Nightmare on Wheels: My $11,000 Golf Cart Disaster - A Warning for Buyers!
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Are you considering buying a golf cart directly from China? Watch this video to hear my cautionary tale and learn from my $11,000 mistake. I thought I was getting a great deal on a high-quality golf cart with lithium batteries, but little did I know that it would turn into an absolute nightmare. I'll share my experience with the quality of the golf cart itself. However, I'll also delve into the dark side of the story, revealing the dangers of bad quality lithium batteries and the problems they can cause. Don't make the same costly mistake I did - watch this video before making any decisions about buying a golf cart directly from China.
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I would use the cells and make a good cell for cheap
Thanks for the video, I have a question, what do you think of the Denago batteries? Thanks!
I think they’re just in line with Evolution batteries. These cars are both primarily “affordable” because they do use these cheap batteries. Keep in mind that Denago has only been delivering their golf cart since February of this year or a little less than seven months. It’s a rebranded Tao motors product, and Tao is not exactly exactly known for its longevity or reliability, they are a toy manufacturer.
Unfortunately time will really tell….. the good news is I know that the fleet lithium batteries will drop into both brands in the future whenever the replacement time comes. And it’s a really simple five minute over the air update to program to your existing gauge and Cart
My honest opinion…. I’m not a fan of either one. We brought in a brand called Gotraxx around this time last year and they were out of business in less than six months. Gotraxx Was the predecessor of the Denago… After witnessing this firsthand that’s why we’ve never even attempted to sell denago. It’s just not worth risking our reputation for quick easy sale.
I would assume 75 to 80% of these things will never have a problem and the other 25% will be major issues for some people. So it’s a gamble, but there’s no denying that it’s a good looking car… I just don’t think people realize it’s a brand new brand and it’s a spinoff of a failed product line that was basically just rebranded.
Thanks a lot! The good news is that they gave me a 6 year warranty on the battery. Let’s see how it goes.
Could you give your top 3 carts and your top 3 worst carts? I’m in the market. Budget is open. Thank you.
You know I would love to do that so badly but it’s just so wrong for me to openly knock other brands. My honest opinion is that the 2025 Kodiak NX lineup in the Vibe EV lineup are definitely two of the nicest cars I’ve ever ever driven.
@@lakesidebuggies thank you for your honesty. Have you heard of Voyager EV? Their Rebel model is similar to the Vibe. Thoughts?
Is converting a 48v lead-acid cart to Lithium a viable solution? Or does it shake out too close to just buying a new cart, with all of the guts already setup for lithium? I have good LA batteries still, but one day they won't be anymore and I was just curious.
Oh absolutely yes it’s definitely doable but what most of our customers tend to find is that by the time they actually start adding up the cost of refurbishing an older unit they can get a much nicer brand new car with a 3 to 5 year warranty for less money and better equipment.
Don’t get me wrong. I love building a custom golf cart on the weekends or after work in the garage, but the value isn’t there right now, I think Vibe hit it perfectly on the head with a $10999 starting MSRP
@@lakesidebuggies This was kind of what I was thinking. Battery + Controller + other odds and ends, I bet it ends up close to what I bought this RXV Freedom for when new. This is it's first set of new batts. Thx for the reply and good vids.
@@bradrehnstrom1068no doubt, I put well over $10k in to building a killer RXV for myself a couple years ago, in the end it was dangerously fast and had no front or rear brakes and it was not even enjoyable, it was scary, and dangerous
@@bradrehnstrom1068 thanks for watching! There’s always a huge sense of accomplishment when you build a badass cart from the ground up, but honestly it’s really hard to justify the cost and time it takes compared to some new import brands like Vibe and MadJax.
Which four seater forward facing would you recommend
Hands down the vibe flex
Probably needs 240v to charge to original battery.
Interesting, that is a possibility regarding why the charger didn’t charge the battery, but it wouldn’t have changed the fact that the battery would not stay on. Eventually, we would get the battery to turn on by holding the switches down but as soon as you release them the battery would shut off. I also attempted to charge the pack with multiple different chargers. And the terminals inside the pack put out 73.6 V. On a multimeter, indicating that the pack was fully charged.
I don’t want to claim to be any sort of expert at any sort of thing, but I’ve seen thousands of these import carts as that’s basically our brand card, probably twice as many lithium batteries from various manufactures and inside of various carts.
I’ve never seen a single one of them as poorly built as this cart
would feel better seeing you drive the cart. 11k is still cheaper.... im sure you can sell it to someone
I wanted to do a driving video comparing it to other brands we carry. Unfortunately, I was never able to get it to run and I had to leave Dallas and head to our St Pete store and I left this car behind.
With the original battery removed most of the golf cart looked acceptable but there’s clearly a wiring gremlin already and the car hasn’t even been driven.
I plan to make a follow up video after I get in touch with Navitas vehicle Systems, because I think I can use the motor and the frame and chassis with navitas controller and their new digital dash to make a pretty decent little golf cart $15,000 later out of my own personal pocket with no retail markup
That’s too bad, you should go to supplier to get refund 😊
I did try
Just a quick update for everybody who watched this video, the manufacturer did confirm that they will not be replacing the battery. They also seem to have enjoyed the video! Thank you everyone for watching. Please be safe out there.
This crap will give lithium a bad name
Cheap lithium no doubt. I love how he shows off the inside of the fleet battery, that looks incredibly well built
There are quite a few quality products out there, fleet lithium is our brand of choice because it exceeds all reasonable expectations in both quality and performance, but you also have Eco battery and Allied lithium who also make excellent product. The moral of the story for this video is not to scare people away from lithium altogether it’s to warn people of the pitfalls of cheap lithium, no name brands, or brand names you can’t even pronounce. This battery came in a really cheap import cart, which we’ve seen flood the market like crazy all over the United States, but especially in Florida and Texas. Spending $6500 to enter the golf cart market sounds like a good idea until you realize you’re $3 to $4k in to a second battery for it. This was a really expensive video for me to make, but I had zero doubt that my point would be well-made, and sure enough it was. So for the sake warning all the new buyers in the market, I feel like it was money well spent.
You get what you pay for. "Such is life."
@@dropbear9526 100%
@@lakesidebuggies I have gone with the name brands all my life! Never been disappointed either.
@@bradlindeman7417amen. If a product doesn’t have a brand name behind it, who stands behind it?