[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

According to whom?

I've never seen any real life results, that come remotely close to that "rule of thumb", particular in an environment like The Villages.

Perhaps on a golf course, where the Controller is programmed not to exceed 10-12 mph and it's primarily flat ground.

I've got $100 for anyone who can get their Lithium powered golf car range to 50% of the Amperage, on Villages MMP's at normal Villages cruising speed of 19 mph.

My 100Ah battery gives me 60miles. That seems to be 60% of the amperage on Villages MMPs at normal cruising speed which is more than 50%. Where can we meet so I can collect?

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

My 100Ah battery gives me 60miles. That seems to be 60% of the amperage on Villages MMPs at normal cruising speed which is more than 50%. Where can we meet so I can collect?

Anytime you're ready, you can meet me at Sumter Landing and then again, 3 hours later, with 60 additional miles on your cart.

$100 is cheap to find out I can replace my 210 Amp with whatever kind of battery you have and get 120 miles out of a charge.

[Southwest737]

Range varies of course due to cart type, weight, driving technique, etc.
This from ************** article in 2015.
A golf cart has traveled 114 miles on a lithium charged battery here in The Villages.

LithiumBoost Ultra battery system with 200ah lithium cells and 20a chargers, was installed by Advantage Golf Cars in an E-Z-GO RXV golf cart, replacing existing lead-acid batteries. After performing comprehensive tests and working closely with the Lithium Boost engineering team to enhance the battery system features, Advantage Golf Cars mechanics drove 114 miles per charge at an average speed of 17 miles per hour. This record was accomplished in one day, utilizing multiple drivers taking turns in driving each one hour shift.

[Southwest737]

Watts per mile. Hmmm. My Tesla averages 250 watts per mile so figure a golf cart might be half that?

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Southwest737

Range varies of course due to cart type, weight, driving technique, etc.
This from ************** article in 2015.
A golf cart has traveled 114 miles on a lithium charged battery here in The Villages.

LithiumBoost Ultra battery system with 200ah lithium cells and 20a chargers, was installed by Advantage Golf Cars in an E-Z-GO RXV golf cart, replacing existing lead-acid batteries. After performing comprehensive tests and working closely with the Lithium Boost engineering team to enhance the battery system features, Advantage Golf Cars mechanics drove 114 miles per charge at an average speed of 17 miles per hour. This record was accomplished in one day, utilizing multiple drivers taking turns in driving each one hour shift.

That's all well and fine as far as record distances or customized additional batteries goes. For the rest of us, we are more concerned with the average distance on the average electric cart.

[biker1]

Perhaps half, or close to half, of your 250 watt-hours per mile. My electric uses about 150 watt-hours per mile so my range is about 60 miles. The charging process is not 100% efficient and we use about 180 watt-hours per mile to recharge. Your Tesla may have those ridiculously efficient SynRM motors plus a lower Cd.

Originally Posted by Southwest737

Watts per mile. Hmmm. My Tesla averages 250 watts per mile so figure a golf cart might be half that?

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by dtennent

How are you going to use it? I live in Osceola Hills and can get to either top or bottom of The Villages, play 18 holes of golf and get home with my electric cart. Now that I have done that, I prefer to drive my car to the extremes rather than spend all that time in a golf cart. So the comments that electric golf carts won’t go all that far are wrong. I prefer the convenience and the very quiet drive of electric. However, I am not a person who thinks driving 100 miles in my golf cart every day is fun.
As far as depreciation goes, my cart is 10 years old and is running fine and is in great condition. However, I take care of it and plan to keep it for at least another 10 years. At that point, very few carts are worth all that much.

Go with bucket seats. If you have friends coming to town, rent a cart for a week. You will be happier in the long run.

Except don’t rent your cart from The Villages Golf Car Stores. Horribly uncomfortable, stripped down, no seat belts, and maxed out at 16-17 mph. We rented for a week when we had family here and used it for only two hours. $175 down the drain. There were no better carts available to rent anywhere thanks to snowbird season.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

Anytime you're ready, you can meet me at Sumter Landing and then again, 3 hours later, with 60 additional miles on your cart.

