[MartinSE]

We have been here 2 1/2 years, and really are not into golf - mainly medical reasons.

But, with inflation and potential gas prices soaring, we are debating buying something electric. Golf Cart, Atomic Car, Tesla. (in that order of most to least likely).

We live in McClure (across the street from Magnolia Plaza).

Our criteria is:

1. Be able to get around the villages (we plan to keep our ICE - Lexus - for road trips to Gainesville). This means maybe as far as Sumter Landing, but more likely Brownwood and where ever the new Square will be North of 44 someday. Shopping, mail and entertainment.

2. Bicycles and trikes would maybe work, if electric. But, we prefer to be able to sit together in something that we can smile and not get bugs smushed on our teeth.

3. We would prefer electric so we can charge them over night and drive them during the day. Gas is a distant possibility, but would require keeping a supply of gas in the garage, and I don't like that.

4. We do not like being rained on when going to the grocery store or postal station - LOL! so it needs to be enclosed - but cool'ish in the summer and warmish in the winter.

5. We understand with golf carts we are restricted to inside the bubble, but can we get pretty much anywhere inside the bubble only limited by battery range? And what is the "real" battery range of lead vs Lithium batteries.

I would appreciate hearing from those that have recently made this decision and what considerations you took into account. Options, dealers, used vs new, lead vs Lithium, maintenance, insurance, etc, etc, etc.

The Atomic Car would have an advantage of being street legal - but a disadvantage of being the second most expensive (just below Tesla):

Yamaha Lithium around $12K, Atomic Car around $18K, Tesla (used Model 3) $45K.

Tesla would have the advantage of point to point self driving - sort of and long road trip ready (we are not in a hurry and stopping every 250 to 300 miles to eat and pee doesn't bother us. If we get the Tesla, we will probably sell both ICE cars (Lexus and Jaguar).

I am leaning right now to keeping the Lexus for road trips (3 or 4 a month to Gainesville) and getting a new Yamaha Electric with Lithium Batteries - looks like new from Yamaha is about $12,000 sort of, but I am not sure of which options I would need to keep dry and safe. And I am not sure of the Yamaha range. I would expect we want at least 50 mile range. I hear the Sirius Star is getting around 80 miles and the EZGO is getting around 60 miles.

I appreciate all discussions, even about how wonderful and better ICE is, but, I can assure you we want Electric, so, if you want to point out ICE advantages, I will thank you but very likely to not go that way. Not 100% yet, but close.

On the other hand if you have a electric golf cart or are considering one, your experience and considerations would be greatly appreciated.

[Mortal1]

So you do not want gas even though it's more efficient and the electrical power needed to charge the cart batteries comes from coal, nuke, water, natural gas and oil? Thus the cost of charging your electrical cart will go up with the price of fossil fuels.

Not sure I understand the logic or common sense. But best of luck with the "I'm protecting the environment" point of view.

[BigSteph]

There will be an opinion for every aspect, from every person,... so, here is mine;

You already have a car. The Tesla is just another car. Unless you want to leave gas all the way, keep the one you have.

I like the Atomic cars and others like it. The only fear I have is having limited support down the road. My understanding is the original guy who owned Atomic Kool Kartz passed away. Luckily, an employee/or former partner bought the business from the widow and is carrying on.

The Atomic (and like electric enclosed carts) already have a bunch of features. Since you don't golf, I cannot think of anything you would need to add to the Atomic.

The Yamaha or other battery golf carts have a base build. In the Villages, you can get a "lifestyle" build, which includes cloth sides, better seats and the etc. This will increase that base you suggested to a much higher level.

There will be other stuff you will likely want as well and you end up with a 15 - 20k cart real quick.

There is also the option for hard-side enclosures for the Yamaha and like golf carts. These are nice but have their drawbacks as well (one being, even with door open they can be hotter in the summer -- the positive side of the same argument is you will be drier, quicker, with these).

The engines (as you said ICE) are pretty well developed and will probably outlive most buyers. The battery vehicles are super nice, but do have a sunset on their power and recharge cycles. Some battery carts are offering 5 and 7 year warranties. Of course, like Tires and other moving vehicle warranties, I am sure they are pro-rated.

