| raggedy-andy |
06-07-2024 12:54 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueblaze
(Post 2337993)
My brand-spankin' new 2020 gas Yamaha hasn't needed anything since I bought it in March '20. I got it cheap for $14, 000 at that place down in Webster, when they were asking $16k at The Villages. "Discount Golf Carts" wanted $14K for a used cart, two years old.
Meanwhile, if I'd wanted electric, I could have had a new Club Car electric from that dealer in Lady Lake for $10K -- or go on the waiting list for gas, for $12K.
On every cart I looked at, unless I insisted on Lithium, electric was cheaper, and you can replace the lead acid batteries a bunch of times for the price of lithium. Look at used carts -- electric is always thousands cheaper. Part of that is people just prefer a gas cart. Part is because the batteries depreciate so fast.
Frankly, I don't see much difference in the long run, although the convenience of plugging it in instead of driving to a gas station once a month would be nice. But I prefer to pay now and forget it, rather than pay $500 every four years. 10 years from now, given inflation, my Yamaha will probably we worth MORE than I paid for it. So I flipped my coin and made my choice.
But maybe your experience is different. Who cares. I'm just pointing out that it's dumb to make trip distance the deciding factor. Nobody is going to drive a golf cart 40 miles.
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Hey, I'm in the same boat with a number of people in that I haven't purchased a cart yet. But I've had the electric vs gas experience with my two vehicles. My point was that -- and someone else stated this -- unless you're doing the maintenance yourself on your cart, you need at least oil changes every say 1,200 miles, $60 a pop, plus the per mile running cost of fuel at around $0.09 a mile. All else being equal save for the specifics that go into maintaining the higher number of moving parts on an internal combustion vehicle. (Thanks Mortech for the costing specifics)
Let's presume you're correct with the cost factoring on the Lead Acid vs. Lithium/LiFePO4 batteries. You get about 500 cycles from a Lead Acid, if you drive them way down on charge the range decreases greatly. Lithium will get you around 3,500-5,000 cycles of charge with about 2% annual degradation. It's a much higher up front cost for Lithium, but you'll pay it once and it'll likely go beyond 10 years based on full cycles. That could improve if you drive it less.
For me, I'm somewhat undecided. To be more comfortable, I'd love to see ranges increase a bit more before I say 'screw gas, give me an EV' because I've been through the experience and limitations of an EV car in daily life for the past 6 months. If I drive that between Sarasota and TV, I really need to plan charging for that trip. Not that a golf car is the same, but the lack of public charging structure is a stressor. |
