Make Golf Carts Faster

The same way you make a Yugo faster. Find a suitable cliff and...

_{Sorry but I just couldn't resist.}

Put some really big tires on the back?

Re-wire the batteries?

Get a real job?

I used to have a gas Yamaha golf cart. It would FLY, after I tweaked it.

You a lot need more than just speed to meet requirements for anything beyond Neighborhood Vehicle status.

In a hurry?

Sorry, your grammar is usually impeccable.

Wow! I have seen that happen before when I try to edit a sentence, it transposes sections of the sentence where it should not be.

You are right. I was in a bit of a hurry and did not proofread the post first. Funny. :)

Some guy once told me about a "keypad blocker" that would keep that transposition from happening.

Like disconnecting it?

Hmmm....

Being a 48 volt system its likely that it has the power to go 35 MPH so the speed is most likely limited by the speed control box.

Bypass it with a big contactor and see where it tops out at. Next would be to change the differential ratio to a lower ratio. Last would be to add more battery voltage to it and over run the motor.

For someone who has supposedly been building EV's for a while this should be rather basic design knowledge by now.

Service manual link. http://www.used-golf-cart.com/Docs/Manuals/Yamaha/Yamahag22Elec.pdf

For speed, replace the controller, the motor and change the gearing, replace the brakes, etc. Also changing to a lighter sealed battery pack would help.

Given the construction of the golf cart I don't think you can meet the requirements to make it street legal unless you have a lot of time and money. Even then it wouldn't be safe either due to the steering and the suspension both of which are not designed for street travel or this sort speed.

In the end you would be better off using parts out of the golf cart to make an entirely new vehicle.

Short answer - no, you cannot make the G22-E a 35 mph street legal vehicle.

_{Jack - I read the G22-E Manual, did you?}

A lot of the golf carts the speed is governed by the gearing. They don't want them to go fast, as they can be top heavy. Additional speed may cause them to to roll when cornering. The front suspension will not handle the additional speed for long.

Once got call for service many years ago. They had bought 4 new battery powered industrial electric vehicles. Very similar to golf cart. Maintenance had made modifications so they would go faster at the request of supervision. They wanted to be able to cover the large complex faster. Night crew had been racing them on the company's access to airport runways. Steering failed on one crashed into another and to avoid hitting them the third cut hard and rolled it.

So I would not modify one for speed.

There is a 2 seater mini car, street legal. It can park in a tiny space, crosswise. The name escapes me right now. Check out the Consumer Test Report, and the Highway Safety Institute for its report on it. Does not make the list anyway. It is demolished in any collision, and flies like beachball, with you in it. Unless having an urgent death wish, what about gardening, or origami rather??

http://www.villagesgolfcartman.com/

Well there you go, best to let the professionals custom build street-legal versions than try and modify something that is designed and priced for a golf course.

Still wouldn't trust it on the road, but if you live in a quite neighborhood and don't have to take the freeway to get to the golf course all you have to worry about is getting squashed by a passing SUV.

_{Jack - Lives in a quite neighborhood next to a golf course, and no I wouldn't buy one.}

Buy one of these and put your golf cart body on it....?

Not necessarily true; depending on where you live, the laws are slightly laxer in regards to the legality of driving Golf Carts on the street and there is no speed requirement.

In areas with a high density of golf courses, such as coastal South Carolina, where I use to live, the courses update their fleet regularly; so there is a huge supply of used vehicles.

Local towns, (Surfside, Murrels Inlet, Myrtle Beach, etc) allow the use of golf carts on local and secondary streets, without modification, with restrictions... daylight hours... within a certain vicinity from your home, etc.

So, the only way to make your golf cart street legal... cost effectively... is to move to a location that allows them to be operated as is.

Try Buggy Works one of the salesmen there was drag racing one for the last 3-4 years. The last time I was ordering parts for our g2 Yamaha he told me he had been getting around 95 mph and was on a hunt for lighter batteries and more voltage as he was running 96 volts then and was trying to get to 100 mph. He may have eclipsed that mark by now. you will have to go to wider and taller tires to accomplish your goal as well as add lighting and turn signals to be road worthy but depending on the area you live that will only allow you on secondary roads not primary or main streets. You can change the batteries to LiPo and go with more watts and volts as well as a different motor. There are motors designed for torque and rpm or just torque with a lower numerical gear and taller tires, but that adds another problem to the works as the controller will probably overheat if you spend any time at part throttle. They have a few controller that are matched to the motor and tire combos just for those problems. on the older resister controlled carts they can handle a little more voltage with out a lot of changing of parts other than the motor or voltage they will be a little more forgiving and handle the heat and a small fan on the components doesn't hurt either. Ask me how I know! My current club car is using 22 inch tires on the front and 24 inch on the rear. I haven't had any problems in all the time I have been running it that way and I am running on 56 volts. that is seven-8 volt batteries and not a foul up yet and it will run almost but not quite 50 mph. and it is stable enough that my wife thinks it is a billy goat and tries to use it to go down into the creek beds and collect large rocks for her rock garden. Before this cart we usually had to go collect her and the Yamaha with the 9N tractor that is why I built the club car as well as it was free and in pretty good mechanical condition.Duke

Thank you very much for your info, and i'm glad someone is not a clown.

The reason everyone is a clown is because the idea that simply bumping the maximum speed of a golf cart will make it street legal is totally silly.

While it may be technically possible to jack the speed up, the vehicle would never pass DOT safety requirements (that is an understatement).

If you had done any homework before asking the question you would have never made this post in the first place.

The only workaround is something like Aptera tried by using 3 wheels so that it qualifies as a motorcycle or reduce the requirements so that it has the same status of Neighborhood vehicle (which is essentially a golf cart with all kinds of restrictions).

So, if you wonder why so few people are taking you seriously you only need to examine what you wrote. That's as kindly as I think I can put it.

Find a Tesla roadster drivetrain and make suitable adjustments.

Drop a chevy 350 engine into it.

Curious.

Is this to play those golf shots that are out of bound (in the street)? You may also want to invest in an asphalt iron.