Golf cart confused...
 

Greetings! My wife and I will be closing on our new house at the end of the month and we're very excited! My question tonight is about which golf cart we should buy, gas or electric??
Thanks, Jim & Deb

If you’re not going to drive too far from home electric is fine. Gas carts have a range close to 200 miles.

This is like the white or wheat bread, thick or thin crust on your pizza or boxer / briefs ....

I know you are new, but you can search this topic to see discussions from before .. but I think I can summarize:

Electric is quieter, but when batteries die, you are stuck.... Batteries are expensive to replace ( when that time comes)

Gas is loud(er), it needs regular engine maintenance but as you can see, they seem to run for 10 - 15 years.

I suggest you go try both at the dealer.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on this, but since you asked and I have an opinion, get a gas Yamaha Quiet-Tech with very comfortable aftermarket seats and have seat belts installed and you will have a very nice ride.

Good advise

I tend to agree on the quietech, "recharging" a gas cart takes about 5 minutes to put in gas, and electric several hours, and currently, there very few (if any) recharging stations in the villages. Be very careful about electric vehicle range, especially if you are going to be located in the extreme North or South of the villages, as ylou may end up traveling significant distances.

As they integrated automotive Li Ion technology into golf cars, the gap is closing. This looks interesting:

Club Car Introduces New High-Powered Lithium Ion Onward | Golf Cart Resource

Be prepared for when the drive belt starts slipping.:ohdear:

When considering battery power, you need to do your homework on how to properly maintain the batteries. It's not just a mater of adding water and plugging in. That being said, I own 2 battery powered carts and am very happy with them.

Rollie

Yup! On the 4th belt in 8000 miles. New secondary clutch installed to see if that was the reason. Now the seals on the transmission had to be replaced. This is all on a 2017 Yamaha quiet-tech. Piece of J** junk.

Modern electric Yamaha and EZGO carts have a range of about 60 miles.
If you are going to be driving your cart to Tampa Bay and back, then definitely get a gas cart :)

When you forget to fuel/charge up before your trip it's a lot easier to put a gallon of gas into the cart than it is battery juice. One you call your spouse or a friend for a gallon of gas, the other you're calling for a tow back home.

Don't buy into the "it doesn't pollute" myth, it's call a displaced carbon footprint, you may not be putting it out the tailpipe but you will be putting it out at the power station.

Basic engineering tells us that every time there is a change in energy state or form there are losses and inefficiencies. Gas burns, moves the piston, and then turns the wheels. Electric starts with the fossil fuel that burns at the power station, that heats the water to make steam, that turns the turbine, that makes the high voltage electricity, that travels miles in the power lines, that gets reduced to household voltage, that gets converted to DC to charge the battery, that changes the electricity to stored chemical energy, that's converted back to electrical energy, to turn the motor, that turns the wheels. More steps, more losses/inefficiencies, bigger carbon footprint.

Consider also the long term maintenance, each year you will have about 1 quart of used motor oil to dispose of - easily recycled, or every few years you will have 250-300 pounds of lead and sulfuric acid to dispose of.

Annual maintenance is the
key to preventing many golf cart issues

Hate the task of everyday having to at least charge the cart, water once a month, if I remember, replace batteries, etc. With gas I never worry about where I am going until my tank is half empty, 100 plus miles. Oil change once a year. Plugs and air filter never to 5,000 miles. Just my opinion.

My Yamaha Gas Cart purchased at LSL from The Villages will be 8 years old in August and have never had any repairs, only regular maintenance from Willie's Cart Service and a new battery after the first 4 years.