You repair carts?

Yes. I personally work on 8-10 carts a day

Hello TechGC...I have an electric cart and I'm becoming concerned about the batteries starting a fire when they are being charged. I didn't realize this was a problem before I purchased my electric Yamaha 2016 cart.

What actually causes the fires? Is it the batteries that actually start the fire or is it usually the battery charger?

How dangerous is it to not have ventilation in the garage when charging? I know these garages are not completely sealed of air flow but is that enough without a window open or vents put in the garage door?

Great question.

20 years ago, many golf course barns would burn to the ground, issue then was the charger plugs and plug ins would break internally catch the plug on fire, then catch the seat on fire and the rest of the barn.
The manufacturers remedied all of that and you don't see it now a days.

Ive heard about the fires here in the villages. There are many safety factors built into the vehicles now. Fuses, circuit breakers and way better charger plugs.
Problem is not everyone uses OEM repair parts and its these lesser parts that are melting and causing issues. I cant count how many aftermarket charge receptacle plugs or cords have to be changed back out due to being melted. The internet can be a great thing but one must be careful, a cheaper price may not always be the best thing.
Your 2016 cart will be fine.

Proper ventilation is a plus during the charge process.

Battery Fires? About 30% of carts in the Villages are electric. You Would have heard A LOT about this if it was a problem. I don't ventilate my garage at all.

Your 2016 Yamaha will be just fine if you charge it every night and keep the batteries properly watered with distilled water. Do you have a single-point watering system? You should water the batteries every 2 months...I water mine on the 1st of every month just so I don't forget. It takes about 1 quart per month and I use my cart at least 6 miles everyday. With the single-point system it takes about 4 minutes to water all the batteries. About as easy and time consuming as pumping gas into a cart tank.

The EZGO Elite lithium carts with the 120ah pack has a range of about 55 miles.
The villages carts wants $15K but you can get a base one anywhere else for about $11.5K

Too pricey for me...Still.

If you have lived here for five plus years you WOULD have heard about it. Ask a fireman/ fireperson......whatever.

Type in "Garage Fire" in search above.

Interesting.. We have a 2010 Star Cart.. 8 6-volt batteries. Have had it 7 years. Batteries replaced once, one year ago - our original set lasted 6 years (almost 7, as cart was nearly a year old when we bought it). We use it more than our car, and have never been stalled or had to be towed. I also have the single point watering system; I water about once or twice a month, each time takes less than a minute, and I use only about a gallon or so a year of distilled water. We use the cart almost every day, and charge overnight every night. We have never experienced any fumes or corrosion, or stains on our garage floor.

I included setup/takedown start to finish in my 4 minute calculation...Takes less than a minute to actually pump the water.
My water usage is more like 2 quarts every 3 months but a gallon a year in a 8x6V system is really good.

I reckon I use my cart 10 miles everyday on average...Between 6 and 22 miles...Almost never more than 25 miles.

We have a watering system that connects with a "quick connect" valve and all the batteries get filled at once with a closed system. I fill the batteries with distilled water about every two weeks and it only takes about 10 seconds each time to top off the water. I don't drive the cart very much as I don't play golf. I guess that is why it doesn't need too much water to top it off.

I also don't charge the batteries every night. I charge them about once a week. Is there a reason why I should charge the batteries every night? I put very little mileage on the cart on a daily basis. Thanks for the info.

Something is wrong
 

The gas yamaha has a 6.5 gallon tank. It gets 40 miles per gallon at proper speed of 20 miles per hour. It is two hours a gallon.

I would not run the tank all the way down but you are reporting that you drive 12 hours in five days. Or 240 miles in five days. Or 2.4 hours a day.

It's interesting how the "Healthiest town in US" (by someone definition) is in the opposite direction to rest of the US (and world) with autos moving to Electric. I guess the older we get many don't mind the pollution, smell, noise or jerking of gas carts (EFI carts included). It must be that wonderful smell that fills the tunnels that is actually healthy for you.
As you might guess I've had an electric cart since 2007 and never been towed and will probably replace it with another electric cart. I guess I don't subscribe to The argument "As The Villages get larger you need a gas cart to get from one end to the other" since if I can't get there by cart in under 50 minutes I have no desire to go by cart. BTW I sure hope all those electric auto owners are avoiding the fire hazard by not parking them in their garage.

