Almost every week, someone with the idea of getting their first golf cart, asks me whether it should be electric, or gas powered. The answer to that question REALLY does need to be “situation dependent”. What would work best for one person might be a big mistake for another.
Here in Florida, where I live, many of the golf carts that I work on NEVER go on a golf course. They become the primary means of transportation around a condo park or a quiet little neighborhood (that has open-minded police department), a fish camp, or something similar. Also, many of the carts are used to get around a residence that cover some acreage, where they often take on many of the functions of a small tractor. They may haul feed for the horses or cattle, lawn maintenance equipment, or other necessities for the agriculture type environment. Many of the people that own them either don’t play golf at all, or at least not enough to warrant keeping a trailer to haul a golf cart around with (not to mention the need for a tow vehicle). Most golf courses around here, offer a package deal to play a “round” that includes a golf cart anyway. Why haul one around?
In order explore which kind of cart is right for which situation, I’ll start with me as an example. I live in what is called an RV Condominium Park (we’ll call the type of usage the “park” situation). In this park, I own my part of the property, and Park Model dwelling, but there is common property that all of us residents enjoy. Lots of amenities, like a swimming pool, recreation hall, marina area for boats, etc. There are about 600 “units”, and it covers about 80 acres. If I stay toward the outside of the property and go around it, I’ve gone just over 1 ½ miles.
Lots of the people who live here only use their golf cart to go get their mail, take garbage to the dumpster, and make an occasional trip to the recreation hall. If they do all of that in the same day (which they seldom do), they probably go about 3 miles. So how does that work out for an electric golf cart? GREAT!! The designers of the batteries made for golf carts intend for the cart to be able to make about 3 rounds (18 holes) of golf, before having to re-charge the cart. A typical PGA type course averages about 3 to 5 miles of driving, depending on how much time is spent out in the woods looking for balls, so that means the cart should be good for up to 15 miles of driving, before it needs to head to the charger. As you can see, even if we took the extreme example where the person in the park drives 3 miles a day, they’d be good for 5 days of driving before needing a re-charge. When people ask me, how long they should go before re-charging, I tell them every 3 or 4 days (just to be on the safe side). That is exactly what I do with my electric golf cart and the batteries generally last somewhere between 4 and 5 years. Even though a set of batteries is up around $1000 now days, that still comes out to less than $17 a month for the batteries. It does cost a small amount to re-charge the batteries (on your electric bill), but it is a very small amount. I won’t go into the specifics of that in this post, but later, I will break it down, and you will see it only costs a few cents to re-charge them.
So, all I have to do with my electric golf cart is Plug it in every 3 or 4 days, check the water in the batteries about once a month and VIOLA! Of course, there are tires to be replaced occasionally, but you have that to do with gas golf carts also, so I won’t count it. So why, would I want to mess around with all of the stuff that comes with a gas golf cart, like:
Adding gas to the tank
Changing oil (and filter if it has one) occasionally
Replacing its battery every 3 years or so (gas carts still have 1 battery to be maintained)
Tuning up the engine periodically
Not letting the cart sit without being used long enough to clog up its carburetor, etc.
Replacing starter/generator and drive belts as they wear out
Another issue that determines whether a person selects an electric or gas golf cart, is that of noise. Gas golf carts aren’t (in my opinion) VERY noisy, but electric golf carts are ALMOST silent. There are some parks whose home-owner’s association rules prohibit gas golf carts altogether. There are even golf courses that prohibit gas golf carts for “environmental” issues. So, you need to take that into consideration before making your decision.
Most people in this park situation are not set up to do maintenance on a gas golf cart. They don’t have a place to drain the oil or a lift to get the cart up so as to work on it, etc. Some parks prohibit doing such maintenance in your driveway, anyway. So, the owners have to depend on finding someone to pick up the cart and take it to a shop for most of that kind of stuff. On the other hand, almost anybody can add water to an electric golf cart’s batteries once in a while and plug the cart into an automatic charger every few days.
All in all, life is usually a lot simpler with an electric cart, in a park situation.
So why would anybody want a gas golf cart? There are lots of reasons. I think the first and foremost consideration is the distance “thing”. Most gas golf carts have at least a 6-gallon gas tank. They usually get around 40+ miles per gallon, so, they have a range with a tank full of gas of about 250 miles. That’s a big improvement over the 15 to 20 that might be conservatively expected with an electric golf cart. Let’s say you are headed to the “North 40” with a bale of hay on the back. It doesn’t take long to rack up some significant mileage. If the cart is electric and “croaks” because you have not kept close track of how far you’ve gone, it might be a long ways to electricity and a charger (especially if you are pushing the cart). I think a gas golf cart is much more suited to the activity.
Another big issue is that of towing a trailer. You can certainly pull a trailer with either type of golf cart, but I maintain that the gas golf cart is much more suited to it. It is hard to find specifications that support or condemn the practice of pulling trailers, but most electric golf carts have only about a 3 to 5 horsepower motor, where gas carts generally have more in the range of 10 to 15. Now remember, I am talking here about “regular” golf carts right from the factory. Through the years, there have been many versions of “heavy duty” carts developed that are designed for hauling loads and pulling trailers. These, of course, have much more power (both electric and gas) and deserve an entirely different discussion than this post is intended to cover. Sometimes the specifications reflect the carts ability to perform up hills, even giving the steepest angle that the cart was intended to be used on. These specifications usually favor the gas golf carts by several degrees. For instance, I have a Yamaha G16 gas golf cart, and its specification for uphill climbing (on pavement) is 27 degrees. Its counter part in the electric model only recommends 20 degrees. Most electric golf carts have a limit on their maximum load of around 500 lbs. (including the passengers). So, with a couple of 200 lb. passengers, that doesn’t leave much room for freight, before the cart is overloaded.
Another thing about towing or even just loading a golf cart with more that its recommended capacity has to do with trying to STOP the cart. Most carts can haul more weight than they can safely stop with. The gas golf carts tend to be heavier and have better braking abilities.
As an electronic technician, I can tell you that a “stalled” DC motor is a BAD thing. By stalled, I mean in a situation like hooking an electric golf cart up to a load that it can’t pull, so it just sits there internally hemorrhaging until something “gives” The stalled motor tries to draw an almost infinite amount of current from the battery pack and can easily cause fatal damage to the motor speed controller, wiring, etc. I’ve seen many a motor speed controller damaged (I mean REALLY damaged) by trying to use the electric golf carts to move boats around on trailers as well as other heavy objects. The gas golf cart, when overloaded, will bog down the motor to a halt, slip clutches, smell hot or give some other sign before it renders itself a casualty.
All in all, my conclusion is that in a park situation, the electric golf cart reigns superior, but for any kind of hauling of towing, or just overloading in general, I’d go with the gas golf cart.
Ron Staley has published the following books, and you can get more information about them by just clicking on each title below:
Electric Golf Cart Repair 101 (and a half)
Techniques, Tips, Tools and Tales
Gas Golf Cart Repair 101 (and a half)
Techniques, Tips, Tools and Tales
4-Stroke Golf Cart Engines Explored
What Makes Them Tick
By an old Slot Machine Mechanic