Stock and lifted cart range?

[upnort]

A buddy and I were talking about the range of electric carts. He has a rental business at the golf club he works at. He said his carts can easily do 36 hole before needing to be charged. All have batteries 3 years old or less. We started calculating about how many miles that would be. Coarse he is at is 3400 yd 9 hole coarse. We guesstimated aprox 4200 yds per round. so x4 is aprox 16800 yds. That translates to about 11 miles. Does that sound accurate?
How would a lifted cart with electrical upgrades compare? What kind of range can a guy expect on a lifted cart?

[ab46501]

11 miles sounds about right for a stock cart on a golf course I have heard some claim up to 15.

However my real world experience with my cart the range is less. Golf course is stop and go and the batteries get a few minutes of rest between golf shots. A lifted cart with larger tires driving longer runs (and in my case, larger amp controller, aftermarket motor and on rough terrain) will not go as far. I have never stopped to figure it out exactly but my guess for my cart's range would be about 7-8 miles.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by upnort

A buddy and I were talking about the range of electric carts. He has a rental business at the golf club he works at. He said his carts can easily do 36 hole before needing to be charged. All have batteries 3 years old or less. We started calculating about how many miles that would be. Coarse he is at is 3400 yd 9 hole coarse. We guesstimated aprox 4200 yds per round. so x4 is aprox 16800 yds. That translates to about 11 miles. Does that sound accurate?
How would a lifted cart with electrical upgrades compare? What kind of range can a guy expect on a lifted cart?

The 11 miles for 36 holes is probably in the ballpark. A couple guys counted their steps as they played several different courses on a number of months and figured calculated they walked 5.5 to 6.0 miles per 18 holes. If you drive the cart to the ball, you'd probably log about the same mileage on the cart that they walked.

In and of itself, lifting a cart doesn't change its range much, however most lifted carts have tall tires, which do reduce the range somewhat.

Tall tires take more amps to turn, but they travel further with each revolution, so the range isn't as drastically reduced.

What burns up the amps is rapid accelerations and climbing hills with tall tires installed.
With a light foot on the pedal, the range isn't reduced as much.

For maximum range, go to 48V and use eight 6V batteries.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by ab46501

11 miles sounds about right for a stock cart on a golf course I have heard some claim up to 15.

However my real world experience with my cart the range is less. Golf course is stop and go and the batteries get a few minutes of rest between golf shots. A lifted cart with larger tires driving longer runs (and in my case, larger amp controller, aftermarket motor and on rough terrain) will not go as far. I have never stopped to figure it out exactly but my guess for my cart's range would be about 7-8 miles.

I often run about 9 miles on my stock, except for 2Ga cables and 18.3" tires, '08 PDS and still have over 70% SoC when I get back to the house.
The 9 miles is two 4.5 mile runs with anyplace from a few minutes to an hour or so rest in between.
I run in Mild Hill mode, so there is some regenerative braking that put a little juice back into the batteries.

The furthest I've ever ran my cart on a single charge was upwards of 20 miles.
Two round trips, around 5 miles for each leg and on pavement with 17.4" tires.
Uphill on the way out, so I babied it. Downhill on the way back, so I got some regenerative charging.



I'm adding a seventh battery for 42V (7 x 6V) system along with an aftermarket controller and solenoid for more range primarily, but I'll gain some speed in the process.

[R8cer Ex]

Originally Posted by upnort

A buddy and I were talking about the range of electric carts. He has a rental business at the golf club he works at. He said his carts can easily do 36 hole before needing to be charged. All have batteries 3 years old or less. We started calculating about how many miles that would be. Coarse he is at is 3400 yd 9 hole coarse. We guesstimated aprox 4200 yds per round. so x4 is aprox 16800 yds. That translates to about 11 miles. Does that sound accurate?
How would a lifted cart with electrical upgrades compare? What kind of range can a guy expect on a lifted cart?

Not if you play like me and go side to side through the fairway.

[ab46501]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

I often run about 9 miles on my stock, except for 2Ga cables and 18.3" tires, '08 PDS and still have over 70% SoC when I get back to the house.
The 9 miles is two 4.5 mile runs with anyplace from a few minutes to an hour or so rest in between.
I run in Mild Hill mode, so there is some regenerative braking that put a little juice back into the batteries.

The furthest I've ever ran my cart on a single charge was upwards of 20 miles.
Two round trips, around 5 miles for each leg and on pavement with 17.4" tires.
Uphill on the way out, so I babied it. Downhill on the way back, so I got some regenerative charging.



I'm adding a seventh battery for 42V (7 x 6V) system along with an aftermarket controller and solenoid for more range primarily, but I'll gain some speed in the process.

20 miles is excellent!

I use my cart for hunting mostly and I figure about 4-5 miles each day hunting driving in/out/around the property. But the terrain is not all ideal and the cart is loaded down most of the time with gear, my son and me. Also I am running 650 amps for all the torque I cant get and have 22 inch tires.

The on board SOC meter I have is one of those round ones with the little green/yellow/red lights so it does not show the exact voltage. I probably should check with a DVM sometime. At the end of the day the lowest it usually gets is down to the first yellow light below the green and after setting for a few minutes it will come back up. I feel like it could probably go a few more miles at that point if it needed to.

48v is my next upgrade when these batteries have to be replaced!