More expensive to upgrade gas or electric?

craigy

I’m looking to get me another cart. I’d usually prefer gas models, but am thinking maybe going electric. Upgrades would be lift kits, 22” tires, and would like to be able pull a small trailer every now and then for yard work. Would it be more expensive to upgrade an electric cart, or gas cart to meet these needs. The cart would mostly stay on my 10acres which has a few small hills.

BGW

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Cruise Master

I'm pretty amazed that no-one has posted a reply to this. I'm more then likely the least hands on for building a cart, but I'm a very fast study.

I would stay gas if I was you. Needless to say the suspension and bling stuff will be the same for cost. Where it all goes down the toilet is when you said 22 inch tires.

If you have a sparky cart figure you'll be out another $1,000 to 1,500 in upgrades. That's the dirty little secret to these things. They were designed to be a golf cart, as soon as you change the parameters that sparky starts to get costly. Then either it becomes a new hobby, or a money pit for the wife not to know about.

JR_ECE

Why for just electric?

E36Racer

Another thing to consider is how mechanically inclined you are. It is easier for an average person to change out a controller, solenoid, etc. than it is to perform some modifications on the gas carts like internal governor mods, cam swaps, carb changes/adjustments, etc. The one thing I like about the electric carts is a good controller swap is easy and all you have to do is tweak the settings to your personal preferences. I learned that just an AlltraxXCT 500a controller swap gave much more performance than I anticipated and now I don't think I really need to change the motor.

Whereas on a gas cart, to do a cam and carb swap you have to deal with valve adjustments, getting the carb jetted right is not that much more difficult if you know what your doing, but it takes longer. So the other consideration is how you value your time.

I just did a quick search and it looks like the typical "bolt on" mods for a gas cart for the first step in performance upgrades run about $400-500, which is similar to the Alltrax 500a, and more than the 400a or 300a which might suit your needs.

Honestly, I don't think there really is a definitive answer on this one once all things are considered. At the end of the day I really think it just comes down to your personal preference. It's probably not a bad idea to do some internet shopping to compare pricing differences on go fast parts. Also factor in what cart you want since I'm also willing to bet that each brand most likely does not cost the same to modify. Also consider your ability to install the parts yourself and the cost to pay someone to do it for you if it's out of your comfort zone.

dundeebarnbuggy

An electric will pull like hell setup right especially with the extra weight of the batteries. One other is maintenance cost once it is running. Batts are expensive but if you use your cart often are way cheaper than gas. No air filter maintenance, belt wear, oil changes, or fuel issues with a sparky either. If you run in cold weather, quadruple the time and expense on keeping a gas cart healthy. Sorry, just checked your location, please disregard the last sentence!

Bigd3077

Just did the 100 hour service in my gas ez go. cost me $30 and 25 minutes of time. I'll take my 100+ mile range and $30 a year maintenance.

craigy

Thanks. Very good info there!

bronsonj

Remember too that there are three flavors of electric cart and they act differently.

The Series cart which is very easy to increase the torque with a controller/solenoid/cable upgrade. But increasing speed (beyond what you gain with bigger tires) is a little more involved. Series carts are torque beasts when set up properly (like dundeebarnbuggy said).

The Sepex cart doesn't like to roll slowly for long periods of time under load but they are pretty easy to increase the torque and speed on. So if you are rolling off road with mild hills pulling a trailer and 1/4 throttle or less, then probably want to skip the sepex.

Then you have A/C drive carts which from the factory have really good torque and speed, but upgrades are limited as they are the newest entry in the market. (I've never been on an A/C drive cart, just repeating what I've read)

If it were me wanting to do what you've said, I'd look for a series electric cart. You can check the Carts Unlimited site for ideas on upgrade costs.

Or the A/C drive carts (Like the RXV) may do what you want stock. I hear they are pretty awesome, but I've never been on one.

dundeebarnbuggy

My cart is sepex. I have towed loads with it that it was never intended for [hey, it lives on a farm ]without issue and have never had a problem with low speed heating with it set to torque mode and get 20ish mph on the road on speed setting. I was going to build a series ride but Vic at D&D sold me on the pluses of sepex and hooked me up with Steve at Bohlinger Inc. that do controllers for industrial applications and golf/utility carts. This was before I knew about Scotty and his line of equipment [my computer wouldn't allow all the sponsors to be viewed at the time.] That being said, with the knowledge gleaned here, I would build another sepex work cart tomorrow.