We went with gas also and it was pretty close between gas and electric. The main reason for gas was the overall convenience - just put gas in occasionally. The maintenance is minimal and I can do that myself but even if you pay someone the cost is minimal. As far as I can tell, gas carts are amazingly reliable and nearly indestructible. The operating costs for gas should be less than electric based on a battery life estimation from one of the electric cart dealers: 8000 miles for a set of batteries or about 12 cents per mile for batteries. If you figure electricity will run about 2 cents per mile the operating cost of an electric is about 14 cents per mile. My gas cart is about 5 cents per mile for gasoline plus about 2 cent per mile for gas cart specific maintenance for a total of about 7 cents per mile. While gas has lower operating costs, I don't think that is necessarily a major reason for choosing gas as the annual operating costs are a small percentage of the purchase price of a cart. I would be interested in hearing what sort of lifespan, in miles, owners of electrics are seeing. Most people talk in terms of how many years the batteries last but I am more curious about the number of miles.
In the future, if lithium-ion batteries (or another technology) come down in cost and become available as original equipment, I would be inclined to go that route. They are available as a retrofit but are still pricy. They have a number of significant advantages over lead-acid batteries: weight, charge time, lifespan, charge capacity, and no maintenance.
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Originally Posted by Fraugoofy
Gas is the only way for me. Gets me as far as I need to go on less than a tank of gas. No plug ins, no worries!
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