When driving a golf cart, you have to be aware of the vehicle’s weight capacity. Overloading the cart may lead the engine to overwork itself.
When looking for a new battery, for example, you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing the right one.
The goal is to find a powerful energy source that won’t add a lot of poundage to the vehicle. At this point, you may find yourself asking, how much does a golf cart battery weigh?
On average, a golf cart battery can weigh between 40 and 70 pounds.
Let’s dive into the weight of a golf cart battery and how it affects the vehicle’s performance.
Golf Cart Battery
Before you start tinkering with your golf cart’s batteries, it’s best to understand how they work.
Electrical golf carts run on deep-cycle batteries. These are energy stores that can produce sustained power for a long period.
In addition, they can keep supplying energy until they deplete about 80% of their cells.
If you pop the hood of most, you’ll find a few batteries in a parallel circuit. They’ll provide the vehicle with the energy it needs to move.
On average, a golf cart battery will weigh about 70 pounds max. Still, there are a few factors that can affect the overall mass.
Different Types of Golf Cart Batteries and How Much They Weigh
There are various options on the market when it comes to golf cart batteries. Each one is made differently, which means they’ll all have different weights.
Flooded Lead-Acid (Wet) Batteries
The most common type of golf cart battery is the flooded lead-acid version. To run, the energy stores rely on a simple mechanism. There is a group of lead plates suspended in a pool of sulfuric acid.
As the lead and acid react, they can create an electrical current. This reaction is reversible, which is how the battery can recharge.
However, as time goes by, the acid can start to leak from the main structure. Usually, this shouldn’t affect the weight of the battery much, but it will decrease its capacity.
Most of the weight in this device lies in the plates. So, depending on how many layers of lead your battery contains, the weight may vary.
Lead-acid batteries are popular because of how affordable they can be. However, they’re heavier than most types.
In addition, they require a lot of maintenance and are the most volatile type on our list.
On average, these batteries can weigh between 35 and 45 pounds.
AGM Lead-Acid Batteries
Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) batteries aren’t much different from lead-acid batteries. The main difference is that they contain a sealing layer that protects the structure inside.
Instead of placing the lead and sulfuric acid on their own, there are layers of fiberglass mats surrounding them.
These ensure that the sulfuric acid can’t leak out of the battery. Because of this, the weight of the battery doesn’t fluctuate over time, and its capacity stays the same.
This also means the batteries require much less maintenance.
However, there are two main issues with AGMs. First off, they can be quite pricey, with no extra capacity.
As for the other, due to the added fiberglass, these AGMs can be heavier than lead-acid batteries. These batteries can be anywhere from 60 to 70 pounds.
Gel Lead-Acid Batteries
These batteries are yet another version of the lead-acid battery. Still, there is one major distinction.
To make these batteries, manufacturers use silica with sulfuric acid. This gives the solution a much thicker consistency.
The higher velocity means the liquid is less likely to leak out of the battery. So, the battery is an improvement of the lead-acid battery without adding the extra weight of the fiberglass mats, like AGM batteries.
To regulate the pressure inside a gel battery, it comes with a valve. Depending on the material, the valve can add to the overall weight.
In addition, silica will add a tiny amount of weight, but gel batteries are still usually lighter than AGMs.
Typically, the weight range for these batteries is 40 to 50 pounds.
Lithium-Ion Batteries
Lithium-ion batteries are a little more advanced than the other options on our list. They have a few different components:
- Anode
- Cathode
- Electrolyte
- Separator
- Current collector
The anode and cathode are lithium rods with negative and positive charges, respectively. To make a lithium-ion battery, these rods are submerged into an electrolyte, which contains lithium ions.
Between the anode and cathode, there’s a polyolefin separator to stop the rods from touching. Finally, two copper current collectors allow electricity to flow.
The majority of the battery consists of lithium, which is luckily one of the lightest metals.
However, you still have to add the weight of the polyolefin and copper.
Still, even with all the extra parts, lithium-ion batteries tend to be lighter than the other types. On average, they should be around 20 to 40 pounds.
Does a Battery’s Capacity Affect Its Weight?
The battery’s capacity will play a role in its weight. As you can guess, as the capacity increases, so does the weight.
For a lead-acid or lithium battery to store more energy, they need larger components. That means that a 6V battery will typically weigh slightly less than an 8V one.
However, this is only the case if both batteries use the same material.
For example, a 6V lead-acid battery will weigh more than an 8V lithium-ion one.
The composition of the materials you use can come into play. In addition to that, the purity of lead or lithium will also affect the overall weight.
Effects of Weight on Your Golf Cart
As a golf cart user, you are probably familiar with how sensitive they can be to weight. If you add too much load onto the vehicle, it’ll slow down to a crawl.
Yet, with not enough weight, the cart becomes unstable and shaky. For that reason, you’ll want to ensure that you find a reasonable balance with your battery.
Wrapping Up
How much does a golf cart weigh? On average, the batteries are between 40 and 70 pounds. However, there are a few factors that can affect this number.
The first is the type of golf cart battery you use. AGM lead-acid batteries tend to be the heaviest, while lithium-ions are the lightest.
Battery capacity can also play a role in overall mass. Yet, it has a minor effect in comparison to the materials inside the battery.