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Electric Wagon for Pulling Deer

Hello -


I have seen somewhat similar topics across the board(Power Assist for Our Nascar Wagon, Electrifying a Kids Wagon, etc) but not sure if there is a kit already made to do this. I am looking to motorize a  wagon truck, picture attached, and will be using it to bring hunting gear in and out of a forest with rough terrain. They do not allow ATV's so I was thinking of motorizing a cart to make life easier. I would like to eventually add a hitch on it and be able to pull an additional wagon or some type of cart. The wagon holds up to 1000 lbs but realistically with a deer I am thinking around 600 lbs. I have included below the specs of the cart itself. As far as speed the faster the better :) but not my primary concern as I do not think I would be going to fast. Reading some of your other responses I am excited to have found this site and look forward to hearing from you. Thanks again!


ItemWagon TruckLoad Capacity1000 lb.Overall Length49"Deck MaterialSteelOverall Width24"Overall Height25"Wheel TypePneumaticWheel Diameter13"Wheel Width5"
Gauge18PerforatedDeck Length48"Deck Width22"Deck Height16-3/8"Handle Length32"Wheel MaterialRubber

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Sorry for the late reply. We have made several kits for powering wagons like that. Since the wagon will be used on rough forest terrain converting the rear wheels over to having a solid live axle would be optimal because if the wagon only had one wheel drive then it would not have very good traction off road. Go kart parts could be used for the rear axle, axle bearings, and wheels.

We have 36 Volt 600 and 650 Watt gear motors that could power the wagon at walking speed and carry the loads that you mentioned. We have forward only, and forward/reverse options available in case you want the wagon to have reverse.

We also just added to our lineup a 48 Volt 1000 Watt gear motor which could power the wagon at speeds faster than walking speed or be used for steep hill climbing if necessary.

We have twist and thumb throttle for 7/8" handlebars, and twist throttles for 1" handlebars.

If you could let us know your thoughts on what you want the wagons top speed to be, and how many minutes of run time you would like for it to have, then we could start designing a kit for your project. Please let us know if you have any questions.

No worries at all - thank you for the response. How much would the go cart conversion kit cost for the back wheels? I was trying to determine what to do with the wheels to make it more shock absorbent. As for as the 36/48 volt gears that would require 3 or 4 batteries correct? Regarding the batteries , it might be cost prohibitive but what about ION batteries or any other source of energy. I just fear the 4 batteries at approx 30 lbs each would be 120 lbs added weight, also the amount of space they would take up might be space prohibitive? The run time would be at a minimum the amount it takes to walk into and out of the forest so could we realistically get an hour run time at walking speed. It really doesn't need to be fast that was more for my own wants for fun :). 

We do not carry go kart parts so they would need to be sourced from a go kart parts store. Standard go kart parts are fairly inexpensive as far as parts go, so the cost for the sprocket, sprocket to axle adapter, axle, bearings, bearing hangers, and wheels should not be very expensive.

You are correct, a 36 Volt system uses three batteries and a 48 Volt system used four batteries.

Lithium Ion batteries are around the same size as lead acid batteries however they weight around half as much. With a 36 Volt 600 Watt kit that has a one hour estimated run time a 22Ah lead acid battery pack would weigh 42 pounds and add $180.00 onto the price of the kit, and for the same Lithium Ion batteries the weight would be 18 pounds and they would add $690.00 onto the price of the kit. For a 48 Volt 1000 Watt kit the weight and cost of the batteries would be 25% higher.


Please let us know if you have any questions, and your thought on all of this and we will take it from there.

Ok thank you - if I were to do the three battery system + parts from you - approximately how much extra weight would that add to the cart? 

For a 36 Volt 600 Watt kit with three 12 Volt 22Ah lead acid batteries the weight the parts in the kit would be around 55 pounds if the kit had forward only, and 60 pounds if the kit had forward and reverse.

Sorry for the late response and Thank you we just had to do some measurements - can you put a kit together using the 12 volts please. We will be taking it out in a couple months to test if it will actually work in the area we are in(before purchasing kit). 


Here is what we want so far, please let me know if you need any more information from me for the kit. Thanks again! 

