Golf car range
 

My wife and I hope to be moving to TV in the next year and of course will probably make a golf car our primary vehicle. Should we buy an electric or gas cart? I would prefer electric but I'm concerned about the range. Can somebody share with me some first experiences?

:gc:

We have had 2 electric carts and now own a gas cart and an electric. I like electric but would be hesitant to drive the length of The Villages and play 18 holes. Some electric maunfacturers claim 50-60 miles... I've never seen it. Gas on the other hand, would give me the confidence to do anything. There are as many cons and pros for each type as there are people you ask. Do a search in TOTV as there are many many opinions!

Are there gas stations you can fill up your gas cart or do you have to use a gas can?

Yes, there are at least 3 gas station legally accessible by golf cart but they are a bit spread out. One at 466A, 466, and one on the historic side. There is also one at the Walmart on 441. You may also try to illegally cross Buena Aires to get to the station on 441 but don't get caught.

Hi JimPete,

The thought of clean and free fuel (electric) sounds like a plan most Village People dream of. Reality is, because the Villages being so large, (see Ooper's accurate remarks) using electric is no longer practical. Perhaps as a second cart where it can be used to make short trips… or in the event of a gas shortage. I was set on buying electric but after researching TOTV, I learned gas was the way to go. TOTV has many posts on gas vs electric. If you use the search option, you will see that gas wins out. . PS: If you decide on a gas model- be sure you get an extended exhaust. It only cost a few extra $$$ and it will eliminate the fumes you might smell with normally come from under your seats. I also hear using high test will also help. Good luck with your decision.

Opinion from an owner of multiple electric carts
 

It will come down to where you live and your requirements. IMO a good guideline is if your daily range requirement exceeds 30-35 miles you are on the edge to needing a gas cart.

Will some battery packs go further that 35? Of course, but even the best packs should not be taken more than 40 miles regularly.

If you go electric, be aware, battery packs matter, the more batteries in a pack the better the range, 8 6 volt batteries goes further that 6 8 volt batteries which goes further than 4 12 volt batteries.

I modified my 2002 Club Car to hold 8 6 volt batteries. I have documented this cart travelling full speed for 50 miles which brought the pack to 50%.

I did find one way to double my daily range. My wife bought a second electric cart :thumbup:

Hope that helps....

Gas for all the reasons stated above. I was concerned about the distance I travel as I use the Cart for my second car and even now sometimes as my only means of getting around.

location, # of carts, usage
 

All of the above make a huge difference in your choice. We started with one electric 2 seater cart - we don't golf the 18 hole courses and we live in what will end up being pretty much the center of TV (Sabal Chase). We had tenants for 4 years who used our cart. Many of them DID golf 18 holes. Never heard from any of them that there was a problem running out of juice.

When we retired last fall, we decided to buy a 2nd cart as we both like the idea of going almost everywhere we can by golf cart - saves money and is just more fun, and we often do separate activities. We really thought our 2nd cart would be gas, decision mostly based on all I read on this forum about the need for longer range.

The more looking we did, and the more we smelled all the gas fumes in the tunnels, the less we wanted gas. The high emission factor (gas carts are much worse than gas cars) was also a negative.

Also, although we live in the middle and feel we are not all that far from anywhere, we are kind of far from gas stations, which are all on the edges, not inside TV. Closest to us the the Shell at Colony Plaza, which has had lots of issues as well. Lifting a full 5 gallon gas can would be a problem for me, and Ohioboy is back in Ohio more often than I am.

Long story short, we decided on a 4 passenger electric for our 2nd cart. Great to use for guest tours (most of you will find you have a LOT of guests, at least for the first year or two), and also for grandkids, once equipped with seat belts.

If we have used one cart extensively during the day, we just drive the other at night. They fit in our CYV Bonita garage in tandem - and since they are both Club Cars, can hook up to either charger so we are not constantly changing them around.

It's worked great for us, based mostly on our location and usage. Might not work for everyone.

Yea, right. Better to force those noxious fumes out the back and into the face of those snobby electric cart owners traveling behind you.

Electric vs gas carts
 

I live at the current southernmost edge of TV, and have taken my electric cart to Nancy Lopez (northernmost edge) to play 18 holes a number of times, and have never had an issue with range. My cart has 8 6-volt batteries. As TV expand south of 466A, a resident of that sector may encounter range issues at some point, as would a resident from around CR 42 wishing to travel to CR 44.

