[MikeVillages]

Originally Posted by MikeVillages

Isn't Village Yamaha a non yamaha dealer and can only sale used Yamahas? Anyway, do your own research. Many of us have seen videos of the blowtorch type flames coming out of lithium battery automobiles. Most people like to think they got the best xyz. I’m concert about charging in a hot TV garage.

I misunderstood the OP and didn’t understand that “Custom Drive” is apparently a golf cart brand. They do have a fantastic promotional video. No price given nor the price to replace the Lithium battery which only has a 5 year warranty. I wish the OP the best of luck. Most likely I will not buy one but if I see one in the parking lot, I may come over to talk about the golf cart & get a better look.
Link to the promotional video: https://youtu.be/WY-2Khnm6is

[Vermilion Villager]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

You do realize, as psychiatrists will tell you, that human nature is almost always unwilling to admit that ANY purchase was a mistake---hence a skewed population of posts.

The only two reasons that my EV posts have been negative (so far) are:

1) They are not ready for prime time --both carts and EVs. Of the two, carts are much closer, and lithium ion for those that will use it less than 25-30 miles/day has arrived. Personally I want more range. EVs have a much longer way to go---I want at least a 500 mile range and would prefer 800

2) There is a subset of EV proponents who out of politeness I will only call uninformed and gullible who have been brainwashed into believing that they are saving the planet by not burning fossil fuels. They give a bad name to those who prefer EVs for the quiet and lack of fumes.

OH HOLD ON NOW!!!!!!
You justified your negative posts by saying in post #26 "Meanwhile, my knowledge about EV's, their range and battery life comes from posts by people who DO own them."
I asked you to back up that statement by providing just a couple of negative posts by these people because no one can seem to find them but you.
Now you're saying it's actually your own biased against them, including bashing people who own them as being delusional, and then your most recent post call them brainwashed and gullible…

On a positive.......you now have 12,335 posts.....WooHoo!!!!!

[Mleeja]

I am glad that the original poster is happy with their purchase and they are sharing their experience. There is always going to be criticism and haters telling you are wrong. When it comes time to replace our carts I will seriously look at a cart with a lithium battery. We currently have one gas and one standard 48 volt battery cart. I prefer driving the electric because it is so much quieter. However, as with the OP, we get between 25 and 30 miles on a full charge. I wouldn’t think about using this cart to make a trip from Santiago to Brownwood.

[phylt]

Originally Posted by MikeVillages

I misunderstood the OP and didn’t understand that “Custom Drive” is apparently a golf cart brand. They do have a fantastic promotional video. No price given nor the price to replace the Lithium battery which only has a 5 year warranty. I wish the OP the best of luck. Most likely I will not buy one but if I see one in the parking lot, I may come over to talk about the golf cart & get a better look.
Link to the promotional video: https://youtu.be/WY-2Khnm6is

I'm the OP. The video linked above is for the 'original' C2 model. They now have the updated C4, which is what we got. C4 is rated up to 90 miles, and from our driving it sure appears to be so. The on-board charging is fantastic. Along with all the great features it provides, it's so smooth and of course quiet. The monitor with the rearview camera is better than our car has. The power steering is great. The best in my opinion is when driving on the golf course, you just keep the cart in Drive. No need to apply the brake unless going downhill at a speed. The cart has regenerative braking so let up on the accel pedal and the cart automatically slows while proving power back to the lithium battery. Most holes, just press the accel pedal and coast/stop at the tee box, and it automatically applies the brake quietly. Then get in, press the accel and you're off again. It's a dream.
Couple negatives - the seats are still kinda hard, although great quality. And they do not adjust - some may find the seating to close/far. It's fine for us, but she uses a lumbar pillow to move her closer to the pedals. The included radio/sound system (part of the monitor screen) has a terrible speaker. There is a costly option for them to install a separate speaker. I simply installed a Bluetooth speaker bar with music files on a TF card. perfect.
We absolutely feel that we made the right decision and so very pleased. I won't post the price (as it may change) but it was many $1,000s less than a standard new cart. It was truly a bargain IMO.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Tvflguy

OMG, now we’re “delusional”? Why does an average cart driver need 80 miles? As we said even 50 is great. Plug it in for a few hours and Bam, a full tank. I guess that’s what we get for trying to be helpful and post our experience with our new lithium cart. And NOW you state to provide facts??? OMG. And if you’d take the time to read my initial post, I stated our previous cart was Battery, not lithium.

