Thirty questions to ask before you buy a golf cart.

A new electric golf cart is priced like a small vehicle, not a lawn tool: the range runs from entry-level imports to fully equipped six-passenger lithium carts that cost several times as much. What moves the price is the battery (lithium costs more up front than lead-acid but lasts far longer), seating capacity, whether it is lifted, the motor and controller, and how much comes standard versus as add-ons.

Compare carts on what is included. A low sticker price that needs a lithium upgrade, a light kit, a mirror set and better brakes to be usable is not a low price. ALSET carts are sold through authorized dealers at a manufacturer-enforced price policy, so the number you are quoted in Florida is the same one you would be quoted in Texas.

A used cart is cheaper on the day; a new one is usually cheaper over five years. The reason is the battery. On a used cart the battery is the single most expensive component and the one you can least inspect — a lead-acid set that is three years old is most of the way through its life, and a replacement can cost a large share of what you paid for the cart.

If you buy used: ask for the battery's age and type, look at the frame under the body for rust or repairs, check that every light and gauge works, and drive it up a hill. If you buy new: you get the current motor, controller and safety equipment, a warranty, and a dealer who has to stand behind it.

For most owners today the answer is electric, and it is not close. An electric cart is quiet, has no exhaust, needs almost no routine maintenance, costs cents per mile to run, and can be charged in the garage overnight. Gas carts still make sense for a small set of jobs — very long daily distances with no chance to charge, or heavy towing on a large property.

The old objection to electric was range and battery life, and lithium batteries have removed it. ALSET builds electric carts only, all of them lithium.

Weight, maintenance and usable capacity. A lithium iron phosphate pack weighs a fraction of the equivalent lead-acid bank, so the cart handles better and goes further on the same motor. It needs no watering, no terminal cleaning and no equalizing charge. And it delivers near-full power almost to the end of the charge, where lead-acid goes soft in the back half and should not be run below about fifty percent.

Lead-acid sets are typically replaced every three to five years. Lithium packs are rated in the thousands of charge cycles — for normal neighborhood use, that is well over a decade. Every ALSET cart ships with a 48-volt lithium pack and a ten-year battery warranty.

Count the people who will actually ride, not the people who might. A two-seat cart is for one or two adults and a golf bag or a load of tools. A four-passenger forward cart is the most common neighborhood layout: two rows facing forward, everyone can talk. A six-passenger forward cart adds a third row for families and guests. A 4+2 has four seats facing forward and a rear seat facing backward that folds flat into a cargo deck.

Longer carts turn wider and need more garage. ALSET's Ascend is the four-passenger platform; the Glide and Vantage seat six forward; the Mako is a six-passenger with a flip-down rear seat; and the Heritage comes as a two-seater, a 2+2 or a 4+2.

A modern lithium cart in normal neighborhood use covers twenty-five to fifty-plus miles between charges, depending on pack size, load and terrain. Published range assumes flat ground, a light load and a steady moderate speed; hills are the biggest single factor and continuous climbing can cut range close to half. Passenger weight, hard acceleration, under-inflated tires and aggressive off-road tread all take a share.

ALSET carts are rated up to 50 miles on the Ascend, Glide, Vantage and Heritage and up to 40 miles on the Mako, with 105, 150 and 230 Ah pack options — the bigger the pack, the further you go.

It depends on what the cart is built to be. A golf cart, by legal definition in Florida and most states, tops out at 20 mph. A low-speed vehicle (LSV) is built to run between 20 and 25 mph and is registered and insured like a car. Nothing sold as a golf cart is meant to go faster than that on a public road, and modifying one to do so usually voids the warranty and can make it illegal to drive.

In practice most electric carts are set at the factory somewhere under the 20 mph line, and the controller can be configured for the class you need. Tell your dealer where you intend to drive and they will spec it accordingly.

Plug it in when you park and it will be full in the morning — that is how nearly every owner lives with an electric cart. A lithium pack accepts charge faster than lead-acid, so a partial top-up after a short drive takes well under an hour and a full recharge from low takes a few hours rather than all night.

ALSET carts carry an onboard 48-volt lithium charger, so there is no external brick to store or lose: the cord goes from the cart to the wall.

No. An electric cart charges from an ordinary household outlet — the same 120-volt outlet a refrigerator or a power tool uses. You do not need a 240-volt circuit or an electrician.

Two practical rules: plug straight into the wall rather than through a light-duty extension cord (a long thin cord drops voltage and heats up), and give the cart a spot where the charger can breathe. A hot Florida garage is fine; a closed cabinet is not.

Very little. A 48-volt lithium pack of 150 amp-hours holds about 7 kilowatt-hours of energy, which at typical residential electricity prices is around a dollar to fill from empty — and most days you are topping up, not filling. Spread over the miles that charge delivers, the energy cost is pennies per mile.

