Street Legal Golf Carts - Neighborhood Electric Vehicles

Street legal golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles are powered by electricity which is stored in the on-board batteries. More than 40 states have laws relating to street legal golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles. These laws apply specifically to slow moving electric vehicles.

Street Legal Golf Carts
In case of street legal golf carts, laws defining them and regulating their use state the following:

• Street legal golf carts 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 street legal 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.
• A label warning that this particular vehicle should not be driven at a speed higher than 35 miles per hour, must be stuck on each these vehicles.

Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV)
A neighborhood electric vehicle is a vehicle 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. Neighborhood electric vehicles 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).

Neighborhood electric vehicles are especially designed and built to be street legal. A fully charged neighborhood electric vehicle 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.

Both street legal golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles 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, both street legal golf carts and neighborhood electric 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.