High recommend lithium electric cart
 

We purchased a new Custom Drive golf cart from Village Discount Golf Car. We bought at their 466 location just east of Morse Blvd. Their main location is in Summerfield.
Happened to stop there and took one for a test drive. We had a 48v batt cart and tired of range issues, lucky to get 25 miles.
The “C4” cart is amazing. 90 mile range with excellent lithium battery. Way too many features for me to list here. It’s truly like a Tesla.
I will not post the price of the new cart, but it is such a bargain.
Our sales rep was David Bailey, a very nice man- no pressure at all. Lots of colors avail and either black or tan seats.
We’ve had ours for a month now and so very impressed. And their service and prep is wonderful.

Highly recommend to check out the Custom Drive carts there. More info customdrive.com. Here’s a pic from their site.

I offer this information solely to assist others that may be in the market for a great Lithium Electric golf cart. Their # 352 633 4440. Or David at 401 345 7620

So, if the seller, in this case Villages Discount Carts at some point drops this manufactures carts, who do you go to, to get service and parts? We just had a situation on TOTV where Crown Carts left the TV area and now the owners of these carts are left wondering. Over the last 20 years we have seen this story play out over and over.

Hey Tvflguy,

We, like you, bought a new lithium cart and love it! We got ours at Hidden Creek Golf carts in Brownwood. Like you we have many options and great range. Ours was about 13k, I understand they have had a price cut since then so for 11 or 12k you can get a great cart with 70 or 80 miles of range with a ton of features.

Thanks for posting up this information, it's great for new cart buyers that are considering an electric cart.

Competitive pressure is good for making the 3 overpriced lethargic giants uncomfortable. Also consider an Atlas cart or Star. Atlas was started by former big/lethargic 3 executives. The risk-adverse should probably just stick with Yamaha, obviously.

If I had been looking for 2 forward I would have bought atlas, 4 forward went to evolution.

What's that thing in the front? An airbag?:o No offense, but that is one ugly cart. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder :shrug:

I understand Crown moved to the Bellvue area and will continue to offer pickup, warranty and service.

Well we tend to be glass-is-half-full and not Debbie Downer. You said “IF”. That’s part of life. Have you driven one? We feel these carts will be a hit, as the price is &1,000s under the standard cart fare out there.
Check them out if you’re in the market for a wonderful 90mile range lithium cart. You may be very surprised as we were….

I've want to type that, at least 5 times today.

Thanks for saving everyone the trouble, because I'm sure there were a lot more people in that boat.

Based on the tone of the recommendations, I'd say there was some justifying or quid pro quo going on.

While the carts look good, they will NOT get 90 miles on a charge. You will most likely get around 60-70 miles based on the battery they offer. Please don't just blindly repeat what the salesman or their brochure says. They all give a range that is unobtainable in the real world.

And while they may be $1,000's less, the Evolution D5 is $10K less than a comparable Star EV, EZ-GO, or Yamaha with more features. And it's from a reputable dealer. The Villages Discount Golf Cars has screwed over two different sets of customers in the past 5 years, and there is no reason to think that they won't do it again.

Both Star and Atlas are between $5K-$10K more than a comparable Evolution D5. In addition, the D5 has more features than either of them. Do yourself a favor and at least drive all of them and compare before a purchase.

The 90 mile range is NOT critical for us. Actually if it was 50 miles that would be great. We NEVER drive our cart more than 30 miles in a day. The beauty of lithium battery is that it can be charged up daily if you wish, just as a Tesla. When we are fully charged, it is 90. We've had the car for a month now and charged it 3 times. It's quick and convenient with the on-board charger. And you can always have a full tank of electrons when leaving the garage. It's perfect for us. And BTW we DO NOT Blindly Repeat - that is so demeaning....

70-, 80- and 90-mile range----wait for it to be a few years old and see if that holds

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.

What facts do the pro EV people have? Even the OP stated they only had 25-mile range on their older electric cart. I also like the idea of quiet/no fumes electric carts, BUT.....they are not ready for prime time in a place as large as TV. When they have a reliable 80-mile range and no degradation for 10 years, I'm in. But anyone claiming that we are at that point now is delusional.

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.

People often fear what they don’t understand. I believe all of the contemporary lithium-ion battery packs being used in golf carts have an LFP chemistry. A reasonable assumption would be about 2% degradation per year or about 20% in 10 years although the rate can be non linear and also depends on the actual number of charge cycles. Our electric has about a 60 mile range so 20% degradation in 10 years would be fine. In 10 years, the furthest we have ever traveled in 1 day in either our electric cart or our gas cart is 30 miles. We will replace the gas cart with another electric in a couple of years as it is getting a bit long in the tooth.

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

And I'd like to replace my 10-year-old gas cart with electric as well. But I would prefer an 80-mile range, and more than an "assumption" that the battery only degrades 2%/year.

Oh thanks for the not-delusional remark. Some folks here can be "my views are Correct, and nothing you say will change that". I'm simply providing information regarding US and our experience. But as usual here, it leaves one open for bashing and name-calling. So be it....

Degradation is a function of time, the number of recharge cycles, and whether you abuse the battery. Without knowing how many miles are actually going to be put on a cart it is hard to be more precise than my approximate 2% number. It could be more but could be less. Based on actual usage you can get a more tailored estimate with a minimal amount of effort. 3000-5000 full recharge cycles is often referenced. This would correspond to over 200k miles. The current sweet spot seems to be 160 to 210 amp-hours. This seems to satisfy the range requirements of most buyers. In the event the battery goes prematurely south in 10 years then you can replace it for less than it cost now since prices of lithium-ion batteries will likely continue to decrease.

The OP who got 25 miles range had a 48v battery powered cart. Technically they're both electric vehicles but I think the term "EV" is now more reserved for vehicles that have lithium ion batteries. Most of them now have 200Ah batteries. I've had mine since 2021 and get a steady 70 to 75 miles per charge. I know of a few individuals who purchased lithium powered golf carts way back in 2016 and they are still getting the same range as when new… So your tenure benchmark is coming up real soon.....then what are you going to do????:shrug:

Happy to buy electric when it meets that benchmark

I find it entertaining that a person who doesn't even have one of these weighs in with so many posts.....on one of these!
However, I also see you have over 12,000 posts and I'm wondering is the measurement of success come in the form of posting information useful to others based on your factual experience, or is it more driven by the post count? :undecided::posting:

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.

No idea what you are talking about. What is a "post count"???

And, no, I don't own an EV....yet. But I will when it is ready for prime time. Meanwhile, my knowledge about EV's, their range and battery life comes from posts by people who DO own them.

With all due respect… Almost all of your posts concerning EV's are negative. It doesn't involve much of a forum search to realize that 99%+ of the people who own EV's post positive comments about them.
As I said before EV's are not lead acid battery powered. They are lithium powered.
I watch this forum daily so I also see whats posted. I challenge you to find me five posts in the thousands of posts, where is somebody who actually owns a lithium ion battery powered golf cart posted something negative about it.......

I think you are correct on Village Yamaha…
I was reading an article about lithium battery fires and it appears a majority of them are caused by people purchasing lower quality battery chargers. The good ones are very expensive. However, the high-end battery chargers have all the safety features the prevent the overcharging and over heating the battery which could lead to a fire.

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.

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 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.

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

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!!!!!

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.

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.

Lithium not battery? :shocked:

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.

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.

Lithium Ion lecture for techies.

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

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.

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.