Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 762242)

I was in the golf business for 35 years and taking care of golf cart fleets was a part of my job.
I also have a friend that is president of a Club Car dealership. I've also attended many seminars put on by the PGA and I can tell you that the free market will tell you that electric are far more popular than gas.

You have to remember that the majority of golf carts sold nationwide are in fleets intended for use on a golf course. When Club Car came out with the first 48 volt electric system it all but put gas carts out of business. Number of rounds per charge was a big concern with golf courses and some, especially hilly courses, could not get more then one round out of the old 36 volt carts. The 48 volt Club Car would go two plus rounds and that was more than enough for golf course owners.

Having said that, here in the Villages is a bit of a different story. People are concerned with range and the 30 miles or so that an electric Club Car will get is not enough for some people. If that's the case, you have two options, buy a gas cart or modify your electric cart to get more hours of run time.

Yamaha is the biggest dealer here by far. They have three locations within the Villages. Yamaha makes the best gas golf cart on the market. Club Car, by everything that I learned, makes the best electric. The Club Car dealer is not located in the Villages. Yamaha dealers of course push gas carts and something like 90% of what they sell are gas carts. They will sell you an electric cart, as Club Car will sell you a gas cart, but make no mistake, the meat of their business is in the carts in which they specialize.

Now some people say you can go out and by a Columbia Par Car who advertises that you can get 80 miles on a single charge. You have to remember that claim is made based on a promotional stunt that they conducted a while ago where they ran a cart under absolute ideal conditions and did run 80 miles. They also gave that cart away as a promotion and changed the batteries because the batteries in that cart were destroyed. I think that pretty much any electric cart will do the same if the test is run the same way. Club Car salesmen claim that their basic D/S cart with the standard six 8 volt battery configuration will go 50 miles on a charge. They're probably right.

You can change the batteries in a 48 volt electric cart to eight 6 volt batteries and extend your miles significantly. There are other modifications that can be done to increase both speed and range. In addition there are some companies currently selling solar panels for the roof of the cart which will increase range a small amount. I would suspect that those panels will be improved in the future to add significantly to range.

Electric carts have fewer moving parts and require less maintenance. As gas carts age they tend to have more problems than electrics. This is not a problem of course, if you intend to trade your cart in every few years for a new one.

I dealt with both gas and electric carts in my career and as you can probably guess, I prefer electric. But if you want to have unlimited range a gas cart might be the right choice for you in this particular application.

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 762242)

I was in the golf business for 35 years and taking care of golf cart fleets was a part of my job.
I also have a friend that is president of a Club Car dealership. I've also attended many seminars put on by the PGA and I can tell you that the free market will tell you that electric are far more popular than gas.

<stuff cut by Alan from OP for brevity>

I dealt with both gas and electric carts in my career and as you can probably guess, I prefer electric. But if you want to have unlimited range a gas cart might be the right choice for you in this particular application.

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 762242)

I was in the golf business for 35 years and taking care of golf cart fleets was a part of my job.
I also have a friend that is president of a Club Car dealership. I've also attended many seminars put on by the PGA and I can tell you that the free market will tell you that electric are far more popular than gas.

You have to remember that the majority of golf carts sold nationwide are in fleets intended for use on a golf course..........

Originally Posted by ilovetv (Post 762409)

Of course people would prefer electric carts when most of them are in golf course or country club fleets. Somebody else maintains and charges them (bag room workers or cart barn workers).

And those employees bring the golfer another cart if the cart they're using dies out on the golf course. Here, it's the owner who has to deal with the problems, calls a service person to come out to tow and fix it, and makes sure somebody takes care of it while gone for months.

Originally Posted by Bonnevie (Post 761909)

I've been looking for golf carts. The push to buy gas is very evident. Seems people have range anxiety. Apparently, that's what most people are buying so many of the stores only bring electric up if specifically asked.

I want to friendly to the environment but it's hard to put a lot into an electric cart which apparently will be worth less than a gas one should I want to trade it in sometime. Carts and Clubs has only gas on the showroom but said it would get an electric if that's what one wanted.

In fact, I don't think I saw any new electric carts were displayed in any of the places I went.

Is there really hope for solar power to help electric carts?

Originally Posted by ilovetv (Post 762409)

Of course people would prefer electric carts when most of them are in golf course or country club fleets. Somebody else maintains and charges them (bag room workers or cart barn workers).

And those employees bring the golfer another cart if the cart they're using dies out on the golf course. Here, it's the owner who has to deal with the problems, calls a service person to come out to tow and fix it, and makes sure somebody takes care of it while gone for months.

Originally Posted by Solar Golf Carts (Post 762478)

Are you also thinking there is no risk with gasoline stored in a garage?

Originally Posted by Bill-n-Brillo (Post 762438)

Either type of cart will get the job done. Most folks will have a preference of one type and/or brand for a variety of very valid reasons.

Bottom line: Do your research, ask questions.......then pick the one you feel you'll be happiest with.

Bill :)

Originally Posted by Peachie (Post 762390)

I've often wondered if all the golf carts in The Villages were electric, how many more house fires do you think we would have seen from battery charging. There is definitely a higher risk of fire with an electric cart recharging, (I didn't say high risk), and this may be a problem with ongoing, daily maintenance of these electric carts by an aging population.

Also, some others have previously mentioned on TOTV how the light splash from filling their batteries had left pinprick holes in their clothing.

Originally Posted by ilovetv (Post 762409)

Of course people would prefer electric carts when most of them are in golf course or country club fleets. Somebody else maintains and charges them (bag room workers or cart barn workers).

And those employees bring the golfer another cart if the cart they're using dies out on the golf course. Here, it's the owner who has to deal with the problems, calls a service person to come out to tow and fix it, and makes sure somebody takes care of it while gone for months.

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 762548)

How many house fires, due to electric golf carts have there been in the Villages in the past 30 years? do you really think that there is a great deal more danger than storing five gallons of gasoline in your garage? Maybe, but I would love to see documentation of that.

Originally Posted by Peachie (Post 762505)

... the fire risk for owning a gas golf cart is miniscule compared to battery operated carts .