Choosing The Right Battery For Your Situation
When selecting a set of batteries for your golf car, there are a lot of terms to understand such as amp-hour ratings, capacity at hourly rates, minutes of discharge, and more. It’s a lot to take in and comprehend, and even when you do, it’s difficult to match how these terms apply to your particular application.
Now that deep-cycle batteries are available in three basic chemistries, Lithium-Ion, AGM, and Flooded Lead Acid (FLA), battery selection can be easier by matching the battery type to your real-world needs.
DISTANCE
Resorts, retirement centers, and gated communities are growing larger and expanding over wider landscapes. So having a golf car battery that has enough capacity to go longer distances on a single charge is becoming more important in these types of communities. While all three battery chemistries can do the job, Lithium-ion batteries typically have the advantage of having greater capacity on a single charge at a reduced weight (albeit at a much higher cost per watt-hour). Going farther and longer in your golf car has its advantages, and Lithium-ion batteries such as U.S. Battery’s ESSENTIAL Li Lithium-ion batteries have longer run times at reduced weight, charge faster, and are safe to use on virtually any make and model golf car.
WORRY-FREE
Some golf car owners simply want to get into their vehicles and go, without worrying about weekly or monthly maintenance schedules. Some owners simply don’t even like accessing the batteries or changing them if something goes wrong. AGM batteries offer that kind of worry-free operation and are especially great for those vehicles in which accessing the battery compartments is tricky or too tight to reach. Matching the right voltage and capacity to your golf car’s needs with an AGM chemistry deep-cycle battery will give you lots of worry-free operation.
LOW COST
There are also frugal golf car owners that simply want the least expensive battery in their golf car, or at least, the most cost-effective battery they can get. These folks simply don’t want to, or have the means, to spend lots of money on the latest Lithium or AGM chemistry batteries, which typically cost more initially. Fortunately, Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) batteries are still the most cost-effective per watt-hour than any other type of chemistry and if you’re willing to maintain them on a routine schedule, they can also last a long time before their life expectancy runs out.
While this type of battery selection showcases the advantages of each chemistry, keep in mind that any battery type can work in these situations if carefully selected. But looking at battery selection in these three basic applications can, at the least, give you a good starting point in selecting an optimized battery for your particular application. In the end, it’s still important to talk to your golf car specialist or battery dealer, who can also help you decide which battery is right for you.
For more information on U.S. Battery Manufacturing products, including ESSENTIAL Li, AGM, or FLA batteries, visit www.usbattery.com.
