In this post, we are answering the common question, why does my electric golf cart go slow uphill?
There is nothing worse than putting your foot on the gas pedal, only to get no response. At first, we push down on the accelerator with more force, but we soon realize that all power has been lost, and our carts are now crawling at a snail’s pace.
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The Reason Your Electric Golf Cart Goes Slow Uphill?
Your electric golf cart can struggle on inclines for a variety of reasons. Weak batteries, incorrect tires, and wear and tear to the motor and wiring are all potential causes of your cart’s slow speed.
Tire Size
The size of your cart tires is another factor that may be impacting your speed uphill. The larger your tires are, the more work your cart needs to do to get uphill.
Golf Cart Batteries
When it comes to challenges with your cart’s speed, they are more often than not caused by an unruly battery. Corrosion, age, or a lack of routine maintenance can all lead to inefficient battery performance.
As your batteries age, they are no longer able to hold a charge like they previously did. They, therefore, struggle to generate sufficient power under load. I have heard cart owners complain of slow speeds on inclines, even though their batteries had the proper voltage.
I recommend that you do a load test on these batteries to get a true understanding of their condition. You may find your batteries generate the correct voltage when stationary. But the moment they go up a hill, all power is lost.
Older batteries tend to lose the ability to deliver sufficient torque to your cart, which would impact its performance going uphill.
All it takes is one malfunctioning battery to impact the overall performance of your cart. So, regularly inspect your batteries and ensure routine watering and maintenance for flooded golf cart batteries.
Testing Golf Cart Batteries
The best way to identify if the batteries are the root of your go slow is to use some alligator clip test leads. Link your meter to the positive and negative connection of the cart. Then do a test, driving uphill to simulate the problems you have had.
Pay attention to see if the voltage drops. If it does, you have found the problem, and it is time to fork out a few Benjamins on a new set of golf cart batteries.
Speed Sensor
Should the speed still be lackluster after testing the batteries and tire size of your cart? It is advisable to check your speed sensor.
The speed sensor transmits information to the speed controller, which dictates the limits of the cart. When this sensor is damaged, it may start to feed inaccurate data to the speed controller.
If it believes that you are traveling fast, it may force the cart to run slower. That impacts the ability of your cart to navigate slopes and may even struggle on flat terrain.
The performance of your cart’s sensor can become impaired from mud build-up, which covers the sensors and blocks their ability to determine speed.
Cleaning the mud off the sensors should see it back up and running. If that proves ineffective, I would send the speed sensor to the dealer for an inspection.
Brake Solenoid
When your brake solenoid overheats, it will pull all your power through the resistor spring, reducing the energy transmitted to your battery.
YouTuber Mike Hughes found that disconnecting the two wires leading to the solenoid, along with the cart’s speed sensor, helped to improve the transmission of power to the motor.
This is a backyard job and may impact the warranty of your cart and its resale value. So be sure that this is your last resort before proceeding.
If you own a fleet of vehicles, this is not the best route to take, as you will likely want to protect your club and patrons from any injury which could arise.
Wires
Like the other parts of your cart, wires become damaged over time. This hampers the performance of the cart parts that these wires connect. Such as the speed sensor and the brake solenoid.
Final Thoughts
Our assessment of why does my electric golf cart goes slow uphill has yielded several answers.
While battery problems tend to be the most common reason for slow speeds uphill. The size of your tires, speed, wire corrosion, and brake solenoid damage are also possible causes for your cart’s slow speeds.
I recommend checking your batteries before anything else.
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Nick is the founder of GolfSpan and an avid golfer. He's not quite a pro but has over 15 years of experience playing and coaching golfers worldwide. His mission is to bring the golfing community a better experience when it comes to choosing the right golf gear and finding the right setup for your game.
