How far can a golf cart go on one charge?

A typical 48 volt cart with a healthy 105 amp hour lead acid pack does roughly 20 to 25 miles in mixed conditions. The same pack in lithium does closer to 35 to 40, because lithium gives you nearly all its rated capacity while lead acid can only safely give you about half.

Why can I only use half of a lead acid battery?

Discharging flooded lead acid past about 50 percent of its rated capacity causes sulfation that permanently reduces how much the pack can hold. You can physically go deeper, but doing it regularly will kill the pack years early.

How many batteries are in a 48 volt golf cart?

It depends on the individual battery voltage. Eight 6 volt batteries, six 8 volt batteries, or four 12 volt batteries all make 48 volts when wired in series.

Does cold weather reduce golf cart range?

Yes, noticeably. Battery capacity drops as temperature falls, and a lead acid pack can lose a meaningful portion of its usable range on a genuinely cold Montana day. Lithium handles cold better but is not immune.

Free tool

Battery and range calculator

Work out what your pack can actually deliver, not what the label says. Then see honestly what lithium would change for the way you use the cart.

Your pack

Pack voltage

Capacity: 105 Ah

Printed on the battery label. Common lead acid golf cart batteries are 105 to 235 Ah.

Battery type

Flooded lead acid50% usableAGM / sealed lead acid60% usableLithium (LiFePO4)85% usable

How you use it

Flat and lightPaved or hard packed, one or two people, no hills. Think a campground loop or a flat property.Mixed useSome gravel, some grade, a full cart of people. This is what most carts around the Flathead actually see.Hills and loadSteep driveways, soft ground, a loaded cargo bed, or big tires. Montana driveways in particular are hard on a pack.

More settings

Individual battery voltage

Average speed: 12 mph

Estimated range

20.2miles

On a full charge, in the conditions you picked

Run time

1.7hours

At about 12 mph average

Rated capacity

5,040Wh

48V × 105Ah

Actually usable

2,520Wh

50% of rated

Pack wiring

8 × 6V batteries wired in series

Flooded lead acid

Only about half the rated capacity is usable if you want the pack to last. Going deeper than 50 percent regularly is the single fastest way to kill a set of batteries. Expected life: About 500 to 1,200 cycles at 50% depth. Trojan rate the T-105 and T-875 at 1,200, and 500 is closer to what a neglected set returns.

If you converted to lithium

About 34.3 miles instead of 20.2

Same pack voltage, same amp hour rating, roughly 70 percent more usable range. That is not marketing, it is just that lead acid can only safely give you about half its rated capacity while lithium gives you 80 to 90 percent of it. You also drop 250 to 350 pounds off the cart and stop watering batteries.

How conversions work

Treat this as an estimate

Real range depends on temperature, tire size, cart weight, how many people are aboard, driving style and how old the pack already is. Cold weather in particular knocks a meaningful chunk off a lead acid pack. For a real answer, Jared can load test your actual batteries.

Get your pack tested: 406.270.9346

How a pack makes its voltage

Batteries 4, 5 and 6 are turned around. That is not a drawing quirk, it is how a pack gets wired: alternate the direction of each row and every strap is a short hop between neighbouring posts, including the one crossing between rows. Run both rows the same way round and you would be dragging a long cable from one end of the pack back to the other.

Golf cart batteries are wired in series, which means the positive post of one connects to the negative post of the next, in a single chain all the way through the pack.

Wiring them that way adds the voltages together while the amp hour capacity stays the same. Eight 6 volt batteries in series make a 48 volt pack. Six 8 volt batteries make 48 volts too, and so do four 12 volt batteries.

The two posts left over at the ends of the chain are the pack terminals, and those are what feed the controller.

This is also why one bad battery drags down the whole pack. Everything runs through every battery in turn, so the weakest one sets the limit for all of them.

Common questions

How far can a golf cart go on one charge?: A typical 48 volt cart with a healthy 105 amp hour lead acid pack does roughly 20 to 25 miles in mixed conditions. The same pack in lithium does closer to 35 to 40, because lithium gives you nearly all its rated capacity while lead acid can only safely give you about half.
Why can I only use half of a lead acid battery?: Discharging flooded lead acid past about 50 percent of its rated capacity causes sulfation that permanently reduces how much the pack can hold. You can physically go deeper, but doing it regularly will kill the pack years early.
How many batteries are in a 48 volt golf cart?: It depends on the individual battery voltage. Eight 6 volt batteries, six 8 volt batteries, or four 12 volt batteries all make 48 volts when wired in series.
Does cold weather reduce golf cart range?: Yes, noticeably. Battery capacity drops as temperature falls, and a lead acid pack can lose a meaningful portion of its usable range on a genuinely cold Montana day. Lithium handles cold better but is not immune.