question for those of you with experience.
I would like to use a lithium converted E4 in Florida at a house we’ll rent periodically. Renters will also use it.
Would like solid reliability. Don’t want to have periodic issues when I’m not there to deal with it.
Do you feel this can be a reliable cart that renters can use without breakdowns?
Lithium is just another battery, you would not have any more issues than you would with flooded or gel batteries.
Not quite so. The Lithium battery pack is a rather complicated setup. In addition to the cell packs them selves i has a Battery monitoring system (BMS) to keep the cells balanced. instead of having 12 cables for the entire battery pack to maintain you have over 40.
The most reliable maintenance free system for off site rental is AGM or GELL with an automatic restart charger.
Rodney
Sorry, I made the assumption that the lithium setup was installed correctly by someone with good knowledge of how to do so. He was asking about reliability, not setup and install so that is why I stated what I did.
To clarify. Like most on this site, I’d like to have and use an E4. For a variety of reasons, prefer one that’s been converted to lithium. However, we rent this house out periodically.
A cart available for Florida house renters is a helpful benefit (just like having a BBQ grill).
Having never owned one, I hope to make sure leaving this E4 in the garage and available to use is practical. No renter will know a thing about it so it’s got to be pretty bullet proof reliable or it’ll be a hassle for the renter and myself.
Comments and opinions are greatly appreciated.
Jim
There are arguments to be made for why a lithium w/ BMS setup is better suited to a rental scenario where the user is presumed to be uneducated in proper battery care. I’ll defer to @LithiumGods on the technicals but I believe lithium is more forgiving to short charge cycles so renters can plug it in to charge as often as they’d like versus AGM or gel where you probably want to run longer between charges to prolong battery life. I believe lithium is also more resilient to longer periods without use compared to AGM or gel in the case where a renter forgets to plug in the charger and no one visits the property for a while. A renter doesn’t need to know about the BMS to use the cart. Either way it sounds like @Blake will be visiting the site periodically such that either type of setup should be fine.
I’d be more concerned with the liability of having renters use the cart. Could be a big headache if something happens and your insurance company finds out a renter was driving.
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I would NEVER rent out a Lithium car to anyone. That is Unless they has some sort of formal training and or knowledge of how NOT to run the cells down below a set point.
with that said
If your car was set up with all the fail safes like Battery cut offs so people could NOT run the battery down below a set point then Yes it would be like any other battery. Personally I have charge points set so you can’t Overcharge, BUT I have never set a car up so you can’t stop it from total discharge.
Example the renter brings the car back to the house at 3.5 Volts. And forgets to plug it in you get to the house a few weeks later to check it out and the car has now sunk down in voltage to damage the cells. 
All of this can be avoided if you installed fail safes for idiots. I just have never done it. Because all the cars I have done are for myself or people that know how to maintain a car like that.
My advice FOR A RENTAL just put flooded lead acid battery’s in every 3-5 years add the cost of new flooded lead acid battery’s in every 3-5 years in the cost of the rental and don’t work about it.
E4 is great but I think your biggest problem will be with your renters. We live in a resort in Fl. and you wouldn’t believe how many carts I see dead around the resort. If they don’t charge it, you’ll be getting some phone calls.
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