GEMs are wonderful machines. I love mine. BUT they do have limitations (e.g. miles per charge, top speed, no serious accident protection to name a couple). If you are renting them in a “closed environment” (e.g. retirement community, smaller island, older, “sane” crowd) they would probably be fine. In the wrong environment (no physical limitations on outbound mileage, younger “party” crowd, “low speed GEMS on high speed” roads (+35MPH)) I think you’d have a bunch of headaches such as running out of battery power, accidents, insurance issues, etc if you rent them to day-trippers. If you lease them to business for “restricted use” applications, you’d probably be OK.
That would be a serious headache. I have talked to 4-5 business owners around the US that run companies renting GEMs to day trippers and they have said maintenance hasn’t really been a problem aside from some wheel bearings and fenders. I have a big insurance policy in place for the whole thing covering the company and renters. The pricing structure i have set up should limit the young party crowd as the minimum rental would be 8 hours.
One thing I am worried about is batteries running out of power and not being able to run a car on multiple renters per day if i did use a 3 or 4 hour rental option.
In a rental situation I would suggest that NO MORE than 20 miles range should be expected per rental period. If you expect to rent for 8 hours you need to go to gas carts. Yamaha would be my choice. However it would be influenced by dealer service availability.
Golf Cart range capability has been based on 36 holes minimum for years.
[quote=OLD HOUSEBOATER;23642]In a rental situation I would suggest that NO MORE than 20 miles range should be expected per rental period. If you expect to rent for 8 hours you need to go to gas carts. Yamaha would be my choice. However it would be influenced by dealer service availability.
Golf Cart range capability has been based on 36 holes minimum for years.[/quote]
I would like to get gas though my city would not be as keen on the idea and i would lose the green business aspect that i appreciate. I don’t forsee people using the GEMs for 8 hours straight and each would be provided with extension cords. That is how many businesses around the US make it work.
There are definately still some kinks to work out for sure though.
I really can’t see a renter plugging in his cart and waiting for it to charge.
I understand your wanting to keep your “Green” status. Only you can evaluate being “Green” and the influence that it will have on potential profits.
Best of Luck
Keep us up to date.
Can’t imagine a new user renting a GEM for the day and NOT getting in over his head. About the time some yo-yo ran the machine out 25 miles and couldn’t get back, he’ll call you in a big huff and you’ll have to go pick up the user and cart, extension cords provided or not.
I think you’re relying on the average person to be a lot smarter than my experience would suggest.
Good luck!
Al
P.S. I guess you could use this to your advantage though and have them sign a waiver acknowledging an additional “towage charge” if they get stuck w/o power.
I’m really just very curious about where there are GEM rentals and what kind of environment they are in if you care to share any generic information. Not trying to cut into your business plan but can’t quite get my head wrapped around the idea of renting GEMs to anybody who wants them and can afford a day rate.
I CAN see the benefit of renting them in certain “confined/constrained/restricted” environments like on an island, in a golf or retirement community and maybe to businesses like real estate, builders, construction or security firms.
I have had requests to rent out my GEM for a local three day “Spring Fling” festival but declined because of concerns I had about how it might be (mis)used by a renter.
Al
It happens in a lot of beach towns. Key West for one is where i’ve talked to several business owners. Theres about 5 services i’ve been in contact with as well as several around San Diego, Sanabel Island.
Several companies advertise your rental being for about 20 miles and the idea of a towing fee is definitely smart.
Has anyone ever looked into putting solar power on the roofs?
I’ve seen a company that has 220 volt solar kits that provides 4.8 amps to a 48v system per hour. Says it can provide 15 miles extra range.
220 Watt Universal Kit
Also, I’ve seen something called Exceed Hybrid Technology made by the people that make EZ-GO. Its a small gas generator that extends the range of Cushman products up to 150 miles. I wonder if it could be rigged up to a different system. I called a company that sold them but that tech guy hadn’t even heard of it.
Exceed Hybrid
About time someone came up with an “APU” for golf carts.
This weekend i’m headed down to a facility to finally drive one of these units in person. One thing i’m still stuck on is the battery life.
Is solar still too ineffective? I hear a 220 watt solar panel puts 10-15 miles on a charge. Is it possible to put 2 panels on a vehicle to increase that even more?
One more thought would be just to swap out batteries in the event of multiple rentals per day. Is that even possible or is it a huge pain to swap batteries and to charge them out of the vehicle… not to mention lugging them around but my business can survive on one rental per day so 2 would be gravy.
Thanks for all you’re comments btw. Really helpful
Batteries weigh from 60 to 80 pounds each. Not a quick change item.
A desulfator will make the batteries last a long time.
[quote=dgpitcher;23751]This weekend i’m headed down to a facility to finally drive one of these units in person. One thing i’m still stuck on is the battery life.
Is solar still too ineffective? I hear a 220 watt solar panel puts 10-15 miles on a charge. Is it possible to put 2 panels on a vehicle to increase that even more?
One more thought would be just to swap out batteries in the event of multiple rentals per day. Is that even possible or is it a huge pain to swap batteries and to charge them out of the vehicle… not to mention lugging them around but my business can survive on one rental per day so 2 would be gravy.
Thanks for all you’re comments btw. Really helpful[/quote]
Did you ever make progress on the solar add on, dgpitcher? I just joined this forum and found your thread as I’m looking to purchase a GEM for my farm, but need it to have better range, ideally…
older thread thought i’d still chime in . solar wont help much , you might get 80 watts of solar on the roof of a gem. in reality they only give you that rate when the sun is strait up, at noon, in the summer, no clouds. factoring in reality and assuming they are not parked in any (even)partial shade youe might get about 50 watts an hour . in the 6 hours the sun would charge them you would get 300 watts total. considering your gem has a 6,000 watt battery pack you would add only 5% so for a 20 mile trip you might get 1 extra mile in a day . not worth it . as for batteries, gels have the highest number of cycles . east penn ( the manufacture of gem,deka and (westmarine gels) says they get 2100 cycles if you only discharge them 25% down (75%) soc left in them .if discharged to 50% you get 1,000 cycles . discharged to 80% you get 600 cycles. so you’ll need to average the soc they have when you get them back . 6 8v batteries well cost you more but give you a little more range . the only thing you can do is when the packs die convert them to lithium . yes it can be more expensive but you can set them up for longer range and a lot more discharge cycles so they well pay for them selves many times over . did it to mine and expecting 10 years life expectance .
Good point.