  • Forward/Reverse
  • 48 Volt 1000 Watt
  • Throttle - whichever is more comfortable in pulling the wagon
  • 1 hour run time

We can definitely make a kit for your project. I notice that the wagon has 13" tires so I ran a gear ratio calculation using the 48 Volt 1000 Watt gear motor to give you an idea of what size sprocket will be needed for the rear axle. 3 MPH is considered to be average walking speed so that was my top speed goal. Here is the calculation:

image


Our 48 Volt 1000 Watt gear motor runs at 500 RPM under load and has a 10 tooth sprocket for #40, #41, and #420 chain. A 60 tooth axle sprocket for #40, #41, and #420 chain is a common and easy to find go kart sprocket.


For a one hour run time my calculator is recommending four 12 Volt 22 Ah batteries if the wagon is driven on flat terrain with some hills. However for driving in terrain that is mostly hills the calculator is recommending four 12 Volt 32 Ah batteries. Here are the calculations:


image


We carry 22 Ah batteries however we do not carry 32 Ah batteries so our 35 Ah batteries would need to be substituted for them.


Here are the battery dimensions and weights:

  • 12V 22Ah battery size: 7-1/8" long x 3" wide x 6-5/8" high. Weight 14 lbs.
  • 12V 35Ah battery size: 7-5/8" long x 5-1/8" wide x 6-1/4" high. Weight 24 lbs.


Before I can make a link for the kit and provide a price quote I will need to know what size batteries to include with the kit. I am not sure other than it being a forest what the terrain that the wagon will travel on is like.


It is always better to have too much battery capacity than not enough so the wagon does not run out of power before it gets home, however larger batteries and battery chargers cost more so getting the right size batteries for the project can help to save money on it.


What are your thoughts on the size of batteries that you would like included with the kit?

Hi,


I am also interested in the cost of the above kit, except I only need Forward and would like to increase the run time to 2 hours if possible and I do not need my cart to be able to carry 600 lbs, 250 lbs is the most I would need.

Hi Brian, we can put together a list of parts for your project so you will know exactly how much it will cost. So we can determine what size batteries, motor, and sprockets are needed could you please let us know the following information:

  • Will the wagon be used on flat ground only, on flat ground with some moderate hills, or on flat ground with some steep hills, or on moderate or steep hills all of the time???
  • What is the top speed that you want the wagon to travel at under the motors power?
  • What are the diameter of the wagon's tires (distance from the ground to the top of the tire)?
I purchased the above 48 volt 1000w motor and the 22 amp hour batteries and rigged it up to a small cart and tested it out and was very disappointed. There wasn't any weight on the cart other than the batteries, and I geared it low so that it ran at a comfortable walking pace, and I felt like it barely had enough power for my 30 pound cart, then by the time I walked around the house one time I could smell that the motor was starting to cook and felt that it was hot to the touch. Am I doing something wrong? I tested the batteries and they are producing right around 48 volts, but I'm sure if I tried to use this at all it would burn the motor up in about 10 min, plus it feels like there's not enough power for a load, or anything but a perfectly flat road, not rough terrain. I dont think i can return it because ive had the thing for a few months now while i was buulding the cart and i no longer have all the pieces. Any help would be appreciated. Here is my cart modeled after the honey badger cart.
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Looking at the photo it appears that the gear ratio is too high. We do not know exactly how many teeth the sprockets you are using have so we estimated an 11 tooth motor sprocket and 28 tooth wheel sprocket which calculated to a 70 MPH top speed with a 20" wheel. 



To lower the gear ratio a gear motor and a larger wheel sprocket are needed. Below is a gear ratio calculation for a 4 MPH top speed using our MOT-481000PL motor and an 80 tooth wheel sprocket.



Please let us know if you have any questions.

I ordered a different motor from you and I need to know what size of sprocket I need now. Your calculator doesn't say what kind of chain they are using for their calculations, and some of the scooter chains have way more teeth because it's a smaller chain so I'm not sure if it's the right tooth count for what I need. The motor I bought runs at 420 rpm, and has a 9 tooth bicycle chain sprocket, and I would like to stick with that type. My tire is a 24 inch. What tooth count would I need on the tire for a bicycle chain?
I forgot to put in that I would like it to go around 4 Mph. Thanks

The gear ratio and top speed are only affected by the number of teeth on the sprockets and not by the chain size. Since both sprockets have to be for the same size chain, differences in chain size will not affect the calculation. We found that for a 4 MPH top speed a 68 tooth wheel sprocket would be ideal.



Please let us know if you have any questions.

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