Power Tool/Mower Batteries For Off Road Go Kart?

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Aug 7, 2019
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Has anyone here tried using power tool/mower batteries to power a go kart? I'm talking about the 80V 5AH packs from Greenworks/Kobalt. I've seen some builds on YouTube using them but nobody here seems to mention them (or at least no posts I've seen). I feel like it makes sense.

The buggy I'm currently building has a modified 440cc 4 stroke industrial engine that puts out around 21 horsepower peak. I plan on (eventually) converting it to electric. I do not have the equipment nor the know-how to build my own custom battery. So I figured that instead of using a gas lawnmower engine, I could use a lawnmower battery. Most of the ride-on electric mowers use 6 of these 80V batteries. And at 80V (72V nominal), 40A max draw a piece, get 6 of them in parallel and that's theoretically over 17KW and 30AH. I would probably run them closer to 15KW (35A a piece) since I don't want to blow the internal fuses in the packs which (according to what I've seen online) are 40A fuses. lt also allows for the option to swap out the packs quickly assuming you had an extra 6.

Do you think this is a good idea, or should I just wait for pre-made packs to become more common?
 
I used EGO 56V battery packs on my ATV conversion and they work. I don‘t know any details but they have internal BMSs that protect the individual integrity of the pack and not sure how they are supposed to interact in parallel when used in their intended “tool”. I did parallel 2 EGO packs on my build that I could switch in and out but you have to respect all the rules of paralleling batteries … like only when they are at the same voltage/SOC. I isolated them with appropriate diodes but have to admit was underwhelmed that the current available to the controller didn’t seem to “double” (here’s where their BMSs may be playing a role?). I decided in the end that leaving them as a primary and secondary battery I can switch over for range extension was the best and safest solution given I didn’t design in any real protection of paralleling 2 batteries at widely different voltages/SOC.
 
H2Guy said:
I used EGO 56V battery packs on my ATV conversion and they work. I don‘t know any details but they have internal BMSs that protect the individual integrity of the pack and not sure how they are supposed to interact in parallel when used in their intended “tool”. I did parallel 2 EGO packs on my build that I could switch in and out but you have to respect all the rules of paralleling batteries … like only when they are at the same voltage/SOC. I isolated them with appropriate diodes but have to admit was underwhelmed that the current available to the controller didn’t seem to “double” (here’s where their BMSs may be playing a role?). I decided in the end that leaving them as a primary and secondary battery I can switch over for range extension was the best and safest solution given I didn’t design in any real protection of paralleling 2 batteries at widely different voltages/SOC.
Well I know the electric ride on mowers use 6 batteries (assuming in parallel) so they should work. Krisuno (a YouTuber where I got the idea of using these batteries from) uses anywhere from 2 to 6 in parallel in his builds and they definitely seem to deliver more amps when paralleled. He mentioned on his one project with 6 packs he pulls 100 amps total (mostly for range I'm guessing), obviously more than the 40 amp limit per pack.
 
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