Batteries – Electric Vehicles
BATTERIES – ELECTRIC VEHICLES
See General Warnings on page 9.
DANGER
• Battery – Explosive gases! Do not smoke. Keep sparks and flames away from the vehicle and service
area. Ventilate when charging or operating vehicle in an enclosed area. Wear a full face shield and
rubber gloves when working on or near batteries.
• Charge batteries in a well-ventilated area only. Batteries emit hydrogen while being charged. Hydrogen
is an explosive gas and must never exceed a level of 2% of the air.
• Battery – Poison! Contains acid! Causes severe burns. Avoid contact with skin, eyes, or clothing.
Antidotes:
– External: Flush with water. Call a physician immediately.
– Internal: Drink large quantities of milk or water followed with milk of magnesia or vegetable
oil. Call a physician immediately.
– Eyes: Flush with water for 15 minutes. Call a physician immediately.
WARNING
• Wear safety glasses or approved eye protection when servicing the vehicle or battery charger. Wear a
full face shield and rubber gloves when working on or near batteries.
• Use insulated tools when working near batteries or electrical connections. Use extreme caution to
avoid shorting of components or wiring.
CAUTION
• On all vehicles, turn off all accessories before charging batteries.
NOTE:
Recycle or dispose of discarded batteries in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations.
Club Car electric vehicles use deep-cycle batteries. Automotive batteries should never be used in electric vehicles.
New batteries will not deliver their full capabilities until they have been discharged and recharged 20 to 50 times. To
obtain the maximum service life from new batteries, restrict electric vehicles with new batteries to 36 holes of use
between charges in the first two months of operation. Batteries should be fully charged before first use of new vehicle,
before first use of a vehicle after storage, and before releasing vehicle for use each day.
WATER QUALITY
To keep batteries in good working condition, the purity of water used is very important. Distilled water is quite pure
and is the most common type of water used in batteries. Other acceptable types are deionized water and water from
reverse osmosis. Ordinary tap water should not be used because it contains an excessive amount of impurities that
will degrade battery performance.
Distilled water is produced by distillation, a process in which water is boiled, the steam is collected and then condensed
back into water. This process creates a finished product free of minerals, having left all the impurities in the original
water sample. Club Car, along with our battery manufacturers, highly recommends that distilled water be used in
electric vehicle batteries.
Deionized water is the purest form of water, but it is also the most expensive. Deionization removes all ionizable
particles (organic and inorganic) from water through ion exchange. Positively and negatively charged ions are removed
from the water and replaced with H+ and OH- ions. When these two ions are combined, they form H2O, or purified
water.
Page 38
DS Golf Car Owner’s Manual
