Hi everyone - a couple of months ago, we bought an e825 with the factory lumber rack for use on our property a couple hours north of San Francisco in the Russian River area. The property is grid-tied, and we have an electric Polaris Ranger 4wd which is fantastic, and I thought the GEM could serve as my maintenance vehicle. The property has lots of hills and dirt roads, and based on the Polaris’ ability to do everything well in regular golf cart one-wheel drive mode, I had high hopes for the GEM.
The two things that are making me reconsider are the lack of range and lack of traction.
On the range, the batteries are 3-4 years old. They can handle a 1/2 mile 500’ elevation gain with a loss of about 20-25%. That trip is half dirt and half asphalt. But they’re no good for a trip down to the mailbox and back, which os about a 900’ elevation change over 1.2 miles. I’m guessing that a change to lithium might solve that (or possibly just new, known batteries).
The other problem is traction. The GEM came with street tires, and the lack of weight in the front when climbing on a dirt road means lots of spinning tires. I could change to a more aggressive tread, but I think the lack of weight up front will still be a problem. Can I reasonably move the drive motor to the rear?
Also, not to leave out the fact that the ride when unloaded is a kidney-buster! A change to ATV type wheels and tires might alleviate some of that, but then we’re back to the range issue.
So the question to the community is this - we have $3500 in this. Should we throw another $2500 or so in for batteries, wheels/tires and some suspension lift, or sell and put that towards something more capable? Which may need up being just a RWD golf cart?
I do like the lumber rack, and the enclosed cab will be good when the rain starts. But I’m concerned about not being able to get up a wet dirt incline.
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Greg