I prefer to take my golf cart instead of our auto no matter how far it is. I put on 3500 plus miles per year consistently. Live at Spanish Springs and golf twice a week playing all championship courses. Golf at Southern Oaks is a 37 mile round trip including golf course mileage. Will go to courses further south when they open. On average, I put on 10-15 miles per day, some days less, some days more, some days a lot more. Usually go somewhere every day using cart.

It is interesting that all these posts about electric VS gas carts is always started by a person with an electric cart. Face it electric cart owners, you all do have range anxiety. Maybe the lithium batteries have helped that issue. We will see as the years roll by.
One thing with the electric VS gas issue that no one talks about is what you are going to get on return for the cart when you want to sell it. It is absolutely proven that the best value BY FAR is a gas cart as the return on investment is much higher with a Yamaha gas cart.

I think it's more that we keep being told we should have range anxiety and we just don't get it. Or, we see others being told about range issues and we're trying to set the record straight.

If you need to haul dirt and stone then a Corvette is not for you. Most don't have that need. If you need to drive in the snow and ice than a Harley is not for you. Many don't have that need. If you need to spend five hours in a day driving 60 miles in a golf cart then electric is not for you. So far, no one has had that need.

Are there even enough lithium carts being resold to draw any conclusions about resale value or return on investment? "Absolutely proven" and "BY FAR" sound like great exaggerations at this point. When I was deciding which cart to purchase, how much I could get on return when I want to sell it was not even a remote consideration.

Since when do posters give others an assignment
 

I'm retired. You don't need to give me an assignment to perform for you. You should write down your mileage every day and figure it out yourself

Great idea for you to solve this riddle
 

It would be nice if you got in your cart in the morning, noted the beginning miles, did your average daily trips, then noted the total miles traveled at the end of the day.
Inquiring minds (yours) really really wants to know:BigApplause:

I bought a new cart when we moved here and not being a golfer found it to be almost useless, we much prefer having a car with air conditioning for both comfort, protection from weather, as well as keeping groceries cool, most times we buy way too much to put in a cooler in the back of the golf car and I worry about spoilage. After 2 years and driving the cart less than 300 miles we sold it and enjoy the extra room we have in the garage, don't miss the cart at all. We might be the minority but there are still plenty of residents that feel the same way.

For 8 yrs. I drove my cart every Wednesday from Charlotte to Orange Blossom Garden to shoot pool. I had a 2012 Yamaha cart & had 25,600 miles on it when I traded it in on a 2018.

I have two Yamaha gas carts, 2 seater and 4 seater. When I fill up I set my trip odometer to 0. Then when I refuel later I check to see how many gallons I used. I average on both around 50 miles to the gallon. They have. 5.9 gallon tanks. We usually go about 150 miles a week, more some weeks less other weeks.

Glad this inquiry brought you out for your second post.

chilout

Dabney to Brownwood is more than I want to do with any regularity! There was "life before golf carts", and I have no problem with taking an airconditioned and dry car ride when the drive in a cart gets much past the 5-10 mile range. Could I go further in a cart, sure, but why? I didn't retire here so I can ride around in a cart looking when there are so many things to do. But, to each their own; do what you enjoy!

I drive a lithium electric cart for about 97% of travel in TV.

Average day is about 10 miles for golf, stores and eating out.
Longer trips are sprinkled in there.

I go just under 4,000 miles per year.

Longest trip has been Spanish Springs - Sawgrass - Eastport - Middleton and back to Spanish Springs with sight seeing detours. It was 55 miles total and had 52% of battery when we got home.

I suppose with electric carts becoming so comfortable/quiet/serene and luxurious (air conditioning, bluetooth speakers, seating, etc), a lot of people will want to cruise TV all day once in a while. Figure 8 hours at 15 MPH average = 120 miles. About 2.5ah per mile so you will need a 300ah lithium battery :)

How long do you really want to be in a gas cart with all that ruckus...and if you still have good hearing and still have a sense of smell? :)

A lot of people value serenity. You really don't get that with laughable gas carts.

You can charge your EV as long as:
1) you have several HOURS to do it
2) you don't have a power outage due to hurricanes or other emergency situations.

I know there's been times when I've woken up in the morning, and see that the clock is flashing 12:00:00. Then I check the clock on the stove, isn't digital. Turns out the power was off for four hours overnight while I was sleeping.

Get to your EV and learn that it's only half-charged, on the exact day you were planning on meeting the girls for lunch on the other side of The Villages.

Good thing you have your gas car. Too bad you didn't have a gas cart.

If I want serenity, I walk to Paradise Park and sit on a bench. No gas or electricity needed.

The probabilities, the statistics, and the math aren't going to support your scenario.


Simplest way to look at it:
- my cart restores about 6 mikes of range for every hour of charging
- in the four hours that power was NOT off it would have recovered 24 miles.
- in the three hours between arriving home and going to bed and between waking up and going back out it would have recovered another 18 miles
- if I traveled so far yesterday that recovering 42 miles was not sufficient for my travels today then I need a day off anyway

Our electric cart is always plugged in when in the garage. Easy peasy.

