One of the unique challenges of building an electric go cart is the motor. Most 1+ HP motors are one or three phase, which means an expensive VFD for speed control. There are almost none in the 12-36 volt range, and they are usually very expensive. A surplus shop has a
120VDC treadmill motor, which would allow a much simpler and cheaper chopper drive. The power is enough at ~1 HP, but I couldn't find a reasonable (price) 2KW DC-DC converter. A 2KW 12VDC-120VAC inverter, built for cars, is under $70. The model is very cheap, but I'm not very concerned about the AC waveform. Is it possible to rectify and filter the 120VAC output and use that for the motor? I'm assuming the 120VDC rating is an average, because treadmills run off house voltage, and average is more convenient when calculating power. Would there be issues with the power factor of a bridge rectifier/filter caps?Thanks