The other running costs are tires and the occasional brake service. There is no oil, no filters, no belts and no battery water on a lithium cart.

Lithium iron phosphate packs are rated in the thousands of charge cycles. For an owner who charges a few times a week, that is well over ten years of service — which is why ALSET warrants its battery for ten years.

Capacity fades gradually rather than failing all at once. What shortens a pack's life is heat, sitting for months at a very low charge, and repeated hard deep discharges. Normal use and an overnight plug-in are exactly what it is designed for.

Amp-hours are the size of the tank. At the same 48 volts, a 230 Ah pack stores roughly twice the energy of a 105 Ah pack and will take you roughly twice as far. It also costs more and weighs more.

Pick by your longest regular day, not your longest possible one. A cart that lives on a golf course and in a flat neighborhood is well served by the smaller pack. If you climb hills, carry six people, run the stereo and lights, or want to go a week between charges, size up. ALSET offers all three on every model, and your dealer can walk through your route with you.

Yes, when they are the right chemistry with proper protection. Golf cart packs use lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), the most thermally stable lithium chemistry and a different one from the lithium-cobalt cells in phones and some scooters. Every pack is managed by a battery management system that cuts charging or discharging if a cell goes out of its safe voltage or temperature window.

The rules are the same as for any battery: use the charger the cart came with, keep the pack out of standing water, and have physical damage looked at before you charge again.

Yes. A lithium charger stops when the pack is full and does not trickle-cook the battery the way older lead-acid chargers could. Leaving the cart plugged in overnight, or over a weekend, is normal.

For a long layup — months away for the summer — the better practice is to charge to roughly half, unplug, and top up when you return. Lithium holds its charge well while sitting; the enemy is months at empty, not months unplugged.

Less than almost anything else you own with wheels. Keep the tires at pressure and check them monthly — soft tires are the most common cause of lost range. Have the brakes inspected once a year. Keep the cart clean, especially the underside after salt air or fertilizer.

That is the list. There is no engine, so no oil, filters, plugs or belts, and a lithium pack has no water to top up and no terminals to scrub. The parts that do wear are the ones that touch the ground.

Often, but only on roads that allow it. In Florida a golf cart may be driven on public roads that the city or county has designated for golf cart use, with a posted speed limit of 30 mph or less, and it may cross larger roads at marked crossings. The community you live in — a golf-cart community, an HOA, a resort — will have its own map of where carts are welcome.

If you want to drive on ordinary streets beyond that, you are looking for a low-speed vehicle (LSV) rather than a golf cart. Rules differ by state and by city, so the first question to ask a dealer is where you plan to drive.

Speed, equipment and paperwork. A golf cart is limited to 20 mph and, in Florida, needs no title, registration or insurance to drive where carts are permitted. A low-speed vehicle is built to travel 20 to 25 mph and is treated as a motor vehicle: it carries a VIN, is titled and registered, must be insured, and can be driven on most roads posted at 35 mph or less by a licensed driver.

To qualify as an LSV a cart must have headlights, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals, reflectors, a windshield, a driver-side exterior mirror and a rear-view mirror, a parking brake and seat belts. Many carts can be built either way; the choice comes down to where you will drive.

For a golf cart (20 mph and under), being street legal means driving only where golf carts are permitted: designated roads posted at 30 mph or below, and crossings at marked intersections. To drive between sunset and sunrise the cart must have headlights, brake lights, turn signals and reflectors, and only where the local government has allowed night operation.

For anything beyond that — regular streets up to 35 mph, driving after dark anywhere — the cart needs to be an LSV: the full equipment list above plus a title, registration, a license plate and insurance with at least $10,000 in property-damage liability and $10,000 in personal-injury protection. Florida's definitions are in statutes 320.01 and 316.212; your county's website will have the local map.

Every state draws the line slightly differently, and cities and counties draw it again. In Texas a golf cart may be driven inside a master-planned community, to and from a golf course, and on roads posted at 35 mph or below where the city or county has authorized it; outside a community it needs a golf cart license plate from the county and basic equipment — headlamps, tail lamps, reflectors, mirrors and a parking brake. Alabama has no statewide golf cart road law; use on public streets is set city by city, and many communities have passed ordinances allowing it.

LSVs, by contrast, are defined by federal standard and treated as motor vehicles in every state. If you are buying to drive on public roads, ask your dealer about your specific city — they sell there every week.

For an LSV, yes to both — it is a motor vehicle. For a golf cart in Florida, the rules changed in 2023: a driver under 18 must hold at least a learner's permit, and a driver 18 or over must carry government-issued photo ID; the minimum age on designated roads is 14. Golf carts are not required to be insured in Florida, but most homeowner's policies can add one for very little, and it is worth doing.