$100 is cheap to find out I can replace my 210 Amp with whatever kind of battery you have and get 120 miles out of a charge.

At an average of 15mph it would take at least four hours to put those miles on a cart. I have mentioned already that I have no desire to sit in a cart that long. Plus, I suspect if I did then there would just be one more reason to not hand over the $100.

It isn't the kind of battery that is affecting the mileage, it's the kind of cart. The efficiency of the motors, the friction in the drivetrain, and the additional electronics using battery power all matter. Clearly, one or more of those are different between your Star and my EZGo. I have no desire to spend time trying to figure out which it is.

[PoolBrews]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

I have a 210 Amp Electric (which is as large as generally available).

I couldn't come close to making the trip as described, unless maybe if I drove the cart at 5 MPH. There's not a human alive, who could stand to drive a golf cart from OB to Southern Oaks, at 5 mph.

OBH to Southern Oaks is 16 miles each way + 7 miles to play a round of golf. At a cruising speed of 20 mph to get there and back, I'd be sweating out the ride home. I'd sure as hell not have enough charge to include a side trip to Brownwood and still have almost 50% charge left, when I got home.

I live as far north and east as you can get in The Villages - In Phillips Villas just off hwy 42 near the VA. Until recently, I had a Yamaha Drive 2. I recently got an Evolution D5 Ranger with 4 forward facing seats. With a 205ah battery I can go to Southern Oaks (21 mile trip), play golf, and after getting home I have 25% battery left. Battery drain is fairly consistent at 7 miles per 10% of battery with a cruising speed of 24. Allowing for never going below 10% charge, my max range is in the 60-65 mile range.

Folks saying they can go 60 miles on a 100ah battery seems far fetched. I don't care how well engineered the cart is. My guess is that their speedometer is not set correctly and is not showing the correct mileage. I agree with the poster that offered $100 to see it done in real life - I would come to watch and document - as an engineer, I don't think it's possible.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by PoolBrews

...

Folks saying they can go 60 miles on a 100ah battery seems far fetched. I don't care how well engineered the cart is. My guess is that their speedometer is not set correctly and is not showing the correct mileage. I agree with the poster that offered $100 to see it done in real life - I would come to watch and document - as an engineer, I don't think it's possible.

It turns out the EZGo has a 120Ah battery (the data is difficult to find and not stamped on the owner-accessible portion of the battery).

The speedometer uses GPS which is older technology so I suppose it could be set incorrectly. The mileage it gives compares well with the speedometer in the other cart (though that too uses old GPS technology). It also compares well with mileages from google maps but of course, you can't trust google.

42 miles to 25% in one long ride and another 45 miles to 25% on a long and busy day. Maybe another 100 yards and it would have dropped from 25% to 0%. I still don't plan to sit on the cart long enough to find out.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

According to whom?

I've never seen any real life results, that come remotely close to that "rule of thumb", particular in an environment like The Villages.

Perhaps on a golf course, where the Controller is programmed not to exceed 10-12 mph and it's primarily flat ground.

I've got $100 for anyone who can get their Lithium powered golf car range to 50% of the Amperage, on Villages MMP's at normal Villages cruising speed of 19 mph.

Originally Posted by PoolBrews

I live as far north and east as you can get in The Villages - In Phillips Villas just off hwy 42 near the VA. Until recently, I had a Yamaha Drive 2. I recently got an Evolution D5 Ranger with 4 forward facing seats. With a 205ah battery I can go to Southern Oaks (21 mile trip), play golf, and after getting home I have 25% battery left. Battery drain is fairly consistent at 7 miles per 10% of battery with a cruising speed of 24. Allowing for never going below 10% charge, my max range is in the 60-65 mile range.

Folks saying they can go 60 miles on a 100ah battery seems far fetched. I don't care how well engineered the cart is. My guess is that their speedometer is not set correctly and is not showing the correct mileage. I agree with the poster that offered $100 to see it done in real life - I would come to watch and document - as an engineer, I don't think it's possible.

