Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr
I'm thinking of buying a new one and would like to hear opinions. I have an older Club Car and I have always liked Club Car. The problem that I see is lack of range. I am told that the realistic range of my 48 volt CC is 12-15 miles. I live in Silver Lake and that is not enough for me to go to Brownwood and back once it is built.
I can't seem to find a lot of information about Columbia Par Car. They have an advertisement that claims they get "up to" 80 miles per charge. A claim like that makes me very skeptical. Many manufacturers take there carts out to a place like the Bonneville Salt Flats and run them dead straight with the pedal to the metal and then make claims about how far they can go. Stopping starting and turing will reduce that number significantly.
I have always had an aversion to gas carts, but that's because I worked at a golf course. I am beginning to wonder if gas makes more sense as a personal transportation vehicle. Electric is less expensive to operate and has fewer moving parts so there is less that can go wrong. Gas needs an annual tune up whereas electric needs the batteries replaced every few years.
So let's here from all of you. I'd like to hear you're good experiences and bad ones.
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Get what you want of course, I have expressed what I like in enough threads already, but I at least want to share some information based on my experiences. Everything here is just my opinion,
I am no expert.
I assume you were told
your cart will only get 12-15 miles due to the condition of the batteries and not as a guideline for electric carts
.
As far as Par Car. They really did this. From what I understand they had an upgraded 6 volt battery, I believe the T125, but the results are real and was done for a good cause. Here is an old post that has some details:
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...08-post17.html
This 80 mile test took the batteries to DEAD. This is very bad for lifespan of deep cycle batteries. You need to ask any dealer how many miles they can go discharging the pack 50% (would love to hear some of the answers you get
). My gut feel for Par Car is about 50-60 miles when the pack is fresh.
Range will vary for sure depending on the battery configuration. Simple thought, the more batteries that make up the 48 volt pack the further the range. A pack with 8-6v goes further than a pack with 6-8v which goes further than a pack with 4-12v. One caveat, a cart with an AC motor will have a bit more range than a cart using DC as it is more efficient. I have read numbers about the RXV that they are 30% more efficient. All that means is you cannot compare a Club Car with 4-12 v batteries to a new RXV with the same configuration.
Looks to me like Brownwood will be about a 21 mile round trip for you. This is a pretty close, just a bit further than the distance for me to round trip to Lopez golf course (no golf).
I budget to buy batteries every three years. Will see how that goes.....
I expect a Club Car with a pack of 6-8v batteries to reliably take me more than 30 miles** per charge for at least 3 years. One of my carts has 6-8v batteries that are freshly broken in and the cart just went 45 miles***. This is a new pack, so range is a good as it will get.
I would expect a Club Car with 8-6v batteries to reliably take me 40 miles** for three years. My pack is now two years old and it will still go 45-50 miles*** without discharging too deeply. Here is a pretty picture I shared:
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...80-post13.html
** - if you expect to drive 35 miles per day (this is ALOT) you are pushing the limit of electric IMO. My examples above are the range I expect to be able to go on a particular day. My daily average is more like 10-15 miles.
*** The mileage examples above discharge the packs 50%. That is a deeply as I like to discharge them. In a pinch you could go further.
Forget the cost of electric versus gas, IMO it is close enough that it should not be the determining factor.
Keep in mind if you go electric, you will get the most of the pack by first understanding a bit about batteries and lifespan, how to maintain, etc. It is not rocket science, but can be intimidating for some
Not sure what you have for a Club Car, but if a DS it can be modified to hold 8-6v batteries like mine. Frank7 just gave some information here on the cost to do something like that:
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...963-post5.html
I did my own to learn a bit about carts and it was fun.
My experience converting a cart from 6-8 to 8-6 volt batteries
Good luck!