When he first got the inspiration to provide the lithium battery market with a better mousetrap, so to speak, entrepreneur Casey Shirts knew he could make a superior product that would revolutionize the golf and street-legal cart industry.
It all began when Shirts owned a houseboat and wanted to figure out a way to supply power to it without running his generator all the time. He installed an entire roof of solar panels on the boat, which worked very well, but he then determined he needed a more powerful, longer lasting battery system. With a background of operating several other companies and extensive experience in the automotive tech and vehicle communications industries, he knew he needed to develop not only a more powerful battery, but also to ensure seamless communication between all of the related components, like motors and controllers.
The result was so successful that soon he was taking requests from other boaters at the marina to set their boats up with the same type of system. He even worked with the marina staff to outfit their older gas carts on the property with the upgraded lithium battery power supply and connected components to provide more power, torque, and speed to navigate the property and get things done with much more efficiency.
In 2018, Shirts brought in Noah Schone, and then Schone’s brother, Skylar, to help scale up the business to meet demand. Noah is the CRO, and co-founder and Skylar is the company’s CEO. Eco Battery, LLC, decided to design and manufacture their own lithium battery products and supporting accessories to offer added value to the consumer. Not only for golf carts and other electric personal transportation vehicles, Eco Battery products are also perfect for marine and recreational vehicle needs, providing maximum power and performance with no maintenance necessary.
Eco Battery headquarters and one of their warehouses are in Utah with another warehouse in South Carolina. The company has ambitious growth plans, including expansions with warehouse facilities in Florida, Texas, and California. The company employs about twenty, including those in sales, research and development, engineering, marketing, tech support and warehouse and order fulfillment logistics. There are about 450 independent Eco Battery dealers across the country, with plans to offer their products internationally coming soon.
“We realized before we began Eco Battery that superior customer service, together with a premium product, was the key to our success and growth,” said Shirts. “Our entire team here uses that as their key motivation, whether it’s supporting our dealers or working directly with customers, and nothing beats a positive purchasing experience no matter what business you’re in.”
A Powerful Solution for Any Need
Eco Battery’s product lines are designed to fit any make or model of golf cart, and the company offers several different size and power configurations to ensure the end user has the optimum power at their foot pedal. Eco Battery lithium batteries utilize LiFePo4 cells which have proven highly safe and extremely reliable, and a premium quality Battery Management System, (BMS), to ensure each battery operates at peak performance and within it’s designed parameters.
The company’s batteries include their 51V 105Ah “Thru Hole” model, a 38V 105Ah “Cube”, 51V 72Ah “Cube”, 70V 105Ah battery and a 51V 105Ah “Skinny” model. Eco Battery also offers their batteries in bundled packages that include the mounting bracket, 70v charger CAN with locking quick connect, charger pigtail, CAN digital 5V gauge kit and a DC-DC 12V converter with 40V-90V input. All Eco Battery products are custom designed and manufactured for easy installation on all major cart manufacturer’s models.
There are many advantages to using an Eco Battery product, such as the completely maintenance-free operation and an impressive eight-year warranty. The 72Ah version can provide enough power for up to 40 holes of golf plus getting to the course and back, and the 105Ah models can run for 54 holes or more. Eco Battery lithium products are about 25% of the weight of a traditional lead acid battery system, need a much smaller installation space and provide nearly twice the run time.
The company’s proprietary Battery Management System, or BMS, provides the ultimate in preventing short circuits, over current, over charge, over discharge, high and low temperature and freeze situations. Plus, Eco Battery products require no modifications to a cart’s existing on-board computer system. Eco Battery also makes a complete line of chargers in 38v, 51v and 70v models along with an extensive accessory line of charge ports to fit every model of cart, DC-DC 12v converters, LCD gauges, complete mounting brackets and hardware, and more.
At Old Farts Carts, a custom cart builder in Stuart, Florida, owner Thomas Jenkins knew the exact battery power to use in the shop’s custom, 8-passenger Club Car Precedent project. “We built this cart for a family in Delray Beach, and I knew it needed a long range and to be able to haul multiple passengers and gear in an efficient way, so Eco Battery was the only way to go,” he said. Old Farts Carts has been an authorized Eco Battery Dealer for about a year.
According to the shop’s Facebook Page, “there is enough lithium power in this cart to compete with a Tesla, with two Eco Battery 48v 72ah power packs totaling 144ah just for the drive unit. There is an additional Eco Battery 12v 216ah lithium pack to power all the 12v accessories. Two on-board chargers are sure to keep all the batteries powered up.” You can take a look at their custom build by clicking here.
Skylar Schone says the future of the golf and small electric vehicle industry will be a very interesting when it comes to how they are powered, and he sees a promising future for Eco Battery. “We believe it’s not just building a more powerful, longer lasting battery, but just as important is engineering the proper communication between other cart components like controllers and motors,” he said. “We feel Eco Battery is a leader in that integrated technology and we’re looking forward to staying ahead of the curve and remaining an industry powerhouse.”
