Lithium Golf Cart Batteries

I'm looking to upgrade my 48v electric hunting buggy from lead acid to lithium batteries. They're still EXPENSIVE, but curious as to how many folks have made the change and more specifically what brand, AH, good place to buy from etc. Thanks!

80AH with charger going to be $4,000

4-48V Allied 60AH and the charger are about 2400.00. Lead acid will eat the metal up on a cart 24-7 from the fumes and I will never run anything but lithium from now on. I have been using carts as hunting vehicles for 20 years and the price is worth it in the long run.

Have you considered using AGM batteries? Zero corrosion, no water filling, and very fast charging capability.

I have and am still considering AGM’s, anything but lead acid.

What is the life span of the lithium? Im at 4 years on my Trojans and have noticed them starting to go down hill lately. Will probably be looking at replacing them next year.

The lithiums last 3 - 5 times longer than lead acids. 3,000 to 5,000 charges vs 1,000 charges w/lead acids, is what I read. Zero maintenance, must faster recharge time, longer run time, and 300lbs lighter than lead acids. Also, they don’t get tired and slow down like lead, they run at 100% until they’re dead.

I really want the 100+ AH’s that are supposed to run 60 miles on a charge, but that’s $5k!

Like you, I covet lithium. I'm even thinking about lithium for my travel trailer.

Ran them on my bay boat before hurricane harvey took it. In the boat world it was lithium pros or nothing. Had Smart Battery on my old boat and were total garbage. Lithium Pro make a single 24v and single 36v. I entered the lithium batt game due to weight savings for draft on my skinny water boat. Each group 31 agm ran about 40+ lbs each. The lithium ran about 23lbs. The biggest advantage to lithium other than their weight is recharge speed and the give full power until they are dead. I ran 60ah batteries and had a 25a charger. I could fully recharge then in a little over 2 hrs during my "lunch trip home" and they were gtg at 3pm for my evening fish. Without looking them up again the 24v singles run around 2k and a charger is about $300.

I ditched the SB for LP after the 4th warranty claim in 6 months.

So am I Sir, just need some battery money LOL.

So am I Sir, just need some battery money LOL.


Clean boat. The more I read on the lithium batteries, the more I only want to use them going forward.

Are those used Green Leaf cells? What brand were they?

My brother runs a golf course, and with his latest fleet of 75 or so they went with lithium carts. I went out there to play today and asked the cart guys what their impression was. With this Covid nonsense, they've been running households in each cart, so there's been a lot of foursomes with 4 carts going out. Every cart has been seeing 3-4 rounds per day without a charge nonstop, which is unheard of with lead acid batteries. Basically, like flashlights and cordless tools, lithium is worlds better than the old lead acid or AGM batteries in every way. By the end of the day, after 3 or 4 rounds, some of the carts are doing better than others, but that's mostly due to how they're used throughout the day and who's behind the wheel. After more than a year of use including massively overusing them in this Covid environment, they haven't had a single failure battery failure out of the 75 odd carts, which speaks volumes. I meant to grab a pic of the batteries that they've got, but got into the beverages and forgot. Whatever EZGO uses factory.

Smart Battery is the brand

Thanks.

Just don't buy a cheap AGMs, you will get the worst of both worlds.

High end AGMs can charge like Lithiums (80% charge in 15 minutes) if you have a big enough charger.
A good Group 31 AGM is 125 ah but twice the weight of a 125 ah Lithium battery, at about 40% of the cost

You can run Lithium down to 20% remaining charge over and over and over again without damage.
Good AGMs can only do that about 600 times before they start to wear out. AGMs prefer a much more shallow cycle.
So, to get a 10 year life like Lithium, you need more batteries so that you don't drain as high of a percentage.

My only problems with Lithium are cost and limited temperature range for RV and some other applications. (Not a problem for golf cars and bass boats)
If (IF) they really last 10-15 years, it's a no-brainer. The warranty on most is a lot of years, but many have a cap of how many total amp hours you draw from them.

When investing in a 10-15 plan, it would be wise to talk to people who have been using Lithium batteries for more than a few years. Otherwise, you are getting projections of how long they hope that they will last.

They were the crap ones, switched to lithium pros afterwards. Just saw you are in rockport, thats where the boat was when Harvey totaled it

I've been following the lithiums since I built my buggy back in 2013. Back then they were sky high. When I replaced the batts in JAN 2019 the Lithiums were closer to the ROI was after, but not quite there. Went with Trojans. When these wear out I'm hoping the Lithiums have dropped to the point that it makes sense to make the conversion. The weight savings, range, and life are very attractive. Would be nice to have more long-term examples to go off of by then as well.

Curious about the life span myself. No way in hell we get a 1000 charges out of lead acid batteries in our cart or the boat batteries.

Thanks for the advice.

Man, a whole LOT of boats got totaled.

Yeh, me either. I "read" that is with a quality lead acid that is properly maintained, but sure sounds like a stretch to me too.

1,000 to 1,500 charge/discharge cycles is not unusual with high end flooded/AGM batteries if sized for that lifespan. It requires a properly sized battery bank, the right charger, and proper care. Using AGMs removed maintenance from the equation. Lead-acid batteries will warn you that they are running out of power. Lithium batteries just stop producing power like a light switch.

Most people are not willing to invest in doing it right with AGMs, so Lithium batteries are a better choice for them. Not to mention being half the weight. It still requires a leap of faith that the new batteries will last as long as claimed, in order to justify the high cost.

only downside I've heard is that there's currently no way to properly dispose of the lithium batteries if/when they go bad or die. I don't know that for sure as i've always ran gasoline powered buggies. just something to consider.

Home Depot will take them


https://www.homedepot.com/c/ab/how-to-dispose-of-batteries/9ba683603be9fa5395fab90124a115f1