Whatever the law requires, the practical advice is the same as for any vehicle: nobody drives it who could not handle a car in the same situation.

A lift raises the body and fits larger wheels and tires. You want it if you drive on grass, sand, gravel or rutted paths, or if you want the look — the lifted stance is popular for a reason. You do not want it if the cart lives on pavement and golf course paths: a lifted cart sits higher (harder to climb into for some passengers), rides a little firmer, and the big tires cost a few miles of range.

ALSET builds it both ways. The Ascend, Vantage and the Heritage 2+2 are offered lifted or non-lifted; the Glide, the Mako and the Heritage 4+2 are built lifted.

Forward-facing seats are for people. Everyone faces the same way, everyone can talk, and every passenger has a proper seat back and a grab handle. If your cart mostly carries family and friends around a community, choose forward-facing.

A 4+2 layout puts a rear bench facing backward that folds flat into a cargo deck. It is the right choice if the cart doubles as a work vehicle — coolers, tools, golf bags, groceries — and only occasionally carries six. On a rear-facing seat the passengers ride backward at low speed, which children usually love and some adults do not.

A four-passenger cart is roughly ten feet long, four feet wide and six and a half feet tall to the top of the roof; a six-passenger cart is about two feet longer. A lifted cart adds a few inches of height. Almost any single-car garage bay takes a four-seater with room to spare; a six-seater fits but leaves less walking room.

For reference, the ALSET Ascend is 121.5 inches long, 48 inches wide and 77 inches tall, and the six-passenger Glide is 146 inches long and 50 inches wide. Weights run from about 1,100 to 1,600 pounds with batteries, which is why a 5-by-10 utility trailer is the usual choice.

Look at the things you cannot easily add later. Brakes: four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes stop a loaded cart far better than the rear drums and parking brake that many carts still ship with. Suspension: independent front suspension with rack-and-pinion steering makes the cart track straight and ride well. Lighting: LED headlights, tail lights and turn signals should be standard, not a kit. A lithium battery with an onboard charger.

Then the comfort items: a touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a real audio system, key-fob entry and start, wireless phone charging and USB power. All of that is standard on every ALSET cart. Whatever cart you look at, ask for the standard-equipment list in writing and read what is missing from it.

On a factory-built cart, color is chosen at order rather than resprayed after, which is why the paint lasts. ALSET offers 22 metallic colors for 2026, chosen when the cart is ordered. Seat and trim choices, wheel styles and accessories — enclosures, cargo boxes, lift kits, sound upgrades — are specified through the dealer.

If a look matters to you, ask to see the actual color on a cart or a large sample under daylight. Screens are not reliable for metallic paint.

Buy from a dealer, and buy from one close to you. A cart needs to be delivered, set up, registered for warranty and — once in a while — serviced, and all of that is a local job. A dealer who sells the brand every week knows the local road rules, has parts on the shelf, and answers the phone when you call.

ALSET sells only through authorized dealers. Each one has a protected territory, is trained at the factory, and carries domestic parts inventory. If there is no ALSET dealer near you yet, the factory can tell you the closest one, and dealer inquiries are welcome.

Read the battery warranty first, because the battery is the most expensive part of the cart and the part most likely to be quietly excluded. Ask three things: how long, what is covered (cells, the battery management system, the charger), and who handles the claim — the dealer, a distributor, or a factory you can actually reach.

ALSET warrants the cart for two years and the lithium battery for ten, manufacturer-backed and handled by the factory team in Wildwood, Florida. Registration and claims are done online in a few minutes.

A dealer with the cart you want on the floor can deliver in days. A factory order — your color, your pack size, your configuration — takes longer because the cart is built for you. ALSET carts are assembled in batches through five stations, with fifteen to twenty hands-on hours in each cart and three quality checkpoints before it leaves; from order to delivery is roughly 90 days.

If timing matters, ask the dealer what is in stock and what is in the pipeline. Popular colors and configurations are often already on the way.

On a trailer, not behind the car on its own wheels. A golf cart's motor is coupled to the axle, and towing it at road speed can overspeed the motor and damage it. A 5-by-10 utility trailer with ramps handles any four- or six-passenger cart; strap it down at all four corners, chock the wheels and put the parking brake on.

Most dealers deliver locally, and that is usually the best answer for the first trip home. If you move a cart often, a folding-ramp trailer pays for itself quickly.

ALSET carts are assembled in Wildwood, in Central Florida, at the company's own factory, and have been since 2017. Frames and metal come from Southern steel; rubber and leather from near-shore suppliers in Clearwater and Jacksonville, Florida; plastics and electrical components from global supply partners. Each cart moves through five stations — chassis, drivetrain, wheels and body, dashboard and roof, quality control — and is aligned, torque-checked and road-tested before delivery.

Dealers and customers are welcome to visit the floor. Bring your questions.