2021 ClubCar Onward HP LI-ION Battery dead Warranty issue / Dealer Issue

[fastmatt007]

This is LONG

I purchased my new Club Car in the spring of 2021 and have had no issues until recently. I put it on the charger after a day of driving (battery status was at 10%) and it showed it was charging. After a few hours I checked the status, and it displayed a fault code. I checked my breakers and such to see if anything flipped. I unplugged the charger from the cart and wall and tried again. About 20 seconds after trying to charge again, it displayed the same fault code.
I took the cart to the dealer with the charger and drop it off for troubleshooting. Dealer called me the next day with an update. He tried updating the golf cart's firmware, but it died because it didn't have enough charge. The dealer didn't have another lithium-ion charger in stock, so he had to order one. The dealer/maintainer implied it was my fault for letting it get too low when they needed to update the firmware. I advised if I had known it was NOT going to charge, I would have never let it get to 10% to begin with. They are implying it's my fault the cart died and now the battery is dead. They determined the battery is bad. They sent Club Car the information to determine the warranty status and test the battery to figure out the root cause.
I have never let it die once, the lowest reading being 10%, as it was when I dropped it off at the dealer. I usually put it on the charger between 10-20% or even 30-40% if I know I am going to put a few miles on it soon. The dealer implied it was my fault but never actually came out to say it. It's rubbing me the wrong way. As far as I can tell from reading the manual, I did nothing wrong.

Just wondering if anyone has heard of this issue or anything similar. I don't know how golf cart dealers and the warranty process works.

[Tom47]

I hope you can get this resolved with the dealer. Let us know how it goes with the warranty.

For future reference, the best way to charge a lithium pack is to charge it after every run of a few miles or more. This can be every day if so indicated.

Ten 10% charges equals one life cycle, the same as one 100% charge. There is no need to wait until the battery runs down to charge it. Keep it topped off in case a long ride comes up.

A good recommendation is to never let it get below 20%. This will give you a safety margin to make it home if need be.

[Pat911]

Not your fault!

You can safely run lithium down to zero and should achieve the stated life. You will lengthen the service life by limiting discharge to 20% though.

The battery will have a BMS and it is its job to protect the battery from being over discharged. If the battery is faulty it’s a warranty issue as it should be protected from being over discharged.

It is the dealers negligence that caused the firmware update to fail. Who in their right mind would commence a firmware upgrade with only 10% battery life left?

It seems to me you have a faulty charger. The dealer should have tried a new charger before trying anything else. Hope this gets resolved in your favour in a timely manner.

[Bama Brad]

Originally Posted by Pat911

Not your fault!

You can safely run lithium down to zero and should achieve the stated life. You will lengthen the service life by limiting discharge to 20% though.

The battery will have a BMS and it is its job to protect the battery from being over discharged. If the battery is faulty it’s a warranty issue as it should be protected from being over discharged.

It is the dealers negligence that caused the firmware update to fail. Who in their right mind would commence a firmware upgrade with only 10% battery life left?

It seems to me you have a faulty charger. The dealer should have tried a new charger before trying anything else. Hope this gets resolved in your favour in a timely manner.

Agreed, battery has built in safety features that prevent us from running battery down to damage level. Should definitely be a warranty claim. Now to find out if it's the charger or the battery. When finished with this, don't use that dealer anymore. You might even want to talk to another Club Car dealer that will be more helpful. It should be a Club Car warranty, so which dealer handles it shouldn't matter.

[fastmatt007]

I definitely will NOT be using them next time for anything. I only went to them since the place I bought it from had 85 golf carts ahead of me "6 week wait". Ill post something when they give me an update "new batteries come in".

[Bama Brad]

Them not being busy may be another sign of their way of doing business....good luck. As I said, this should be covered by Club Car warranty, so you shouldn't be handcuffed to these people. I would think any Club Car dealer could handle the claim.

[KTKelly]

Originally Posted by Bama Brad

Them not being busy may be another sign of their way of doing business.....

In this current business climate, the guys with little to no work are the ones that don't do quality work.

The good ones are slammed with work.