The Atomic carts use AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries - these are sealed lead acid batteries and have been used in some cars for over 20 years. It is not a new technology. The battery acid is saturated in a fiberglass mat as opposed to a flooded cell. I have been using AGM batteries in my car for nearly 20 years. The vast majority of cars use sealed, flooded cell lead acid batteries.
The batteries used in electric and hybrid cars are lithium-ion based - a different technology than lead acid (regardless of whether it is AGM or flooded). While you can buy lithium-ion replacement battery packs for golf carts, they carry a high cost. I believe it will be some time before we see golf carts from any of the major manufacturers with lithium-ion batteries (or another technology other than lead acid) as standard equipment. It may very well be 10 years before you see wide spread adoption of a battery technology other than lead acid in golf carts. In the interim, I will stick with a gas cart as they are inexpensive to operate, require little maintenance, have good resale value, and are very reliable.
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Originally Posted by hillncea
I have an electric cart (Atomic) and it runs about 60 miles on a charge with the air conditioning on at full blast, about 100 miles in the spring and fall with the A/C off. I live south of 466A and my wife was in rehab at The Club--about 15 miles, and about the furthest you can travel in The Villages. Never had an issue with the 30-mile round-trip. And the batteries are sealed, so no acid burns on the garage floor. There have been great advances in batteries in the past few years and there will be many more in the upcoming years. This improvement is being driven (no pun intended) by the research necessary to power electric cars. As electric cars get better and more popular, the batteries for golf carts will continue to improve as well.
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