Project oriented education: Build your own electric go-kart

Since a number of years, the educational point of view is changing from a more theoretical approach towards a problem solving and/or project oriented education. In this framework, a seminar has been introduced in the second year of the five-year curriculum of electromechanical engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Without any broad pre-knowledge, small groups of students have to build an electric kart. The students receive a set of components, but before they can assemble the kart they have to have to design the kart. Therefore they receive only a 12-page note with the basic working principle of an electric vehicle. Furthermore they have access to a lot of component manuals and reference books. This should be sufficient to calculate the forces acting on their kart and design the power, current and voltage parameters of the kart. Once they know the requirements of the composing elements they can test the available components. Finally the assembled kart is tested on a roll bench chassis dynamometer and on-road to verify their design. The students are very motivated and satisfied with the way of working. Team spirit, reporting and presentation are essential factors for a good result