Dealer Guide
Golf cart charging safety for dealers: your lot and your customer's garage
A dealer manages charging in 2 places: on the lot, where a row of carts may be plugged in overnight, and in the customer’s garage after delivery.
This page gives you 2 things to use. Part 1 is a lot checklist and the 5 questions to settle with your fire marshal, your insurer and your electrician. Part 2 is a delivery sheet, printable on its own, that separates a service call from a fire department call.
Both are written for carts with lithium-ion packs, which is what the fire-safety guidance quoted here covers. For any other battery type, follow the owner’s manual.
Written by EV Cart Source, a golf cart manufacturer supplying dealers and private-label buyers. Fire-safety points are quoted from the U.S. Fire Administration. Last updated September 2026.
+ On this page(5 sections)
Part 1 · On your own lot #
A charging row of 10 or 20 carts is not a bigger version of 1 cart in a garage. How many can charge at once, where, and how close to the building are set by your local fire marshal and the conditions of your insurance, and they vary by jurisdiction and by policy. Your supplier’s part is the equipment side: the manufacturer’s charging requirements for each configuration you stock.
What carries over from published U.S. Fire Administration guidance, cart by cart:
- Every charging cart plugged the way its owner’s manual specifies, into an outlet that meets the charger’s input rating. The U.S. Fire Administration’s guidance for Level I EV chargers points the same way: plug directly into an outlet designed for the charging device’s amperage, never a multiplug adapter or an extension cord, with a dedicated circuit recommended. A row of carts fed from a chain of power strips does not match that guidance.
- Charging equipment with obvious damage comes out of use.
- Lithium-ion packs: charge within the temperature range. The general guidance is not to charge below 32°F (0°C) or above 105°F (40°C). Where the owner’s manual gives a different range, the manual governs.
- Spare lithium-ion packs in the parts room: stored away from anything that can burn.
- Whoever closes up knows the warning signs. An odor, a change in color or shape, too much heat, leaking or odd noises from a lithium-ion pack: stop using it. A cloud of smoke or gas, or a popping or hissing sound: get everyone to a safe distance and call the fire department. That comes first, before anything else on this list.
- A cart whose pack has sat in floodwater is a fire department call, not a service ticket. If there is no smoke, gas, popping or hissing, the guidance is to notify the fire department, disconnect it from the charger, move it out of the building, and keep it 50 feet from combustibles and structures on all sides. If there is, go back to point 5: do not approach it.
Sources: U.S. Fire Administration, EV charging safety; battery fire safety; lithium-ion battery safety after flooding (which names golf carts specifically).
The 5 questions, and who answers them #
- Fire marshal: How many carts may we charge at the same time, and in which part of the lot or building?
- Fire marshal: What spacing do you want between a charging row and the building, and between rows?
- Fire marshal: May we charge indoors or unattended after hours, and under what conditions? What detection and extinguishing equipment do you expect near the charging area?
- Insurer: Does our policy set conditions for lithium-ion vehicles on charge or in storage?
- Electrician: Do our outlets and circuits meet the input requirements of the chargers we stock?
Take a site layout and the charger input requirements for each configuration to those meetings. The answers come back faster when they can see what you are planning.
What to ask your supplier for, per configuration #
The charger’s input requirements (the wall side: voltage, frequency, rated input current and plug) from the owner’s manual or the charger itself, the charge window for each battery option, and the transport and safety documents for each battery model (covered on our lithium battery page).
For our carts: the charger is onboard. On the golf cart platform the standard configuration is 48V/25A; on the 4WD platform it is 72V/18A. Those figures are not the outlet requirement. The outlet requirement is the charger’s input rating, which you check on the charger and in the owner’s manual. The charge window depends on the pack fitted, not on the charger alone, so we give it per configuration.
Part 2 · The delivery sheet #
Delivery sheet: charging and when to call
This sheet separates the problems that are a service call from the ones that are a fire department call. Fill in the top, read the rest out loud, hand over a copy, keep 1 signed copy.
| Model | |
|---|---|
| Serial / VIN | |
| Battery fitted (type and capacity) | |
| Onboard charger | |
| Charger input (voltage, frequency, rated current, plug), from the charger / owner's manual | |
| Charge window for this configuration | |
| Owner's manual issued (name and version) | |
| Warranty start (factory ship date) | |
| Delivery date | |
| Dealer and phone |
First: when to call the fire department
- If the cart or the battery gives off a cloud of smoke or gas, or makes a popping or hissing sound: move to a safe distance and notify your local fire department. Do not stay with the cart and do not try to move it. This comes before every other step on this sheet.
- If the lithium-ion battery may have been in a flood or standing water and none of the signs in point 1 are present: notify your local fire department, disconnect the cart from the charger, move it out of the building or garage, and keep it 50 feet from combustibles and structures on all sides. Do not charge it again until it has been inspected.
How this cart charges
- This cart charges through its own onboard charger, from a wall outlet that matches the charger input written above.
- Plug in the way the owner’s manual specifies, directly into that outlet. Never a multiplug adapter, a power strip, or an extension cord. A dedicated circuit for charging is the recommendation. (The U.S. Fire Administration gives the same advice for Level I EV chargers.)
- Follow the charging instructions in the owner’s manual issued with this cart, including where and at what temperature to charge. Where this sheet and the manual differ, the manual governs.
- The charge window for this cart is the one filled in above, for the pack fitted.
When to stop and call the dealer
- If the cord, plug or charger shows obvious damage, stop using it. Do not repair it yourself; have it handled by a qualified service person, per the manufacturer’s instructions.
- If the battery gives off an odor, changes color or shape, gets too hot, leaks or makes odd noises (and none of the signs in point 1 are present): stop using it and call us.
- Before replacing or upgrading the battery, check the approved pack, battery management and charger combination with us first. Those 3 are specified together, and a pack that physically fits the bay does not on its own tell you the rest of the system was built for it.
Sources for points 1, 2, 7 and 8: U.S. Fire Administration. Point 4: the owner’s manual, with the U.S. Fire Administration’s Level I EV charger guidance as the general reference.
Customer signature ______________________
Date ______________
What to have ready behind the sheet #
Parts. We recommend a parts package at 5 to 10 percent of order value, specified against the models you are taking. We hold spare parts in stock in the U.S. If something is not on your shelf we ship it direct from China: about a week when it is in stock. Support is available 7 days a week if you want to talk a fault through before you send a technician. See US parts and service support.
Want the delivery sheet filled in for your models?
Want it with your own model numbers, charge windows and phone number filled in, or the charger requirements for the configurations you are considering? Tell us which ones.