dependence on the grid which operates 120V 15A, has led us optimize the required tractive effort while minimizing the weight of the cart. The cost of experimental electric/solar four-wheel drive cart is presented by table 1. Many elements of discussed prototype are taken from the shelf, i.e. purchased at the market price. So, the commercial cost of such prototype in mass production is expected to be significantly cheaper.