When we are riding on our golf cart, we enjoy the peaceful and soothing ride but we completely forget about the unsung hero that powers our ride.
I’m talking about golf cart batteries and the decision we take to buy a specific battery is crucial to ensure a healthy ride for the next 5 years.
A good battery will ensure high durability whereas a bad battery will ensure low durability.
Average life span of a golf cart battery
Golf cart batteries have an average life span between 5-10 years, depending on the usage and maintenance of the battery.
Low usage and proper maintenance of the battery will earn longer durability for the battery compared to high usage and poor maintenance, which will shorten the battery life span.
A person, who drives his golf cart to work every day, can only expect the battery to last for only 2-3 years. On the other hand, a person driving his golf cart for only 2-3 days per week can expect his battery to last as long as 6-7 years, given he takes proper care of his battery.
Read More: Best Golf Cart Batteries
Factors affecting battery life of golf cart
Usage
Excessive usage of golf carts drains batteries to the point where they require replacement 1 or 2 years before their expectant expiry date.
Hence, it is better to take your cart outside occasionally rather than daily.
Maintenance
Batteries need maintenance on a daily basis to make it durable. Maintenance includes keeping the batteries clean and refilling their insides with water if water runs low. This ensures a healthy life span for the battery.
Charging
Overcharging a battery causes damage to the battery.
Some people think they must charge the batteries beyond the full capacity to give them more mileage, especially for long-distance trips, but they are unaware of the fact that overcharging will give them the same mileage as that of full charge, and will instead reduce the life span of the battery.
On the other hand partial charging before going for a ride is dangerous as well as it will also reduce battery quality. The best thing to do is charge the battery to its full capacity.
Check Also: 16 Coolest Golf Push Carts To Help You
Weight of passengers
If the total weight of passengers riding in a golf cart exceeds the total capacity of the cart, it damages the battery.
The maximum capacity of a typical golf cart is approximately 200 lbs per seat and the owner of a cart must ensure a 201 lbs person does not sit in his cart.
Read More: How Many Batteries in a Golf Cart?
How to increase lifespan of golf cart batteries?
Avoiding steep hills
Riding carts on steep hills and inclined surfaces require much more power from the battery compared to riding on plane surfaces and thus the former puts more stress on the battery than the latter, resulting in a shorter life span of the battery.
As a result, it is better to avoid steep hills and ride on plane surfaces instead.
Making unnecessary modifications in cart
Making additional modifications in the cart will eat up battery charge quicker and reduce the performance of the battery.
Installing additional components to make your cart look more dashing or to speed up your cart will draw more power from the battery.
Hence, avoid unnecessary modifications so that the battery life is not compromised with speed and outlook. Besides, battery replacement is very expensive.
Check Also: Cost to Recover Golf Cart Seat.
Charging batteries before charge runs out
If you are waiting for the charge to run out completely before charging the battery, then you are actually draining the battery and shorten its durability.
Hence, a wise thing to do to save battery life is to charge the battery whenever it will show a charge of 20%.
When to replace golf cart batteries?
Climbing steep hills is taking more time than usual
If your cart is reluctant to move up a steep hill, then the time has come to replace your batteries because it only means the cart cannot draw enough power from the battery to resist gravity and move upwards and thus the battery will require replacement.
Battery takes more time to charge than before
If your battery takes more hours for charging than before, then it hints that the battery has become obsolete and requires replacement.
The average charge time of a battery is 3-5 hours long and if your cart battery takes 4-5 hours more than the average to charge then you should replace it.
Price of golf cart batteries
Golf cart batteries’ price ranges between $800-$1500, and 72-volt batteries can cost as high as $2000.
Higher voltage, greater the cost of battery as higher voltage gives greater horsepower to the engine.
Lithium Ion battery vs Lead Acid battery
Lead Acid batteries are more popular than lithium-ion batteries as they are cheaper to buy and maintain than lithium-ion. Besides, lead-acid batteries come in a variety of shapes and sizes to cater to the buyer’s convenience.
Read More: Comparison Between Lithium-Ion battery vs Lead-Acid battery
However, lead-acid can be difficult to maintain as the owner needs to check battery water on a regular basis and needs to refill if the water level decreases.
Lithium-ion batteries don’t require any water and thus they are easier to maintain. Moreover, lithium-ion batteries have 5000 mAh and thus a greater distance can be covered with a single charge of lithium-ion compared to that of lead-acid.
Furthermore, lithium-ion batteries are more compact than lead-acid batteries and thus they are easier to carry and take up much less space in the vehicle.
Final Thought
In conclusion, every golf cart enthusiast would want their batteries to run for at least 5 years to be worth the money they paid to buy the battery but to achieve this life span they themselves need to take proper care of the battery and limit unnecessary usage and modifications, which will only drain the battery.
Cart batteries are like children. If you nurture them in the best possible way, then they will stay with you for a longer period of time. Hope you have enjoyed reading my article.
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