I have 2 cars and a Yamaha ICE cart. If I got rid of one of the cars, I might be tempted to buy the Atomic with Lithium. As I said, though, I would have to gamble on the life of the battery and the life of the company supporting them. Even considering this, I would still be tempted.

Go to Magnolia and test drive what they have. Go to Atomic across from Brownwood. Go to Crown(or whatever it is) near Russell Stovers on 44. Check them all out.

Let us know when you make your decision -- I am already curious.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Mortal1

So you do not want gas even though it's more efficient and the electrical power needed to charge the cart batteries comes from coal, nuke, water, natural gas and oil? Thus the cost of charging your electrical cart will go up with the price of fossil fuels.

Not sure I understand the logic or common sense. But best of luck with the "I'm protecting the environment" point of view.

This is why I really didn't want to go down that path. People can't help themselves in making assumptions, putting words in other people mouths.

I NEVER said this decision was about saving the environment. Not one line in my post says that, but you couldn't stop yourself from giving me that motivation. I have stated what we want to do, we have our reasons, You want to do something else Good, I am glad you have those options.

Thank you for your post. it was completely not helpful.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by BigSteph

There will be an opinion for every aspect, from every person,... so, here is mine;

You already have a car. The Tesla is just another car. Unless you want to leave gas all the way, keep the one you have.

I like the Atomic cars and others like it. The only fear I have is having limited support down the road. My understanding is the original guy who owned Atomic Kool Kartz passed away. Luckily, an employee/or former partner bought the business from the widow and is carrying on.

The Atomic (and like electric enclosed carts) already have a bunch of features. Since you don't golf, I cannot think of anything you would need to add to the Atomic.

The Yamaha or other battery golf carts have a base build. In the Villages, you can get a "lifestyle" build, which includes cloth sides, better seats and the etc. This will increase that base you suggested to a much higher level.

There will be other stuff you will likely want as well and you end up with a 15 - 20k cart real quick.

There is also the option for hard-side enclosures for the Yamaha and like golf carts. These are nice but have their drawbacks as well (one being, even with door open they can be hotter in the summer -- the positive side of the same argument is you will be drier, quicker, with these).

The engines (as you said ICE) are pretty well developed and will probably outlive most buyers. The battery vehicles are super nice, but do have a sunset on their power and recharge cycles. Some battery carts are offering 5 and 7 year warranties. Of course, like Tires and other moving vehicle warranties, I am sure they are pro-rated.

I have 2 cars and a Yamaha ICE cart. If I got rid of one of the cars, I might be tempted to buy the Atomic with Lithium. As I said, though, I would have to gamble on the life of the battery and the life of the company supporting them. Even considering this, I would still be tempted.

Go to Magnolia and test drive what they have. Go to Atomic across from Brownwood. Go to Crown near Russell Stovers on 44. Check them all out.

Lastly, let us know when you make your decision -- I am already curious.

Thank you very much, an excellent reply. I appreciate it.

[npwalters]

We have both a gas and electric cart. We enjoy the ability to just jump in the cart for errands and we also play golf occasionally. I have no opinion on gas vs electric except that we usually take the gas cart for trips over 25 or 30 miles. A newer lithium battery powered cart could give you more confidence travel further.

I would definitely choose a yamaha - or EZ Go - electric with lithium batteries if buying today.

IF your primary reason for buying a cart is to avoid high gas prices just consider it will take a LONG time to recoup the cost of the cart. If you just want tool around TV and have fun - go for it.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by npwalters

We have both a gas and electric cart. We enjoy the ability to just jump in the cart for errands and we also play golf occasionally. I have no opinion on gas vs electric except that we usually take the gas cart for trips over 25 or 30 miles. A newer lithium battery powered cart could give you more confidence travel further.

I would definitely choose a yamaha - or EZ Go - electric with lithium batteries if buying today.

IF your primary reason for buying a cart is to avoid high gas prices just consider it will take a LONG time to recoup the cost of the cart. If you just want tool around TV and have fun - go for it.

Thank you, and yes, one of the things we are discussing is the time to recoup the cost.

But, the Jag would be the ICE to go, and at 11 years old, it requires something every year now, and things like fuel pumps are $2K, oil change is $150 to $200, pretty much every year we spend $2000 to $3000 for maintenance on it. It is a REALLY nice ride, but not very practical for just running around TV. With gas prices going up we spend now about $150 to $200 per month in gas. So, we can get rid of it, it's maintenance, fuel and it's insurance. That will pay for a golf cart in the $15K range in 3 years or so.

