EZ-GO Hybrid Technology....EH?

[Davemuzz]

Marathon Man, if you have never used an electric cart hunting then you don't understand. You just don't go to one place and stay there all day.

I hunt in Pa. where the hills are such that front disc brakes are a must or your simply going down hills that you will not stop. You may lock your rear wheels up, but the mud will not let you stop....or even on dry days, the hill will be enough that with locked rear wheels, and not traveling at a high speed, the cart will still skid at least 30 to 40 yards. Yes....yards...not feet.

I was fortunate enough to be able to hunt in WY for pronghorn this past fall. Hunting is done from your truck, or ATV. There is no way an electric cart would be able to cover the terrain needed in order to get near Pronghorn Antelope would be very do-able. Again, you can glass the game at 400 yards, turn off the generator, and make a stealth approach to within 150 yards. But....you may need to cover 3 or 4 miles of up and down hills of off road terrain before you reach this point. And an all gas cart would never let you get that close.

So....what I am saying is.....if you can't walk, then you begin to think of every possible means of how you can do what you need to do to get from point "A" to point "B". Believe me, until I became disabled, I never even considered these alternatives.

How do you sneak up on a deer if you walk? Easy.....when I could walk, I simply snuck up and carefully tried to not break branches while bending over and keeping low in the brush.

Now?...I have the cart in full camo....plus I toss a camo net over the front of the cart, and I "lay over" on the cart seat so I can just see over the dash and as carefully as I can...negotiate the gas well road to miss any big branches and watch the game to see if they are getting nervous...and if I get anywhere within 150 yards I then position myself for a quality shot. Oh, and I practice for 100, 200 and 300 yard shots every week at my shooting range.

Because this is what I do. And this is what I think about before the hunting season begins. Because I can't be concerned about what I can't do. Only about what I can do.

Dave

[Marathon Man]

I drive and build eletric carts everyday I kno the capability of an eletric cart. I own a gas golf cart. Putting the hunting conditions aside all my 2 cents was that its silly to put a generator on the back of an eletric golf cart to charge the batteries when you can just have a gas golf cart which indeed aren't that loud I hear more twigs and leaves crunching and not have to buy batteries and then also have to worry about a gas engine to service.

[Marathon Man]

And on a final note running the generator here and there to charge is not good for your batts. Running the generator for 5 min. Won't get you far even if you are pushing 25 amps to those batts a full charge normally takes 10 to 12 hours. In that case if the cart dies you would need to run that gas powered generator to make that eletric cart move then depending on how far you have to go you hope that generator doesn't run out of gas

[Davemuzz]

MM, Yeah....I'm sure EZ-Go doesn't have any of that figured out. It's all just a sales gimmick. But I'm a sucker for sales gimmick's.

[Marathon Man]

I know where I work we offer and 18 month warranty with new batts. It's void if batts are overcharged or under charged (sit with out being used for months) or if they are run out of water. I also built a cart for a hunter here in Florida it was a 48 volt ezgo I used 8 6volt batts he runs 10 to 12 miles to his tree stand mostly flat through the woods here in florida. The cart sits under his tree stand for the whole day then he drives it back out at nite. With the added capacity of the 8 6volts he only has to charge the cart every other day when the cart guage gets a little over halfway down.

[AirJunky]

Interesting how Chevy & Toyota's idea of a "hybrid" vehicle uses both an electric & a gas engine to move it around. But EZGo's version uses strictly the electric engine & the gas engine is not used to move the car but to charge the batteries. Seems like it would be better to go with something similar to Chevy's system where it can use either or both engines for power, even if it was all done manually (as opposed to by computer).

[kgsc]

This is all very interesting.. I am sure EZ Go researched this but still curios.. If it runs like a Honda Genset it will be quiet but I think I saw $900 somewhere so it is not a Honda. I am not sure how the batts will like it but I guess the trick is to have the generator/charger putting juice back in the batts at a rate close to the discharge and I would think a 6hp won't be able to handle more than say a 20 amp charger ?? I guess it just prolongs the charge.

[kgsc]

Originally Posted by AirJunky

Interesting how Chevy & Toyota's idea of a "hybrid" vehicle uses both an electric & a gas engine to move it around. But EZGo's version uses strictly the electric engine & the gas engine is not used to move the car but to charge the batteries. Seems like it would be better to go with something similar to Chevy's system where it can use either or both engines for power, even if it was all done manually (as opposed to by computer).

I would think they may do something like that in the future but this was I believe a quick start to get into the market and they could use it on existing designs. Merging the Electric and Gas drivetrain would be a trick..

On another note, I have heard of some cars converted to all electric and have a small diesel generator on board exclusively for charging.

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by Marathon Man

And on a final note running the generator here and there to charge is not good for your batts. Running the generator for 5 min. Won't get you far even if you are pushing 25 amps to those batts a full charge normally takes 10 to 12 hours. In that case if the cart dies you would need to run that gas powered generator to make that eletric cart move then depending on how far you have to go you hope that generator doesn't run out of gas

I would assume - perhaps incorrectly - that the generator output is sufficient to allow normal driving without draining the batteries. It should at least reduce the rate of drainage of the battery pack while driving in the woods.

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by kgsc

This is all very interesting.. I am sure EZ Go researched this but still curios.. If it runs like a Honda Genset it will be quiet but I think I saw $900 somewhere so it is not a Honda. I am not sure how the batts will like it but I guess the trick is to have the generator/charger putting juice back in the batts at a rate close to the discharge and I would think a 6hp won't be able to handle more than say a 20 amp charger ?? I guess it just prolongs the charge.

I saw the $900 figure too, but I don't believe it. Heck, they want $1,300 for a stupid flip seat.

http://www.shopezgo.com/products/2Fi...Seat-Kits.html

How hard is it to manufacture a seat, versus an internal combustion engine, generator, silencer, cooling, controls, 120 volt inverter, R&D, etc.