It's not possible.

My mileage with 210 Amp is almost identical to yours. People believe their "power gauge" on their cart and start doing multiplication. After the 2nd time I ran out of power in a Lithium Loaner cart, I learned my lesson. I can get 40 miles or so on the first 1/2 of my gauge and about 20-25 on the last half.

No one wants to admit they actually ran their Battery dry, for fear of being called stupid. Instead, they extrapolate their mileage range by going 10 miles and reading their gauge.

Although if you notice, the last guy who boasted he can get 60 miles from his 105 Amp battery, has now amended his "cruising speed" to 15 mph. That's not exactly cruising, nor even "ambling". He'll be getting run over by bicyclists and walkers, right before he gets stranded at the 35 mile marker.

It's like a gas gauge on a 40 year old car. Accuracy is not a hallmark.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

Although if you notice, the last guy who boasted he can get 60 miles from his 105 Amp battery, has now amended his "cruising speed" to 15 mph. That's not exactly cruising, nor even "ambling". He'll be getting run over by bicyclists and walkers, right before he gets stranded at the 35 mile marker.

It's like a gas gauge on a 40 year old car. Accuracy is not a hallmark.

Actually, he hasn't. He has driven over 4,000 miles on the MMPs here in the Villages and knows that while the cart travels at 20mph in open sections, but those sections always end at a stop sign for a gate crossing or intersection. 60 miles would take a little under three hours on a closed track but not on the Villages MMPs. In the real world, the speed over a long trip in the Villages averages to 15mph.

[biker1]

The required power goes as the cube of the velocity. You will require about 70% more power to drive at 20 mph than 24 mph. Reducing your speed will increase your range considerably.

Originally Posted by PoolBrews

I live as far north and east as you can get in The Villages - In Phillips Villas just off hwy 42 near the VA. Until recently, I had a Yamaha Drive 2. I recently got an Evolution D5 Ranger with 4 forward facing seats. With a 205ah battery I can go to Southern Oaks (21 mile trip), play golf, and after getting home I have 25% battery left. Battery drain is fairly consistent at 7 miles per 10% of battery with a cruising speed of 24. Allowing for never going below 10% charge, my max range is in the 60-65 mile range.

Folks saying they can go 60 miles on a 100ah battery seems far fetched. I don't care how well engineered the cart is. My guess is that their speedometer is not set correctly and is not showing the correct mileage. I agree with the poster that offered $100 to see it done in real life - I would come to watch and document - as an engineer, I don't think it's possible.

[PoolBrews]

Originally Posted by biker1

The required power goes as the cube of the velocity. You will require about 70% more power to drive at 20 mph than 24 mph. Reducing your speed will increase your range considerably.

I understand that driving slower will increase my range - but it won't change it considerably - I gain another 5-7 miles range (I took a long drive and kept the cart below 20 just to test this out).

My cart is set to a max of 24mph, because the normal driving speed for nearly every cart out there is 22-24mph. I rarely pass anyone (unless they are driving at 18mph), and rarely get passed. I typically drive at 22-24. If I drove at 20, there would be a long line of carts behind me, and the extra 5-7 miles is not worth it since my battery is large enough to get me anywhere I need to go.

An interesting fact is that range increases as tire diameter gets smaller. This was tested and documented by Tesla. For each 1" reduction in tire diameter, electric vehicles gain about 2.5% in range. Standard tires on my cart were 225/55r14. I went with 205/45r12. Diameter difference is 4.5", so I gained ~11% range. The lower tires also allow my cart to get under every tunnel in The Villages (Note: Saddlebrook tunnel is by far the lowest tunnel).

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by biker1

The required power goes as the cube of the velocity. You will require about 70% more power to drive at 20 mph than 24 mph. Reducing your speed will increase your range considerably.

The power required to overcome drag might increase with the cube of the velocity but is that a significant factor in a cart traveling 24mph? It doesn't seem likely but it will be interesting to investigate that.