[Arctic Fox]

For us, a lot of the fun of living in The Villages is buzzing around in our golf cart.

We have never owned a gas cart, but have borrowed a couple and hated them - noise/smell/etc. - but I suspect there are as many who love them and hate electric, so maybe try out both before buying.

[dadspet]

We have had an Club Car electric since 2007 and had minimal issues with it. Our preference is electric since its quite, smooth, no smell. We executive golf and its gets us just about where ever we want to go but to be honest we aren't ones to drive our cart everyplace and about 45 minutes one direction is plenty of golf cart riding for us. We have no desire to go from one end of the villages to the other, my Acura SUV or Jag XKE V12 has a lot better ride (I threw that in since I saw you had a Jag also). Last few years we wanted to upgrade carts and EzGo Lithium was top on our list since they by far seem to have the best Lithium cart (8 Yr warranty on batteries and best range). Club car can't match the EzGo Lithium range and 5 yr warranty and Yamaha is the gas car choice but not an electric choice. The issue is the price of Lithium and recently Ive been doing a lot of price checking on ExGo Lithium with Sleekline cab and you will be in the $21,000+ range for new. Since I can almost buy a new small car for this price we settled for a EzGo electric with lead batteries with the thinking Lithium could go down not up since all car manufactures are moving rapidly into lithium electric cars and technology will improve millage and the price my not come down but doubt if it will go up (Believe it or not I've been wrong once or twice before but can't remember the exact reason). So far very happy with the EzGo and Sleekline cab (my wife especially likes the cab and we actually get good use out of it ). We didn't go for any of the Closed car door type of carts since they just don't seem like a good choice for us if you golf. I also have a feeling that car manufactures and the car buying public are even more serious on electric cars with the current Russia situation and gas about to go thru the ceiling.

[EdFNJ]

@MartinSE I have an Atomic (lithium), actually my 2nd one, long story .... 3+yrs old with about 15,000 miles on it and am as happy as can be with it. Not positive if the current models have lithium since I don't see it listed on their site, only AGM. Maybe it's an aftermarket option which I personally don't like due to the probably 5-600 lb difference in weight unless they add ballast to keep the COG the same. I do agree with what you said about "People can't help themselves in making assumptions, putting words in other people mouths" as that is very common here.

Regarding Atomic or Crown, My only concern as well was always "how long are they (in my case Atomic) going to be around" but I just sucked that up and didn't let it bother me HOWEVER with the loss of Jim and since all their carts are brought in from China and with what is going on in the world these days sadly, I'd be a bit more concerned. That being said, if you go for electric, fron ANYONE ONLY GET LITHIUM. Don't accept anything else no matter what they tell you.

Edit: I don't play golf.

[VApeople]

We have been here six years and do not own a golf cart. We are avid golfers and we walk the executive courses.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by VApeople

We have been here six years and do not own a golf cart. We are avid golfers and we walk the executive courses.

Cool story! And what does that have to do with the question in this topic? People that use golf carts don't necessarily play golf and people who have a 2 car garage don't necessarily have 2 cars!

[MorTech]

For twice the price of an EZGO Elite, you can get a Hyundai Ioniq 5.
A Toyota Prius Prime would probably be ideal...25 miles electric range before gas engine kicks in.

The Yamaha lithium is good for about 40 miles of range...EZGO Elite lithium about 60 miles...Star Sirius lithium about 80.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by Mortal1

So you do not want gas even though it's more efficient and the electrical power needed to charge the cart batteries comes from coal, nuke, water, natural gas and oil? Thus the cost of charging your electrical cart will go up with the price of fossil fuels.

Not sure I understand the logic or common sense. But best of luck with the "I'm protecting the environment" point of view.

Where in the OP's post did they even come close to an "I'm protecting the environment" point of view???

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox

For us, a lot of the fun of living in The Villages is buzzing around in our golf cart.

We have never owned a gas cart, but have borrowed a couple and hated them - noise/smell/etc. - but I suspect there are as many who love them and hate electric, so maybe try out both before buying.

Thank you, Fun is certainly a good thing at my age - LOL!