Please give me your thoughts electric buggy vs gas

[Lost10mm]

Change my mind for me. Always willing to learn something.

This is right up my alley. Just let me get some free time. [emoji3577]

[kurt68]

Buddy had a nice bad boy buggy at his uvalde lease. On the road it was great, with any rain the black dirt/mud would lock it up and gum up the wheels so bad it wouldn’t move. Very stealthy on moving around the lease, but when it was wet it wasn’t worth a dang in the fields. They harvested cotton on some of the fields there.

[Mike D]

Electric are nice, but are way more maintenance intensive if you're doing it the way you are supposed to. Plus, those batteries are around $1,000 every few years.

The gas ones are my preference. I have way less gas ones in my shop than electric.

Lithium is the way to go for electric.

Even with lead acid I got 6+ years out of my last set with minimal maintenance.


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[Drycreek3189]

Lithium is the way to go for electric.

Even with lead acid I got 6+ years out of my last set with minimal maintenance.


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So many people want to just jump in and go. An electric buggy needs the correct battery maintenance or they won’t last. I owned two different ones and I learned the battery break in and maintenance the hard way. My last set of batteries lasted six years like yours. Replacements were a little less than a $1,000. It never stranded me, never got stuck that we couldn’t push it a few yards and get it out. My buddy and I slipped up on many a hog and left it stranded though !

[Jon Stewart]

go battery op. No gas smell and no noise. We used an electric golf cart at my place.

[Walker]

This is right up my alley. Just let me get some free time. [emoji3577]

Before you start let me give you my background. I've been working on outboards for over 30 years and I'm not a stranger to atv's, and most any small gas engine. My daughter works 2 electric carryalls daily on here exotic ranch. Only thing I know about them is they go every day and charge every night.

[txtrophy85]

The Polaris ev will be my next utv.

Buddy has them when they first came out, actually had 4 of them.

A year later they were all gone.


Good idea on paper but they didn’t hold up

[M16]

I’m not understanding why everyone wants a quiet vehicle. Other than hunting hogs. I want the deer to hear me coming. And I want my corn feeder to make a loud racket. Deer come a running when I spin my feeder.

[Rubi513]

Buddy has them when they first came out, actually had 4 of them.

A year later they were all gone.


Good idea on paper but they didn’t hold up

I know 2 folks that have them and haven’t had any issues…
Maybe your buddy doesn’t take care of his ****…

[Lost10mm]

Ok, I know I'm the new guy around here so quick background - I'm a fleet shop supervisor and part of my fleet consists of around 30 various types of golf carts. John Deere, Club Car, Yamaha, Ingersoll Rand / EFI, Carb, Battery / cargo box, dump bed, flat bed. I'm familiar with the Kubota, Hustler, Kawasaki, and Ranger. Our carts are used in off-road applications, trails, land management, as well as daily asphalt, concrete driving. The one used by our grounds supervisor is used all day/every day and is used heavily in fields and on campus lawns. He's got a crew of about 18 guys who are also off road on a regular basis. I also work on these as a side job on occasion. I still don't claim to be an expert and am constantly learning myself, but I've been around a few of these.

First off - some of those carts y'all posted are amazing. You've done some great work with all of those! I can see where battery and gas have their place around the ranch and in hunting.

Battery carts for the operator/renter are great. All of the obvious things like they're quiet, they can have pretty good torque if setup right, and you don't have to do oil changes. Every battery powered cart I've come across in the shop and with side jobs are electronics heavy. Your batteries need to be maintained weekly, and there are plenty of electronic components that can give up without any notice. I keep spare throttle position sensors and speed sensors in my parts cage because they like to randomly go out. If one of those go out, it's not too bad - buy the part and pretty much anyone mechanically inclined can replace them. The problem comes in with the computer. If the computer goes out - that's when you start running into expenses. The manufacturers don't like just anyone working on the computers for these carts so they pretty much all require it go to a dealership if there's a computer problem. These carts are water resistant, but certainly not water proof with that onboard computer. I've heard great things about the lithium batteries for these carts. They are more expensive, but they last longer and eliminate the battery maintenance. I might consider one if I could get a lithium version.

