Solar Golf Carts

[Uncle Lau]

The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course first to drive green with SolarDrive: Hong Kong golf course becomes first golf course in the world to use solar-cell technology by SolarDrive to power its entire golf car fleet
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Press Release dated June 10, 2009

On June 10, 2009 The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course in Hong Kong [unveiled] an entire fleet of solar-cell powered golf carts.

The solar-cell roof panels, which have been fitted to the course’s existing 205 Club Car fleet, were designed and engineered by SolarDrive, a Denmark-based firm specialising in off-grid, solar technology for mobile use, and distributed in Hong Kong by its founding partner Vedbaek Concepts Ltd.

The initiative makes The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course the first golf course in the world, to have adopted SolarDrive’s highly efficient solar technology for their entire fleet of golf carts and the largest fleet in the world to be powered by such technology.
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The SolarDrive equipped golf carts are able to capture and convert daylight into sufficient energy to power golf carts year-round, even on cloudy days. Furthermore, as the carts charge whilst being driven, they are more efficient and can out-perform their battery-powered counterparts. By investing in SolarDrive’s state-of-the-art technology, it is estimated that the golf course will reduce carbon emissions by up to 30 tonnes per year....

The solar panel roofs, capable of being retrofitted to any make of electric golf cart, not only provide environmental savings by facilitating carbon emission free charging and driving, but will also lead to significant financial savings for the course. It is estimated that the consumption of grid electricity for the fleet will be reduced by between 50-75% and that the cars’ battery life will be virtually doubled. Savings from the extended battery life alone is expected to result in annual savings of approximately $387,500HKD ($50,000USD) across the fleet.

[Quinn07]

That's pretty cool. I am sure there is a huge initial cost to do that...hopefully the price will come down and it will make more economic sense for clubs to be able to make the same switch.

[jamo]

That's pretty cool. I am sure there is a huge initial cost to do that...hopefully the price will come down and it will make more economic sense for clubs to be able to make the same switch.

I know of several companies here in the US that basically lease solar panels to you, and you pay them off until they eventually basically "become" yours (pretty much once you pay off what the normal cost of the panels would be). Maybe this is one of those kinds of deals? Either way, it's pretty cool. At a high end course I would gladly pay $10 extra a round to finance them adding solar panels.