Gas Better
 

It’s about 1300 dollars to put a new engine in your Yamaha quiet tech. 750 if you are so inclined to do it yourself. You may never have to do that though. The engines are quite dependable. I’ve never heard of someone’s going bad.

Also, remember you are protecting the environment by not adding large amounts of lithium waste from multiple battery replacements to the toxic landfills.

We like that you are never tethered to the life of ,”Did I plug the cart in?” “I wonder if the batteries are still good?”…….

If you have 7 minutes perhaps watch this video.

https://youtu.be/s2xrarUWVRQ?si=KysLXS62m0CZOma7

Interesting process, but no mention as to the energy intensity required and whether or not it’s a net positive or negative after considering all relevant factors.

Yeah, but you'd be avoiding all that partial burning of a fossil fuel and helping to prevent the driver of the cart behind you, from dying from the smell and fumes ahead of him.

Besides, the Federal Government apparently has a secret plan on how to dispose of all those used up batteries. They're not telling us what it is yet, but if they didn't have one, why would they be promoting EV's ?

Win - win.

Yes. Yamaha actually warranties the engines for 20 years/5000 hours if you use Yamalube and follow the maintenance schedule. I am sure there is some small print and some marketing motivation for this warranty but the bottom line is they apparently think the engines will last a long time. 5000 hours basically translates to about 80k miles. I am currently at 2000 hours with no perceptible oil consumption, decrease in miles per gallon, or reduction in top speed.

So, using YOUR math, 60,000 miles/2,000 charges = 30 miles per charge. I think I'll stick with gas rather than run out of juice 1/2 way across TV

I believe that in the video, they stated that it is easier and cheaper to MINE the exotic and expensive metal there in the RECYCLE plant than it would be to MINE the metals out of the GROUND.
......Also 80% of golf carts WORLDWIDE are ELECTRIC. So, there is a lot of research going on to improve every aspect of E-cart use.

I could see in a few years that each golf course and many retail businesses would have rapid charging stations for use while people played the golf course (or at pickleball or softball) or while they were shopping. The changeover to E-vehicles will NOT happen immediately. but research and improvement WILL.

Where do you live in TV that 30 miles is halfway across? (that would be 60 miles wide or 20 miles wide of you're thinking about a round trip)

My cart gets more than 45 miles on a charge which is farther than I want to go in a cart anyway.

As TV grows south it is getting too large to travel from one end to the other and back. For anyone who wants/needs to do that, gas is the way to go.

I'm pretty much centrally located (Now. When I bought in 2014 there were 9 houses south on me and that was the end of TV)
However, if someone lives in Lake Denham and wants to play Lopez and take their cart, they are not getting there and back at 30 miles. Now, in all fairness, I believe most new electric carts will get about 60 miles/charge---I was just using the numbers posted.

If someone wants electric because it's quieter and doesn't smell, I'm all in favor and if they get the range near 80-90, I'll be in that market as well. If someone wants electric because they think they are saving the planet from the myth/scam of so called global warming, then they need a dementia evaluation.

R&D of any sort, as it relates to gas carts, stopped about 30 years ago.

The 3 only real changes to gas golf carts in the last 60 years are:

1. Went from 3 wheels & a "tiller", to 4 wheels.

2. Added Fuel Injection, about 30 years after it became common place on every other product.

3. Yamaha added a "pad" under the seat to muffle noise, at the expense of heating your butt. Win in the winter, questionable May - October.

Or, they're newer and people haven't gotten around to replacing them yet...

You have 20+ years of gas carts as re-sale inventory...

My son did on his "Star" brand cart and because of the extra weight experienced a slower drive speed.
There's more modification than just replacing the lead acid batteries with lithium.

Jury is still out on tire wear.

To actually answer the OP, we bought a used 2013 Yamaha in the Summer of 2021 for $7000. It had the lockable dash and an overhead storage tray.

I drove it for over two years (and serviced it once), and it served us well. I just wasn't happy with the suspension, nor the slightly upgraded bench seats.

I much preferred riding in my buddy's 2017 Yamaha QuieTech with high-back El Tigre seats.

So... this past Summer, we sold the 2013 (for $1000 less than we paid for it) and bought a newer 2017 QuieTech with the high back El Tigre bucket seats, overhead storage tray, hard valance (less wind buffeting of the softer valances at speed), speedometer/odometer and LED accent lights for $9500... I had it serviced immediately, and was told by the technician that the cart was in great shape and should serve us for years to come...

I find that the prices drop a few thousand/year initially on the new ones, then about $1000/year after that...

2018's are selling in the $10K range, 2017's are selling in the $9K range, 2016 in the $8K range, and so on and so on...

Personally, I'd look for a nice, clean 2018/19 QuieTech and you'll be good to go for a long time...

May be a good times to look at referbished carts.

The Golf store at Brownwood has a parking lot full of carts.

Last year, there were very few this time of year.