Lithium not battery?

[MorTech]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

If you state that you expect a 50-mile range and may lose range as the battery ages and eventually will need to be replaced in 5-7 years, fine, YOU are NOT delusional

If someone ELSE states that they get 90-mile range, no degradation with an aging battery, and no need to replace until 10+ years, they ARE delusional. I think we'll eventually get there, but it is NOT today

Who's Delusional? What is your CV?

Even old Tesla batteries are 15 years old and lost less than 20% in 250K miles.

The latest LFP battery technology has an estimates calendar life of 16 years...NMC even more.

The latest NMC batteries with single crystal material and advanced electrolyte and gimped to 3.8V are estimated to last at least 40 years.

[MorTech]

Originally Posted by MikeVillages

Isn't Village Yamaha a non yamaha dealer and can only sale used Yamahas? Anyway, do your own research. Many of us have seen videos of the blowtorch type flames coming out of lithium battery automobiles. Most people like to think they got the best xyz. I’m concert about charging in a hot TV garage.

TVGC has sold 1000s of lithium carts in TV over the last 8 years (There are also 1000s of Teslas in TV). Call TV Public Safety and ask them about lithium battery fires.

[MorTech]

Lithium Ion lecture for techies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31x5JW361k

[biker1]

Yes, the number of Teslas in The Villages is impressive. There are 4 on my street of about 45 houses. There will soon be 5 as I am waiting for the Model Y refresh to become available. The Tesla Model Y is the best selling car in the world (gas or electric). I am typically not an early adopter of disruptive technologies. Lithium-ion powered golf carts and cars have now moved past the early adopter stage and into the mainstream. While I still like our gas Yamaha golf cart, our electric golf cart is superior in most ways. The only real advantage of our gas cart is the 250+ range vs. 60 mile range of our electric cart but that is essentially irrelevant for us since we never come close to 60 miles in a day. I suspect that new gas cart sales will essentially drop to less than a third within the next 5 years in The Villages.

Originally Posted by MorTech

TVGC has sold 1000s of lithium carts in TV over the last 8 years (There are also 1000s of Teslas in TV). Call TV Public Safety and ask them about lithium battery fires.

[Southwest737]

My EZGO is 8 years old. Never been in the shop. Range is still 70-80 miles. Small amount of battery degradation. The auto brake feature is great. Wouldn’t own anything else.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Vermilion Villager

OH HOLD ON NOW!!!!!!
You justified your negative posts by saying in post #26 "Meanwhile, my knowledge about EV's, their range and battery life comes from posts by people who DO own them."
I asked you to back up that statement by providing just a couple of negative posts by these people because no one can seem to find them but you.
Now you're saying it's actually your own biased against them, including bashing people who own them as being delusional, and then your most recent post call them brainwashed and gullible…

On a positive.......you now have 12,335 posts.....WooHoo!!!!!

Nice try, however, here is what I ACTUALLY posted.

1) to answer the first part: Look at the number of posts BY EV OWNERS stating they get 25,35 and 50 miles/charge. Sorry, I want more. And if you look back 3 whole posts, you find this from an EV owner:

"I keep hearing this 80-90 mile range for Lithium Golf Carts ... nonsense.
I have a Star EV, 210 Amp.
I had a Star EV 120 Amp as a loaner for a week.
Your battery gauge is non-linear folks. Just because you get 35 miles and your gauge says 50%, don't count on it.
The 120 Amp I had, showed 1/2 charge at 18 miles. It really had about 3 miles left or 1 mile less than I needed.
Carts in The Villages Villages are driven "pedal to the metal", almost all the time. If you don't believe that, go drive around in your cart at 17 mph and see if anyone stays behind you for more than 2 minutes.
As others have said, the general degradation of Lithium depends on a lot of factors and they don't seem enough have been in use, long enough to actually quantify what's really going to happen.
In the meantime, I wouldn't gamble on that 80-90 mile range. If I get 45-50 out my 210 AMP, I figure I'm doing ok."

2) I DID NOT call all EV owners "delusional", I posted anyone who thinks the get 90 miles/charge, no battery degradation and a lifetime of over 10 years is delusional.

3) I DID NOT call all EV owners gullible and brainwashed---only anybody who thinks that changing from ICE to EV has anything to do with so-called "global warming" and think they are saving the planet.