No way I could suffer a noisy, stinky, jerky smudgepot gas cart. I bought a Par Car simply because of the 60+ mile range but it may have been overkill. I live on the Glenview course and I don't travel any farther that 466A, not because the cart won't go all the way to Fenney and back, but it would simply be a long long uncomfortable ride. My original research concluded that after Par Car, the next best electric is EZ Go.

My favorite posts are such as these...such an open mind and such a firm grasp on all the "facts" that fit a particular point of view.

I have 2 gas carts and now a Yamaha battery cart for Mom and Dad. I spent the past week, or more, breaking in new batteries. I do enjoy the semi quiet ride of the battery cart, but I haven't enjoyed the daily chores of the batteries. I won't give up my gas carts, but Mom will enjoy the battery cart. To each their own. Enjoy the ride!

Neither could I!!

But the gas cart I have is just fine.

No clue what breaking in batteries is about?
 

I've had a electric cart for about 10 and 2 sets of batteries but never has anyone mentioned breaking in batteries or any daily chore other than plugging in the cart to change the batteries. I check the water about 1st per month and wish I had a auto water system but other than that there is no Breakin or maintenance

I broke down and bought a new Yamaha. I'm not pleased with the noise and odors it makes vs my last Par Car however, I am starting to like the fact that I don't have to do anything to it when I use it, just get in and go, come back and turn it off. I'm still not sold completely on it (my wife was in favor of the gas and as usual she won) but at this point I guess I'll have to get used to it. It's nice now that they sell gas in Fenney, don't have to keep a jug full in the garage.

:bigbow:

There is a break-in time for the batteries. See past post. Maybe not necessary, but.

Not to spoil your opinions, but, all those electric cars and your Electric cart are not that old yet, so time will tell. what do you think you smelling when you charge the batteries. I had elect. cart and liked it. It was cheaper easy to maintain, but I wouldn't keep on over 8 or 10 years. At that point all the charging cycles takes toll, now your fighting corrosion in the wiring and chassis, as batteries get weaker or older they evaporate more battery acid water which increased corrosion maintenance. That's why the tech guy likes them and of course gas cause most don't have clue how to maintain them. Now gas vs electric. Gas IMO is not for person that has no clue, stay with electric, at least all you got to do is charge the batteries, check water level and occasionally check air in tires (some can't even do that, which probably causes the very low percentage of fires or explosions in really old carts) Last summer lady was driving her old electric golf cart and the batteries exploded and blew her off the seat, she hit the curb and tipped over) Rare IMO that this could happen but with no preventive maintenance and just charge and go eventually something going to happen.

Gas, the number one thing is OIL CHANGES and check air in tires. It's lawn mower air cooled engine with usually 1 quart of oil in it. I admit it doesn't have the stress of lawn mower engine environment, but still by design lawn mower engine. Gas Carts will last very long time with just oil changes. I have never worn out gas engine in car, boat, lawn mower, motorcycle, golf cart, or even weed eater. But, I am stickler on preventive maintenance.

Bottom line Electric is fine and Gas is fine if you have skills. What one wants and don't want to have to do. Now if I didn't have clue or have NO desire to do preventive maintenance by old means get electric. But, in the end the cost about same when you figure batteries, electricity, corrosion prevention, chassis maintenance, and the low trade in or sale value IMO.

Question? when the last time the transaxle grease was changed or even checked in your cart? I just done mine, if it hasn't been in 5 or 6 years you might want to add that to maintenance plan? Another thing if you happen to look under your cart and you see leak (usually oil or grease) or there is fluid on the garage floor where you park the cart you have problem which is only going to get worse.

Why argue about what the other guy is driving or trying to convince a newbie a particular mode is the way to go. The past century has taught us that internal combustion is the proven winner in this race. If you don’t agree, go electric.


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The short answer is that us Villagers Who Have Been Here For More Than Five Years like to show off in front of Newbies.

And, it is true that we could all keep our mouths shut and just wait for them to notice that the carts that quit along the cartpath's are usually Electric Carts.

However, If we don't tell the newbies that, when they find it out for themselves, then we can't say; "I told you so".

