Why Golf Carts Use Deep-Cycle Batteries
A golf cart needs a surge of power when it starts moving or climbs a hill, but that is only part of the job. It also has to keep delivering energy as the cart travels, then survive being discharged and recharged repeatedly. Deep-cycle lead-acid batteries are designed for that repeated use.
Their lead plates are made to withstand deeper discharges than the plates in a typical car starter battery. A starter battery is optimized to provide a very large current for a few seconds to crank an engine, then be recharged by the running car. Using one in a cart would subject it to long periods of discharge it was not built to handle.
Power Comes From a Pack
One battery may not provide enough voltage for the cart’s motor, so several batteries are connected in series: the positive terminal of one connects to the negative terminal of the next, adding their voltages. The pack supplies energy as the motor draws it, including higher current during acceleration. “Deep-cycle” does not mean the batteries cannot deliver a burst; it describes their ability to provide energy over a longer stretch and tolerate repeated cycling.
The tradeoff is that repeatedly draining lead-acid batteries very far can shorten their useful life. Recharging after use helps preserve the pack, which is why a cart’s range depends not just on how much power its batteries can deliver, but on how carefully that stored energy is used.
