Yeah wrong link but you know what I mean.
Power cant be consumed it is applied or exerted.
Energy is consumed and 2 motors alone wont consume more energy as long you are driving the same speed as you were with one motor. With low speed karts you must have differentiation between the drive wheels and 2 DC motors is a good way of doing it.
If one wheel spins there is still torque being applied to the non spinning wheel.
"One Wheel Peel" ? I would like to think we are a little more sophisticated than that around here. We prefer to exercise our design dexterity.
The gear reduction is so you dont need a massive sprocket hanging off the axle rubbing the chain in the dirt and with 1000W you wont be going fast anyway. You will need torque to get up grassy hills.
Your (3) criteria:
simple, easy to drive (for kids) and above all cheap.
I asked about "one wheel drive" because it seemed to meet "all' of your "goals"
…maybe, using a differential would too
...& ICE "powered" low speed (kids) karts have used the (1) engine, (1) wheel drive concept for decades
As far as, power consumption/energy consumption, what ever you want to call it
(2) motors weigh twice as much as (1)
...added weight = losses
…& using (2) motors also doubles the (converting electrical energy to mechanical power) "losses"
You might wanna "think thru" the (2) motors controlled by (1) speed controller concept
Lets say, your crusing along, your motors are pulling/consuming 10A each & you go off the edge of the road a bit & (1) wheel starts spinning freely (no load)
Does the non-freely spinning wheel/motor "now" consume
...less "energy" because the freely spinning wheel/motor is consuming more?
...or does the non-freely spinning wheel/motor consume more "maybe twice" the "energy" than the freely spinning wheel, because it's load has "suddenly doubled"?
...can & how "well" will the speed controller handle a situation like this? (if it can, how many times?)
Design dexterity?
If you wanna show your "design dexterity"
...why are you doing a steel framed "Power Wheels" type kart?
Show us/design a (4) motor, (4) wheel drive, articulating kart
Here is a kids kart with a 24V 450W brushed motor/speed controller with an 8.2:1 gear ratio & (2) 12V 12AH SLA batteries
…avg amp draw ~15A
...max amp draw ~30A
...top speed ~10 MPH
...but, watch the "MASSIVE" voltage sag on the meter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBT9B0sqNe4
*Sorry for "Hijacking" this thread
...but, there are some pointers in there