Street Legal Golf Carts - Neighborhood Electric Vehicles

Neighborhood electric cars are powered by electricity which is stored in the on-board batteries. More than 40 states have laws relating to all available vehicles that are termed as street legal. These laws apply specifically to slow moving electric vehicles.

Permissible Golf Carts for Neighborhood Streets
In case of street legal vehicles, in our case the golf carts, laws defining them and regulating their use state the following:

• They must not be capable of moving at a speed which exceeds 35 miles per hour.
• Maximum seating capacity is of 4 persons for each street legal golf cart.
• Each street legal golf cart must be provided with safety features such as head lights, tail lights, brake lights and turn lights.
• They must also be provided with reflectors on the sides stretching from the front to the rear end of the vehicles.
• It is mandatory for golf carts to have a internal and exterior mirrors. Exterior mirrors are required to be mounted on the driver and passenger side.
• A windshield, parking breaks and vehicle identification number is a necessity for each of these vehicles, although windshield-wipers are not mandatory.
• Every street legal golf cart must be provided with three-point seat belts.
• Each vehicle of this type must have a manufacturer's Certificate of Origin, declaring it to be a low-speed vehicle.
• A golf cart does not require insurance, but an electric street legal golf cart needs to be insured.
• Each vehicle must carry a label warning that this particular vehicle should not be driven at a speed higher than 35 miles per hour.

Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV)
A neighborhood electric vehicle is a classification which has the approval of the United States Department of Transportation. The classification is for limited-speed vehicles that operate on electricity stored in on-board batteries. They can be defined as any four wheel vehicle that weighs less than 1400 kilograms with a topmost speed of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h).

NEVs are especially designed and built to be street legal. A fully charged one has a driving range of 30 miles (48 km). These electric vehicles can be plugged into an electric source (110v standard outlet), to recharge their batteries. Recharging can take 6-8 hours to complete. But, some of these vehicles can also be plugged into a 220 volt electric outlet and require 4-5 hours to recharge.

All neighborhood vehicles powered by electricity, including permissible golf carts, cannot operate on every street. Following certain restrictions, they can operate on public roads with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Also called low-speed vehicles, these vehicles are racing ahead to take charge of short-distance travel, such as traveling to the mall for shopping, visiting a friend in the neighborhood or picking children from the bus stop or the school. Using these vehicles is economically affordable, as they consume electricity worth 1-3 cents per mile. Gas-powered vehicles are costly to operate over short distances. These vehicles which are suitable to operate over short hauls and while doing, so succeed in saving money and that is the secret of their popularity.