Who Souped Up the Electric Golf Cart?
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO 
on 09. 4.06
When reader W.T. Stonehill passed along news about a new article in The Economist concerning 3-4 million "souped up" golf carts hitting the roads and off-roads in the US, we, like him, we're pretty excited -- perhaps it was another sign that the electric car hadn't yet been killed. Apparently, since 1996, a large number of DIYers have been buying up old golf carts and modifying both the engines and bodies to turn them into "mini-Hummers." This would be great, except for one fact that the article buries at the end: "Most golf carts are electric and clean. But the souped-up ones have petrol engines and are fast."
While we won't go deeply into the Freudian implications of one golf cart modifier's claim that his raised, 36-bolt electric golf cart "makes me feel like a man,” we'd love to hear about tinkerers that are keeping their carts clean and green while exercising their mechanical prowess and creativity. The golf cart is a great model for short-distance electric transportation, and we'll bet that they can be souped up while still running on batteries. ::The Economist
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I know a guy who owns an electric golf cart company. I don't think he does any engine mods but he does a lot of body mods I'll send pictures some time.
I know down in Ambergris Caye in Belize, pretty much the only way to get around on the island is either bicycle, or Golf Cart, and they use a lot of Golf carts.
Not sure why you think an electric vehicle is cleaner than a gas motor. Last I checked, all my power around here is coal generated.
Electric golf carts can perform quite well. I won four trophies at the golf cart competitions this past June in Richmond, Kentucky with my electric cart. Even beat a heavily modified 1000cc gas rig in the 1/8 mile.
see
http://www.gorillavehicles.com/
Souped up Electric Carts is where its at.. The baddest cart ive ever had is a Four Wheel Drive Electric Club Car with 4 or 2 wheel drive... 11 and a half horse power torgue motor. 650 Amp Controller in the system.... Real bad.. I got it listed on my site....
www.valleycarts.com
I noticed that one of the biggest problems with having a golf cart was that batteries start not operating as good as new and not going all the way. Some people wanted to solve that problem going. . .well using a hybrid systems ending using petrol systems. Bizarre! Anyway, I used to live in a golf community and always heard about how much it cost to reeplaze the batteries costing between $600 and $700. I run into a gadget that help to recover the batteries and make them to last longer and operate most optimatly I am not sure about the prices but you can get more information at www.battery-power-solutions.com
For electric motors and controller checkout this site. They make it very easy to choose an electric motor and/or controller. www.ddmotorsystems.com
Electric is the future especially with the insane gas prices.
Electric carts are here to stay. With the newer technology the electrics rival the gas carts. There are guys on this Golf Cart Forum that run 100 plus volts on their carts. No way a gasser can top the torque of an electric either.
Someone said basicly "Isn't coal electricity just as dirty as gas?" My reply is that since electric is about 4 times more efficient (from "tank to wheels") than gas, it seems that, still, less co2 is emitted.
bestsolarvision ...
However, the promise of e cars should't be based on just that slim margin. With combined (natural) gas which generates juice from two generators (gas and steam from excess heat), The e car would exude about 4 times less co2. And finally, if just 1/5th of the Mojave desert was "mirrored", 3 x ALL of America's electrical needs would be met... Enough for a theoritical replacement to 100% electric vehicals. An added benefit is that millions of such solar steam generators (probably of the power tower concept) would (by nature of the mirrors) reduce negative albedo caused by shrinking icecaps...
I found a rather comprehensive energy thing about gas and electric, hydrogen, ect at...
http://www.evworld.com/library/Tesla_21centuryEV.pdf
I have a 1997 club car, lifted with knobby tires..10.2 hp motor..it is awesome and quiet.
This really will be the way to go in the future, think of if you could reduce each household to 1 gas car and 1 electric car for short commutes, etc...what that would do for oil dependency. Also as for the pollution debate...electric powered vehicles are much more efficient as stated above (think of more MPG) but also a REAL important point here...would you rather have concentrated pollution that can be monitored and improved upon (ie. power plants) or do you want 8 zillion little polluting motors all over the country...some tuned up and efficient others polluting like crazy...I can't wait for a real electric car...they can be charged at night when the power plants are dumping the excess electricity...so much to be gained here.