4) I'm still trying to figure out what your obsession with post count is all about

Next time please try to get it right.

[Glowfromminnesota]

Originally Posted by phylt

yikes, the nay-sayers here. Just like the anti-Tesla folks.... What facts do you have to state this? And as I said before, we'd be very happy with 50 mile range... Next guy will say..."you'll need to pay $4,000 for a new battery in 4 years", or the so-unproven "It will catch on fire..."

What WE love is the smooth, quiet, and no-smell. BTW we are NOT "green-obsessed", just the opposite actually.

Same here. We really like the lithium battery. My husband replaced our standard cell batteries with a lithium.

[Susan1717]

Are these electric carts equipped with some thing that shows you how many more miles you can go on a charge? May sound silly but I’m trying to compare to a gas golf cart where you just look at a gauge or in the tank and you know exactly what you have. I love my Yamaha gas cart and just don’t see me ever making a switch. I don’t mind any noise either, but that’s just me as I love the big engine sound of a fast boat or Harley motorcycle.

[Ducatigator]

Congratulations! Love it. Village Discount is an awesome place. I bought my Tomberlin there. Chris is my guy. They have several locations. He is in the Lady Lake location near Aldis. Their service is excellent. Super responsive. I bought my Tomberlin there and my friend bought an Atlas. The Custom drives are packed with features. They are coming out with the 4 forward this summer. We have one on pre-order. You can not get another cart with more features for the money. I tried getting an Evolution TWICE but it is super hard to get the 210 battery. They come standard with a 105 and easier to upgrade to their 160.

Gas/electric is a personal preference. I personally like electric because I like the smooth, quiet ride, and no smell. Also, no annual maintenance necessary except maybe tires and lubing the brakes, which is true of gas or electric. The torque going up the hills is crazy good. No lag like gas. So, I have friends theat have the Evolution D5 and a Yamaha gas. Both 4 forward. They like the Yamaha more only because they have more comfortable seats, not because of engine or range.

Now, before anyone claims they "know" electric doesn't have range, here is the truth from someone that actually drives his cart all day and puts lots of miles on.

As I mentioned, I have a Tomberlin Emerge 2+2. Comes standard with a 210 battery. That is the key! 210 is a must have. I live in south, south Dabney. Like 370 south. The end. Lol. I can go from here to the Polo Club, play a round of golf, get to Sumpter for drinks, and back home and still have over 30% left. Oh, by the way, that is going full speed with 4 adults in the cart. Furthermore, I bought it in March and have over 2000 miles on it. So, in the end, if you have a 210 battery, you can get ALL over the Villages and not worry.

So if you want to explore lithium carts, here are the ones that offer it.

Tomberlin Emerge/Engage
Custom Drive c2/c4
Bintelli Beyond
Evolution D5 , if you can get one. Back ordered until the fall. (The 210 battery)

If you get a 160 lithium you may run in a bit of trouble if you go from one end (Dabney to Spanish Springs) and back, fully loaded and top speed. Might limp home.

But for most Villagers, they don't do more than 40 round trip.

And you know they say a Village home is about having 1 car, 2 carts. I recommend to split the difference. 1 gas, 1 lithium. Then you have the best of both worlds.

Regardless, I always end with, we live in absolute Paradise. This place is amazing. Get whatever cart you want, and just smile and enjoy we you live and play every day.

Everyone have a blessed Sunday. Thank you Tvflguy for the post. Good recommendation. I like the Custom Drive and the team at Village Discount. Enjoy it in good health.

Be safe
Thanks
Serge

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Susan1717

Are these electric carts equipped with some thing that shows you how many more miles you can go on a charge? May sound silly but I’m trying to compare to a gas golf cart where you just look at a gauge or in the tank and you know exactly what you have. I love my Yamaha gas cart and just don’t see me ever making a switch. I don’t mind any noise either, but that’s just me as I love the big engine sound of a fast boat or Harley motorcycle.

The electric carts have the same sort of thing for showing remaining miles that your gas Yamaha has... or at least some gas Yamahas have. My gas Yamaha does not have a gas gauge in the dash and the one in the tank hasn't worked for years.

Gas cart: Keep the tank more than half full and you won't run out of fuel
Lithium cart: Plug it in every night and the vast majority of us won't run out of fuel
Lead acid: No experience, no idea