If Elon Musk was to design a soapbox car, the prototype might look something like this by David Traum.

Traum’s project is powered by a 500W motor which is fed by a pair of 12V batteries and a 40 W solar cell, allowing it to attain a top speed of 35 km/h and a range of 10 to 15km. Although that might not sound like a huge number, it looks pretty fast at the end of the video below!

But that’s not all. The vehicle features a rather unique control system, with front wheel steering actuated by a stepper and cable assembly. An Arduino Mega is the brains of the operation, while user input is via a small touchscreen, a joystick, and even a steering wheel (equipped with an Uno, a 9V battery, radio module, and gyro sensor) that can work wirelessly as needed—perhaps to park remotely, or simply as a gigantic RC car

The clip here is in German, but you can read more in this English-translated article.

Growing up, there was nothing cooler than hopping in a go-kart for a quick spin around the neighborhood. But you know what would make it even cooler? If you built your own electric set of wheels. That’s exactly what two engineering students, Adrian Georgescu and Masoud Johnson, have done using commonly available components along with a secondhand frame they picked up for $125 and a few Arduino.

Although they initially targeted a motor power output of 3kW, they were unable to find any that fit their budget. So as any true Makers would do, the duo settled on creating one out of an old Subaru alternator instead. Price tag? $30.

For the rest of their project, Georgescu and Johnson used an electric scooter’s three-phase motor controller, three LiPo battery packs, a trio of Arduino Pro Minis, and an Arduino Mega. The Arduinos are tasked with throttle control, speed sensing, RPM measurement, and transmitting the data over to a virtual dashboard on an Android app.

To finish off the build, the students reupholstered the seat, painted the chassis red and black, and threw on 60 LEDs. You can see the end result in action below, as the e-kart reaches a top speed of roughly 33mph (53km/h).