EZGO 2Five Battery Upgrade

[sunking]

Well after talking to an EZGO dealer in my area for friend I learned EZGO has made two battery changes to their 2FIVE model this year that should make new owners happy happy, and existing owners of older models not so happy.

Gone are the 4 Trojan T-1275 12 volt 150 AH batteries. In their place is 6 USA battery 8VGCHXC2 8 volt 183 AH battery with Watering System. In addition a new corrosion resistant galvanized battery tray to accommodate the battery change.

Both EZGO and Dealers claim the changes come at no added cost to dealer or customers. The change gives the 2Five an addition 18% of battery capacity over the 12 volt battery setup from going from 48 volt @ 150 AH to 48 @ 183 AH with watering system as standard package.

The local dealer here added they no longer offer replacement Trojan Batteries, and now only offer USA battery. New factory models that come standard will still have Trojan batteries but they will only offer USA as replacement. This seems to be catching on by other dealers and some manufactures are switching from Trojan to USA battery.

I asked the local dealer why they do not use Trojan and why EZGO switched on the 2Five and the answer was: USA product carried the same warranty, but Trojan is very difficult to deal with warranty claims and the USA battery are giving them fewer service problems. Me thinks it is more about price as the USA battery is less expensive. However USA batteries are known to be very good, so it maybe a really good decision for both manufacture and customer. Trojan can be a real PIA with respect to battery claims as you had better have monthly PM documents to show them you exercised proper care and maintenance. Dealer says Trojan will replace them if within the first year without a hassle, but from month 13 to 24 they will not for the prorated period and will claim abuse which voids the warranty.

[Volt_Ampere]

I would bet they got a better deal on USA. The rest is probably BS.

[sunking]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

I would bet they got a better deal on USA. The rest is probably BS.

I agree on price as there is no doubt USA batteries are less expensive.

The rest of the story depends on what metric you are measuring by. When it comes to cycle life from independent testing agencies using real life application Trojan has the edge of an average of 750 cycles or 4 years whichever comes first Making it realistically a 3 solid year battery USA battery cycle life averages 675 cycles. When you compare cost per cycle though are roughly equal.

If you move to the performance side the slight edge goes to USA with lower internal resistance as a result of more lead inside of them for a given capacity. That means a little more current for a little longer period of time.

Warranty side they are both equal on paper, but I have heard from more than one dealer say USA is easier to deal with on warranty claims.

Based on lower cost, slightly better performance, and easier warrant claims makes it a no brainer from a dealer POV. From a user POV you have to decide if the extra cycles are worth the extra cost and hassle if something goes wrong.

Me personally I don't give a crap, I use lithium which runs circles around any FLA battery in carts and EV's. Professionally in the telecom, utility, and off-grid solar we would not use either USA or Trojan FLA batteries, we use Industrial Grade batteries that last 10 to 15 years, but consumers could not afford them and get like performance and cycle life using lithium at roughly the same price point of an Industrial line at 1/3 the weight. .