At some point, however, the sheer time of travel may well trump all other issues, and make cart travel from one end of TV to the other a moot point for some.

Odors are one issue. Personally, I enjoy the quiet ride of an electric while golfing. On the road, tire noise is such that the "quiet ride" is not a big deal.

I've lived in TV for 2 years now and have 2 electric 48V Club Cars. I use them for everything. I visit, I shop, I golf, I pleasure drive and have not found them to be inconvenient. On the other hand, I also travel in blissful silence with no noxious smells (other than the numerous badly tuned gas carts I'm forced to follow) and this is especially welcome in my garage.

The only problem I had was when I first moved here and my new cart had a low charge indicator light that was broken and it didn't warn me of the depleting charge in time after a night of traveling all over TV with my friends looking at Christmas displays. I guess that was about 4 hours or more of almost nonstop driving with the lights on.

That was still a lot of driving and I've gotten the light fixed since and now have the light and a gauge on both carts I own and have never had an inconvenience or a problem since.

I come home and plug it in (after a 20 minute battery cool down) and I'm always ready to go where and whenever I want. No Noise, no smells, no problems.

Golf cart
 

I have had a electric Club cart since 2003, its been a great cart, but have replaced the batteries twice in the past three years ($800.00 plus each time). I purchased a new Yamaha gas cart from Carts & Clubs in Ocala in October and I'm glad I did! I kept the electric for a second cart, but because the Villages is getting so big I think gas is the way to go.

:gc:

I find it hard to understand the problem with your batteries unless you weren't servicing them regularly and keeping the water at the proper level using distilled water.

Also, I have a guy who'll replace the batteries with the preferred Trojan battery and the cost is just about $600. My second cart was pre-owned and I started fresh with new batteries.

If anybody needs an excellent golf cart mechanic specializing in Club Cars who comes to your home meticulously clean and driving a meticulously clean truck and shop trailer and won't rip you off with unnecessary repairs, and also advise you on preventive maintenance, I can put you in touch with a great guy.

yes for electric cart
 

I have had both types of carts. Hands down I prefer the electric. Easy to charge...no fumes or exhaust issues...no worry about finding a gas station...no noise...and I have never come close to running out of a charge.

Golf cart
 

Maint on batteries is most important. But when you have renters?? If your going to rent I would recommend a gas cart.

Snobby? Where's that coming from? I own electric but that's my choice!

WOW! When I asked the question "Gas or Electric) last year, I was set on electric. But the overwhelming answers and suggestions from TOTV convinced me to change my attitude and go with gas. I'm not keep score on this post but it looks like electric is the popular choice this time around. Bottom line: Flip a coin. Nomatter what the outcome you win.

My memory must be failing me but, although I stand by my contention that Shon and Five Star Golf Cart Services is the way to go if you have a Club Car needing servicing, the batteries were replaced by someone else. I decided to check my files and discovered this. They were replaced in Oct. 09 by "Cart Batteries Plus" 352-454-5329.

I would call them and Shon and get a price from each.

They were 6 Trojan T-875 8 volt batteries and the cost was $631 with an 18 mo. warranty.

Golf car range
 

Hi,

My vote is for electric. I bought a used 2001 Club Car DS at the end of 2009. It has 07 batteries and has got me from as far South to as far North as you can drive. I have never had a problem or a worry about being able to drive in the cart where I want to go, day or night. I live as far South as a person can at this time, the Village of Hemingway. I have driven all over the villages in the cart and played 18 holes of golf. I have never worried about running out of charge for the cart. I simply plug the cart into the charger every time I pull into the garage. Having our second electric Club Car delivered on Monday.

Have fun deciding, but hope you decide against exhaust fumes. I would hate to be following you around TV.

:mornincoffee:

It was a tongue in cheek comment. We electric cart owners tend to sound a bit like tree huggers when discussing the gas vs. electric issue.

Sorry..didn't catch the sarcasm..my bad!

Electric vis a vis Gas
 

I purchased new in 2006 and found my batteries failed 1/1/2 years later. I had them replaced with Trojans which also failed. My repair guy replaced them with 6/8 v. Dec 2009. I explained to my repair guy that Iam not getting the kind of milage avertised . He claims he has been having trouble with Trojans and so he has agrred to replace my batteries at no cost with another brand. Of course I am having him do other work to update the cart. Some guy told me he gets 95 miles on one charge with 8 batteries. My repair guy doesn't believe it. I don't like the smell and noise asociated with gas carts only wish electric could really match their distnat claims

A related question
 

We plan to rent for at least the first year - We rented for a week a couple years back and the cart that was included was very slow.

