The future- No Brakes?!?!?

GEM Forum
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Not really a Gem only topic, but thought I’d share here for thoughts.
It seems like neat tech, but…

My neighbor just took delivery of his new rebuilt EZGo and he brought it over to show it off. I say “rebuilt” because a company out here(in CA) has figured out it is easier (more profitable?) to bring in an older cart, strip it down, install new drive line, AC motor, Lithium battery pack, paint, body, seats, and get it street legal, rather than wait for the HUGE backorder to come in for a brand new cart.

I’ll get full details on the cart later but I see that it really moves!!! He says it is no prob with the big hill at the end of the street.

Here is where I find it gets interesting…
I dropped down to look at what they did for brakes and expected to see some nice shiny discs on all 4 corners.

Front wheel -

no brakes1
no brakes11210×907 85.9 KB

Back wheel -

nobrakes2
nobrakes21473×1270 187 KB

I was quite surprised. This means the cart fully relies on regen for all the stopping. Being only rear braking (through the motor) I cautioned him against hard braking in loose gravel/turns. That thing will swap around quick!
I was impressed that we were talking on my somewhat steep driveway and his foot was off the brake. Hill hold without an effort! I tried to push the car down my driveway and it wouldn’t budge.

What I don’t like is that it doesn’t appear to have any sort of EBrake either (at first glance). That means the car is always using power while it is parked.

Maybe the car has some sort of brake on the motor? - I will look.

Also- what happens when there is a problem as you are driving? If you lose all power do you lose brakes? Maybe the car defaults to a shunt and stops the car?

1 Like
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hi they use electric motor brake,sometime i see they sell them in package of 5 :thinking:

EZGO RXV 48V ELECTRIC MOTOR BRAKE GOLF CART BUGGY (FITS 2008-UP) | eBay

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Nothing is street legal without 4 wheel brakes, dot tires, and a 17 digit vin.
They just tell you it is.
Failsafe motor brake is fine 15mph, but what happens with an electrical failure at 35mph?
Or stripped motor spline?

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Drag chute?

Or toss out an anchor.

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The local golf cart dealer here showed me the Motor Brake, sort of a ebrake. I guess it throws a pin threw a opening and that locks the motor and transmission.

He did say it works when you have Zero power. So when you turn the cart off or power is removed the pin extends and locks the motor/transmission up. He did say it was a Pain when he had to go rescue a cart that had dead battery’s you can’t move the cart unless you can power it up. Not sure what safety’s it has.

Here where people have some driveways that are Super Steep and most golf carts Ebrakes are crap I could see the motor break working great

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I have always thought about how a pin through a brake rotor would be a great theft deterrent.

Next pass I plan to do a better crawl over my neighbors car for details. I did some study on the motor brake and know what I’m looking for now. I doubt that is for stopping the car, but more for just parking.