Lithium-ion Golf Cart Battery

Lithium-ion Golf Cart Battery

All About Golf Cart Batteries

How long do batteries last? What are the best golf cart batteries? How many volts are the batteries?

If your golf cart is electric, then you already know it has a beating heart inside known as your batteries!

Electric golf carts have many other benefits as well: they are operated noiselessly (necessary for hunting and use at many country clubs), they provide instant torque, they don’t require gasoline, oil or fuel filters to be replaced, and they don’t smell (great for indoor facility use).

What is the average life of golf cart batteries?

When standard lead-acid golf cart batteries are properly maintained, with the use of a golf cart battery charger, your batteries should last you up to 6 years with regular use. A high-quality golf cart battery charger / maintainer (like the ones we sell on our site) will deliver the correct electrical flow when charging your cart’s batteries and will also feature an auto shut-off function (so that you don’t fry your cart’s batteries from over-charging).

Lithium-Ion Batteries should last you 20 to 30 years!

Lithium-ion Golf Cart Battery Packs

The most explosive growth in the golf cart battery world these past few years has been Lithium Golf Cart Batteries. The lithium has quickly proven itself to be the best power solution for golf carts; and we anticipate all carts will use lithium battery power in the future.

Golf Cart Lithium Batteries are different than those lithium batteries found in cell phones and other small devices. The type of deep-cycle Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFeO4) batteries used in golf carts are one of the most stable and safe forms of Lithium-Ion batteries, and are optimized to provide a steady current.

Lithium-ion batteries still cost slightly more than Lead-Acid batteries do up front, but they provide some major benefits:

Benefits of Lithium Golf Cart Batteries

Last 3x – 5x as long as lead acid batteries (up to 5,000 charge cycles vs 1,000 with lead-acid)
Require no maintenance (no watering or cleaning)
Lithium-Ion batteries do not lose power as their voltage dips (lead acid batteries get ‘tired’ as they are used)
Recharge speeds of are significantly faster than lead acid (80% charge can be achieved for lithium in as little as 1-hour; full charge in 2-3 hours)
Lithium-ion batteries (72lbs avg.) weigh 1/4 the weight up Lead Acid batteries (325lbs avg.)
95% Less Harmful Waste than lead-acid batteries
If you’re interested in purchasing Lithium-Ion batteries for your cart, we carry Drop-in-Ready Lithium batteries for golf carts from Allied Battery and Relion.

Can I just use regular car batteries to replace my golf cart batteries?

You absolutely cannot use car batteries in your golf cart. Regular car batteries are not used to power the entire car (the combustion motor does that job). A car’s accessories (lights, radio, etc.) are then powered by its alternator once the car is running, which converts the combustion motor’s mechanical energy into electrical energy. Car batteries are mainly used to simply get the car started and to power accessories from time to time (when the car is not running).

Because car batteries are designed to run at a much lower discharge rate than deep cycle batteries, you cannot use them as the primary power source for your golf cart.

Are my golf cart batteries 6-volt, 8-volt or 12-volts?
The quickest way to determine what type of batteries your cart has (and what voltage) is:

Lift up your golf cart’s front seat and locate your golf cart batteries
Inspect your batteries for the number of acid holes they have on each battery head cover. Each battery typically has 3, 4 or 6 holes on top

Take the number of acid holes on one of your batteries and multiply that number by 2 to determine what the voltage of one of your golf cart batteries is
When replacing batteries in your golf cart, be sure to us the proper 6-volt, 8-volt or 12-volt golf cart batteries after inspecting your setup.

Do I have a 36v, 48v or 72v golf cart?
Example: 36-Volt Golf Cart (w/ 6, 6V Batteries system):

3 acid holes x 2 volts per hole = 6-volts
6 volts x 6 total cart batteries = 36-volt cart

Example: 48-Volt Golf Cart (w/ 6, 8V Batteries system):

4 acid holes x 2 volts per hole = 8-volts
8 volts x 6 total cart batteries = 48-volt cart

Example: 72-Volt Golf Cart (w/ 6, 12V Batteries system):

6 acid holes x 2 volts per hole = 12-volts
12 volts x 6 total cart batteries = 72-volt cart

More recently, Lithium-ion Golf Cart Batteries have taken the golf cart world by storm. JB BATTERY offers the best lithium-ion golf cart batteries. To learn more about lithium batteries, read our article on why Why Lithium Golf Cart Batteries are the Future.

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