As the world of neighbourhood electric vehicles continues to grow we guarantee that the name Club Car will feature a lot more in the future. This is a company which offers an array of electric vehicles such as golf buggies, street legal LSVs, electric vehicles for personal use and NEVs customised for colleges, universities, hotels and other commercial ventures.
There were many who mocked the idea of neighbourhood electric vehicles in years gone by but they are certainly eating their words as the sector continues to go from strength to strength. New innovations, new technologies, new aerodynamics and an ever increasing journey capacity are making NEVs one of the growth sectors in the electric vehicle market.
An acquaintance of mine here in Massachusetts has two Club Car Villagers registered in south-eastern Massachusetts. As far as I know, she and her partner had the very first legally registered NEV in Massachusetts after the law went into effect legalizing them here.
She’ll probably show up here eventually. It would be nice to see more Massachusetts NEV owners find these forums…
I agree that Club Car and other “golf cart” manufacturers have some nice offerings but they’re still “golf carts”. There’s a bit of a difference when you compare apples to oranges like a golf cart to a Ford Think or GEM in my opinion.
However - is it worth the high price to get one of these purpose-built NEVs? Pretty hard to justify the 2000 to over 6000 dollar difference in price between a Club Car Villager and a GEM e4 or eL. And the list of problems in the less well-proven NEVs compared to the mature technology of golf carts is pretty long.
However, on the used market the price difference is sometimes less pronounced. I bought my GEM eL at a municipal auction for $275 but knew it would need batteries and maybe other repairs/parts. You trade off some risk for monetary savings in a used NEV or golf cart. It’s all in what you can justify.
I agree with you, Club cars are extremely using as a neighborhood vehicle which are mostly used as escort vehicles for old peoples in golf course and gardens.
big news in Colorado is that cities are allowing ‘golf carts’ to drive on the streets… my wife and I were on a ‘midnight cruise’ last summer and saw one in Denver… seemed like it had no lights and may have been a couple of kids doing what we were doing… enjoying a hot summer night… they came out a block or two ahead of us and I was in a little traffic and couldn’t dart around and catch them… they turned and we went a block farther turned but they didn’t cross the street we were on
What is amazing to me is how hard is to find a used club car LSV. Owners must liked them very much. They probably retain their value well. I talked to a mechanic of club cars and he mentioned they are very reliable too.