I live at Linden. Travel to Nancy Lopez often. 19.2 miles plus Golf. I have all of the Championship Courses in my phone with miles and times. I have an EZGO Lithium and don’t have any problems there and back.

Just think of an electric cart as a mobile park bench...And TV as a really huge park.

What are the odds of all that worrying actually happening?

Have an old gas cart I bought 10 yrs ago. No fuel gage. Got to lift the seat and look at the tank to see how much fuel I have. It's noisy (especially at top speed), smelly. Get it tuned and checked annually. E-cart would be nice, but everything is expensive and mine is paid for. It serves It's purpose.
As far as range goes, all carts have limits and issues. If/when you run out of fuel/charge, it will not be at a fuel pump or charging station. Unless you carry spare gas or battery, you better have your phone charged and handy. 😉😉😉

Over the past 6 years, I've built from scratch, around 10 lithium batteries now for golf carts ranging from 90ah to 304ah and installed a half a dozen more commercial lithium conversions.

My recommendations to people are as follows.

- 105ah, 35-40 miles, the smallest I will recommend is great for those who only play and shop in their local areas with occasional longer trips. Most people charge frequently.

- 150-160ah, 50-60 miles, this reach anywhere in the Villages. If you like to roam and the budget allows, get this size. This is the largest size offered by the Big 3 cart manufacturers and most of the conversion batteries. Only charge as required. This is my usual recommendation for people wanting a conversion, budget allowing...

-200-300 ah, 75-120 miles, (these are what I run) Never think twice about range worries. The downside is limited availability, they are only offered by a few non-mainstream cart manufacturers, so I build my own. Lol

And the number #1 killer of batteries is heat.

Odometer
 

It's really simple and fairly inexpensive to install a GPS speedometer with odometer

Cart distance
 

Good for you. That is a lot of golf cart riding! For sure my back won’t let me do that. That said, I limit my golf cart ride to 35 minutes one way. Any more distance, I take the car. We switched from battery to gas a dozen years ago. The older the batteries the shorter the range and garage heat really limits the life of a battery.

Yeah, that's not it :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Everything has advantages and disadvantages. E-golf carts have meters on their dash that tell if the charge is full or low. Don't forget that gas engines are old technology with little room for improvement. Widespread use of E-vehicles is leading to INTENSIVE research into improving E-vehicle batteries. E-manufacturers are in an early part of THEIR learning curve.

OP, why do you care? If you're trying to decide between gas and electric, that's not the decision point. You're not going to drive a cart 40 miles. The question is whether you want to pay now or later. Electric carts are cheaper now, but more expensive in 5 years, when they need new batteries, and then more expensive in depreciation when you sell it. But the convenience and reliability seem like big offsets. It's just personal preference.

But to answer your question, the limit of the exec courses I will drive a cart to is about 8 miles -- 45min.

I don't have to worry at all. I have a gas cart. I get around 50mpg, and the tank holds 5 gallons. It needs refueling once every three weeks.

From the man who refuses to use a cart that won’t go at least 80 miles…. even though no poster yet has claimed a trip over 60

The distance from Mulberry
Grove Rec Center to the Enclave in Dabney is more than 30 miles and is supposed to take about two hours each way by golf cart.

Somebody posted 90, and a few pages ago somebody claimed 120!!!! And I believe I posted a reliable 70

In FL....perhaps. In cars, all of my battery replacements took place in colder conditions.

If it’s specific to golf carts, I’m sure heat is a byproduct of failure but saw this from the web.....


“The battery, while it's vital not to run the battery for too long or let it drain completely, it's also important to avoid overcharging your battery. Overcharging is perhaps the most common mistake people make with their golf cart batteries and has one of the most harmful impacts on its lifespan”

Gas is the only way to go. Try the Southern most point to the northern most point. Electric won’t cut it and it’s only going to get worse.

Besides lithium batteries are major polluters.

I didn’t even think about how far I would drive - went with 2 gas carts
simple, efficient, reliable.

Forget all that for a moment. Now, for said moment, assume TV had a dedicated, straight golf cart path a modest 40 miles long. Flat out at top legal speed it would take 2 nerve wracking, noisy, shaky, bouncing hours to make the trip one way. One may do it once for braging rights, but you would have to be a glutton for punishment. For me, unless I'm playing golf, 30 minutes is more than enough. Most of the time, the car is the choice.

Great post!
Always good to hear testimonials from actual E-golf cart owners.
Thank you for sharing!

I’ll have to go back and look harder. 120 seems very unrealistic given that’s eight straight hours of driving. But if so then an electric is not for them. Now, for the other 99%…

Have lived here 12 yrs . Drive cart nearly every day. Average about 20-25 minutes per day riding cart.

Frackers.... Unite! :1rotfl:

Dyslexics....Untie!

that's funny. and new to me.

lots of things are new to me, even at my advanced age.