Alot of units include a cart how can I know, what can I ask to make sure it is not a slow cart. Also it sounds like someone needs to sell posters that give even dummys could follow instructions for charging and maintaining carts that could be posted on the garage walls of rental units. Just a thought.

Just ask how fast the cart goes. If they don't know the answer, move on. I have two rental that each have a cart, one with gas, the other with electric and I know exactly how fast each one goes. They should go 20mph and the owner should know that fact.

6 versus 8 battery test
 

I forgot I had this and I think it is interesting to this thread. It is a range test I did last year using the same cart, a 2002 Club Car DS. One test was done with a battery pack consisting of 6-8 volt batteries in the cart and the second test was done with a pack consisting of 8-6 volt batteries. In each case I ran pack until state of charge was around 48.4 volts (50%).

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...rytestBOTH.jpg

I purchased an electric Club Car 3 years ago new. I have had one battery replaced about a year after purchasing the cart at no cost. About 1 year ago I purchased a solar panel for the roof of the cart. At that time I felt my batteries were weakening. The solar panel does not produce outstanding results but what I did notice that my batteries seemed to be working like they were new again. I have both a gauge (red lines) and a yellow light on the cart. I used the gauge to determine how much juice I have left in the batteries. When the batteries were new when I went over the Morse bridge the gauge showed on the second line when new but had deteriorated to the 3rd line prior to the solar panel. It then went back to 2 lines afterwards. As far as estimated range I think it would depend on whether your going max. speed (19mph) or something less to conserve batteries. Of course colder whether has a negative effect on batteries. I would estimate that by driving conservatively I could get 35 miles but I have never driven 35 miles to test it out. I do have a speedometer in the cart.

As an aside the women at the Club Car dealer told me that the red gauge was not accurate. However, when that's all you have to go on you use it to compare.

I have driven gas carts on the courses and find that I don't like the fact that when I step on the gas there is a hesitation before the cart starts moving which doesn't happen in an electric cart.

Fortunately I live in pretty much the center of the Villages and don't think I will ever need a gas cart to get to the ends (unless of course they go south of 44 :cus:

John

Golf Car Range
 

I have driven electric for eleven years and had a few problems. We are switching to gas. Shopped at Villages Golf Cars today and was very impressed with them. Big selection-gas, electric, new-used,rebuilt you name it. A very nice salesman gave us several great pieces of advice. Use premium gas and add a fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil to offset the effects of ethanol. I will stop back to check on the dosage for each tankful.

Could you detail the problems with the electric. I guess they were serious enough for you to switch?

I've just taken notice of this thread and it hadn't caught my attention because we don't own a golf cart yet and probably won't for a while. However, I do want to mention that when I first saw the title, an image of golf carts roaming around a huge field like deer, antelop, buffalo and elks surrounded by a whole lot of fencing. I didn't notice though if there were any posted signs stating "Don't Feed The Golf Carts." http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/r...seb_cowboy.gif

Alumcart Range
 

Mine is a 2009 and never had even a questional range issue. Gas is quiet, dependable and does not put any crap in the air. Everyone I play with has chosen Battery. Gas is for Idiots and there are many of them in The Villages.

If I were crass enough to be labeling others as idiots, I'd be sure of exactly what I typed so as to not make an idiot of myself!

:duck:

Bill :)

IMHO I think your definition of an idiot could be a little too broad. One mistake does not an idiot make.:boom:

Thank you so much for letting me know I am an idiot. As long as they make gas golf carts and gas cars I will continue being an idiot. I refuse to own an electric car or golf cart.

I couldn't imagine wanting to go on a cross country trip and having to find a place to plug in an electic car .. not to mention the time it would take to charge your batteries.

I would normally agree with you. Normally!

Yup
 

I agree:agree:

After almost 4 years on this forum I have acquired a list of posters to ignore. Add 1 more to the list! How can you post on a Villages forum and call us idiots? That's "questional (sic)"

Good idea! If you read his/her past posts you'll find more than one questionable posts!

:clap2::agree:

I wonder if we have the same list?

when you can't forward a reasonable argument, insults are the next best thing!-- grow up.