Power Wheels

Emily and Annie both want the little power wheels vehicles. What kid doesnt, I remember I wanted them when I was a kid. These retail for $200 - $300 usually, on craigslist and KSL.com it looks like I may be able to find them for $50 - $150.

Looking at the quality of these vehciles, I immediately see that its really low. The wheels are plastic and the top speed is 1.5mph. While the low speed is 'safe', I walk faster than 1.5mph. I think we could go a bit faster than that. The plastic wheels are less than ideal since they dont grip anything and are hard to turn.

So Im thinking maybe I could get 2 of these used from people, then pimp them out. I would want to replace the wheels and the motor at least, I may also want to add a second motor and beef up the suspension for a smoother right at a higher speed. Basically the idea is to turn this into a tiny atv.

For the wheels maybe I could find some small scooter wheels or small atv wheels.

For the motor im thinking about designing and building an electric motor. The center pole of the motor would be the axle and would contain permanent magnet stators around the core. Around the core would be th electromagnets used to push/pull the magnets. There would be no transmission or drive train to contribute power loss, the torque would be pushed directly to the wheels on the front axle. If I did this to the rear axle as well, it would then become a 4wd vehcle and I could easily switch on and off each motor to drive with the front wheels, rear wheels, or both.