EFI gas carts are like a mix of the non-EFI and battery carts. You don't have as much regular maintenance involved, but you still have computers involved. With them being EFI, now you have sensors involved so you have an onboard diagnostic. It took me switching to a new shop who was trying to get my business to allow me to buy an OBD tool for Club Car. Even with me buying the tool and us tying it in with the purchase of a golf cart, you could still tell that they weren't really supposed to be letting me do this. So for your average joe, if you don't have that scan tool and your cart goes down, it's going to need to go to a shop so you can pay them to diagnose and do the repair. I've come across this with a few carts I've looked at on the side in the past. So less maintenance involved and they're a little more noisy, but you still have computers involved to complicate the repair process.

Non-EFI gas in my opinion are the way to go. I've seen guys completely neglect these things and they still keep on trucking. Oil changes have been forgotten about, and they just run them hard and put them away wet. Not that I'm recommending that, but I'm just trying to be real about who my clientele has been on average. The same clientele who treat their electric carts like this have had to relearn their maintenance behavior to help ease their wallets. The Non-EFI gas carts are set up nice and basic, can take a beating, and the only electronic piece on them that I've seen fail with any consistency has been the RPM limiter. Even those don't happen too often. The batteries last about as long as a regular car battery, again - no maintenance involved.

I've used battery and gas carts on private hunting land. I've had successful hunts with both.

[Lost10mm]

Before you start let me give you my background. I've been working on outboards for over 30 years and I'm not a stranger to atv's, and most any small gas engine. My daughter works 2 electric carryalls daily on here exotic ranch. Only thing I know about them is they go every day and charge every night.

I've always been a little envious of the guys in the outboard shops. That's just one area I haven't picked up on. Once you learn to work on those, I would imagine you have a much higher chance of people taking you out in their boats.

If you buy used, driver it on a bumpy road and make sure it doesn't creak, groan or rattle. I bought one that I really like but it is not as quiet as my friend's electric cart. Batteries are $800 every 4 years so $200/yr. Other than that, pretty much zero. I use mine in my yard often moving trailers, tools and people.

If you can make your batteries last 4 years, you're doing things right. If you're doing things right, it's worth looking into the Trojan batteries. Those things will last if you just take care of them. I've got a tow cart I built and threw a bunch of T-145's in it. Great battery.
If you hear it making noises, check your bushings. Those things are considered a wear and tear item so they go out all the time. If you want to replace them yourself (easy job), just invest in a C-Clamp and it will make installing them a breeze.

[jshouse]

Lithium is the way to go for electric.

Even with lead acid I got 6+ years out of my last set with minimal maintenance.


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Do I need to upgrade my motor or controller or anything if I swap to lithium?

Do you see more run time out them?

[jshouse]

Lithium is the way to go for electric.

Even with lead acid I got 6+ years out of my last set with minimal maintenance.


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Do I need to upgrade my motor or controller or anything if I swap to lithium?

Do you see more run time out them? Is there a noticable speed increase with the reduced weight or even just the batteries themselves?

[Mike D]

Do I need to upgrade my motor or controller or anything if I swap to lithium?

Do you see more run time out them? Is there a noticable speed increase with the reduced weight or even just the batteries themselves?

I didn’t but my controller is an old “dumb” controller. It isn’t even routed through the on board computer anymore.

Yes to longer run time. Your motor will be the limiting factor on speed as they are only designed to turn so many RPM. My motor is a high torque motor and at best I may have gained 1-2 mph but the “punch” is much higher meaning when you mash on it it goes right now.


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[jshouse]

I didn’t but my controller is an old “dumb” controller. It isn’t even routed through the on board computer anymore.

Yes to longer run time. Your motor will be the limiting factor on speed as they are only designed to turn so many RPM. My motor is a high torque motor and at best I may have gained 1-2 mph but the “punch” is much higher meaning when you mash on it it goes right now.


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thank you. with the cost of a newer "quiet" gas carts, i am leaning towards the lithium upgrade to get more run time around our very hilly neighborhood.