Club Car DS 36 volt V-Glide with folding rear seat. The seller told me I need to replace the batteries. The drive system is the V-Glide(?) with the resistor coils and no electronics. Simple design, but electrically inefficient, especially for all the hills I have on the property.
When I got the cart it took 2 gallons of distilled water to top up the 6 batteries. Fully charged, pulling up a long paved hill, the 36 volt system dropped immediately to 20 volts at 100 amps and stayed that way all the way up the hill. I guess that means the batts are pretty well shot. Seems like the voltage shouldn’t have dropped below about 28 volts after being fully charged, even when heavily loaded like they were. All the cabling and connections look fine, but it just doesn’t have any pulling power. Zips right along on flat pavement, though.

I am trying to figure just what to do, but need a reality check from a voice of experience, please. And thank you in advance. I have to replace all the batteries, so my thought is to totally replace all the electricals and go to a modern 48 volt system. I think that will give me a good-as-new cart, for half the price of a new cart.
The results I am looking for from the upgrade are:
1) Plenty of torque to carry loads up 20% grades.
2) No need for higher top speed. Going slow is fine.
3) Regenerative braking seems to make a lot of sense for the up and down hills.
4) Budget is based on value: don’t waste money, but you get what you pay for.

I’ll be doing all the work myself and am comfortable with the electrical and mechanical aspects of the project, but have no golf cart experience. Helpful advice and constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Looking at lots of aftermarket supplier’s sites, I think I have the beginnings of a shopping list.
1) Six, 8 volt Trojan batteries.
2) High torque, standard speed, 48v motor, with regen capability.
3) New contactor with high amp capacity, plus resistor and diode.
4)Heavy duty F/R switch.
5) Modern controller (AllTrax SPM 300 or 400 amp?)
6) Throttle/ speed control compatible with the controller.
7) All new 4 gage wiring.
8) Solid state 48 volt charger (overnight slow charge is fine).
9) Whatever I have missed.

This could be a fun project, but does it make sense? Should I go whole hog like I laid out, or just replace the batts with the same 36 volt set-up, or sell this cart and get something that is closer to what I really need?

Thank you for any and all advice and opinions.