Electric or Gas Golf Cart

My in-laws are thinking of getting a golf cart for the lake. I would end up using it also and probably be in charge of maintenance and storage

I’d like to leave up at the lake full time. Probably just cover it during the warm months and leave it in a shed for winter.

Would gas or electric be better for this? Could an electric be left all winter, or most likely need to pull the batteries?

I have an electric one that I leave up at the lake all winter in the pole barn. I just disconnect the ground from the battery so nothing can draw on it. It’s a 48 volt so four 12 volt batteries hooked in series. Once they go I plan to replace them with lithium. They have been holding up well for four years and we bought it used.

Mine has been pretty problem free. Gas or electric they are both pretty simple to work on. I chose electric because I have enough things up there that are gas powered and it sucks having to drive a 45 minute round trip if I need to fill gas cans.

I have both. A 48 volt electric and the gas cart. The electric is nice and quiet, the gas one a bit more noisy. Batteries on the electric will run $700 or so every 5-7 years. I never pull the batteries. Just make sure they are charged up good and then pull the cables so they don’t draw down. If you can, charge them during the course of winter once or twice. If you can’t plug the charger in you can run a generator. It doesn’t take long to top them off.

The gas one I use non-oxy gas only. Pour some stabile in and you are good. They go a long ways on very little gas. I love the electric but I think if I had to do it again I would stay with the gas.

I drive both all day each weekend on the golf course as a ranger.
Purely from a driving perspective – electric all day. Let off on the gas and they stop within a couple feet. Push the gas they go, quietly.
Gas is loud and feels “old/ratty/bush league”
Either one is easy to work on though and both do the same job

We’ve got a 1994 electric cart for bombing between the neighbors and down to the sheds (was my wife’s grandfather’s in Palm Springs). My niece and nephew take it everywhere as if it’s a side by side and it just keeps going. I put batteries in it in 2021 and fully expect to get 3-4 more years out of them.

I can only assume the modern electric ones are really kick a** in comparison

Thanks guys. That does help.

My main goals would be to have it reliable/trouble free. And to be able to leave it at the lake year round.

For electric… Would you leave something like that on a trickle charge all winter? It would go for months unattended. Or better off just disconnecting the batteries as mentioned?

Electric.

The quiet factor would be really nice.

I’ve done both with my electric. Prior to divorce it was left in my shed connected to the charger. Every couple of months I would plug the charger in for a few hours. This past winter I parked it in an uninsulated shed in October and plugged it in about 3 weeks ago, topped the charge off and away I went.

FYI I put lift kits and bigger tires on both carts. Makes it a bit easier to get in and out plus you have a little more ground clearence if the grandkids get around big Gopher mounds.

For cost it seems decent good used ones are $3500 and up these days. My new gas one with tax was $13k last Memorial Day. I haven’t even ran a full tank of gas through it yet.

Thanks Dutch. I am seeing nice ones for 5k I am interested in.

One dealer I talked to said you need to top off the batteries with distilled water every month. More often than I would have guessed. Also seems like quite a few are going lithium.

More power grunt grunt.

How cantankerous are the gas model carbs in the spring time?

lindyrig79 wrote:

Thanks Dutch. I am seeing nice ones for 5k I am interested in.

One dealer I talked to said you need to top off the batteries with distilled water every month. More often than I would have guessed. Also seems like quite a few are going lithium.

Yes also put grease on the battery connectors to keep them from corroding. My biggest peeve with the electric is when you have to replace battery’s. There is very little room to manuver in there to lift the battery out. But it’s not like you have to do it every month either.

Yamaha Golf & Utility 952-890-5541 in Burnsville is where I got mine in ’08. They are good to work with. They have a lot of carts from golf courses if you are going used.