When we were looking at golf carts, one of the questions I had was cost per mile. I received one estimate for battery life of 8000 miles. Assuming $800 for new batteries, this works out to 10 cents per mile for batteries plus 2 cents per mile for electricity for a total of 12 cent per mile. For gas carts, gas will be maybe 8 cents per mile plus maintenance (oil, filters, belts, and starter battery). A properly maintained engine will last a long time so engine replacement is really not part of the equation. All other parts are essentially the same for gas and electric (i.e tires). They are probably pretty close overall and is an economical way to travel - you can travel 4000 mile for roughly $400 plus depreciation of the cart.
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Originally Posted by mtdjed
I have a gas cart so I really do not know, but it would seem that it would all depend on how much you drove and how long it then took to charge the batteries. I would bet that that length of time to charge would get longer as the batteries age.
Electrical costs are based upon wattage used and here is a brief lesson regarding electricity that I found on the web.
Volts is the measure of electric Potential (higher voltage more potential) and Amps is a measure of "flow" of electric current
Watts is the measure of power/energy in electricity
Watts = amps x voltage.
Kilo watt hours (watts x time) is a a measure of power used in an hour and KWH measurements is actually how your electricity company charges you for the electricity you use.
Your battery charger would indicate the AMPS you are drawing and I suspect limit the draw to your 48 Volt system.
That said I also found a statement which agreed with a previous poster which said 1 or 2 cents per mile. 
The big cost is replacing the batteries periodically. |