Green is good but walking several miles home is not enjoyed by all and not something all can do anymore.

10 years for me and my reply is: :sigh::oops::ohdear:

Thanks for seeking out "I told you so" moments; however, the true short answer is engage brain and know your cart's energy status and related limitations before venturing out.

YOU GOT IT!!!

Keep your gas tank filled.

Are you talking to me:wave: if so I usually agree. I didn't think I was arguing just explaining the problems and pros and cons of both based on few decades of hands on mechanical experience.

Only a few decades ? Sounds like you’re the newbie [emoji51]


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This is a great article. In a nutshell, both electric and gas require maintenance.

Maintenance - Gas - need oil changes and replacement parts such as spark plugs, starter belts and so on, and fuel. Electric - need charging, and once a month or so fill the batteries with water. At some point a few years down the road, replace the batteries. All carts need tire pressure checked. As far as carts dying along the roadside, all carts will do that if you don't gas them up or recharge the battery sufficiently.

Noise - the electric cart is very quiet. You can drive along and have a pleasant conversation. Gas carts - the newer ones are better than the older ones, but electric are still quieter. If you do a lot of driving and noise is important to you, avoid gas cart.

We don't use our cart a lot for general driving, pretty much just golf, so we have an electric cart because it is quieter, and we find plugging it in to recharge it is more convenient than having to deal with filling up a cart with gas. But that is personal preference. A lot of people have gas carts and seem to like them. I personally hate the smell of the carts and the noise, but to each his/her own.

If it burns gas it has a smell, no way around it. Sure The Villages is getting big but if I am going to go the often used number of "50 miles", my behind is going to be in a car. Have one of both and we would choose electric for the noise, smell(even the EFI's smell) and fewer parts to have to replace with breakdowns. It is a personal choice on both sides.

I have personally towed home 6 electric carts since moving here. I have stopped to ask another 20 to 30 broken down carts if they needed help, all but one was electric, and I have seen many more crawling along at night with the headlights off because they are running out of juice. Hope they made it home.

I would strongly suggest most of this was caused by user error. Didn't plug it in, left the lights on, didn't replace the batteries when they should have, didn't get the plug seated correctly when they did plug it in, didn't add water to the batteries, and a few other well known user caused failures.

However most people do remember to add gas because it is something they have done all their life. The "all but one" mentioned above had run out of gas so it does happen.

So if you don't like walking home gas seems to be the better choice. And all the folks who claim electric is so much cleaner should really understand that the electricity has to be generated someplace using some type of fuel and those batteries have to be disposed of someway that breaks up lead, acid and plastic. There really is no good ecological footprint other than your own.

From a repair aspect, we see pretty much the same amount, gas or electric break down out on the road. Dead battery, starter issue, broken belts, broken fuel line are all gas related issues. The debate will never end and everyone will always take there side.

Thanks TechGC. Most of the posts on this thread are opinions. You back yours up with professional experience.

From an actual "breakdown" (cart dead and you don't know why and it has to be serviced) I would really think more gas than electric. More there to go wrong. From a dead cart beside the cart path it is way higher for electric. Most folks just get towed home and plug them in. And again I would believe mostly caused by user error, but still many many more than gas.

I am skeptical.

To me this issue doesn't matter if the cart is dead as in Funeral or run out of juice. I see the Electric ones all alone sitting there along a cart path wishing they were home more. MORE.

Yes, an excellent point that may be overlooked by many. Lead acid battery recycling is pretty interesting. Essentially everything is recovered. The plastic and lead is reused to make new batteries. It does, however, consume energy and chemicals to recover the lead and plastic. There is no free lunch.

Regardless of the pros and cons it is all a matter of preference. Gas owners will swear by gas and electric owners will swear by electric. All the posts in the world will not change their opinions.

Your opinion is always enjoyable to read. At least yours are based on experience, not some silly conjecture.

I believe the nail on the head is many times user error or ignorance. I also have towed folks home with electric carts.

Ask them how many volts are in the pack and you will see a blind stare :). Not sure many know that volt is something more than a car...

Anyway, it is electric for me, but I fully understand why folks want gas carts also. I am not trying to sway anyone.