Club Car, the Augusta, Ga.-based manufacturer of golf cars and other vehicles, is working to reduce energy use and costs while decreasing its environmental impact throughout its operation. Parts sourced from around the world are now evaluated on their ability to be recycled. Automated turn-off switches are being installed on power equipment, to reduce energy when the equipment is not in use. Tons of electric batteries, cardboard boxes and metal containers are being recycled. Auxiliary power units are being installed on the tractor-trailers that deliver vehicles, to reduce idling time and fuel consumption.
Club Car’s main contribution to environmental friendliness is the trend it is leading toward zero-emission electric vehicles. Club Car engineers have been working to improve the power and range of electric-powered vehicles in the golf car and utility segments for more than a decade. As a result, electric golf cars now lead production over gas-powered cars with combustible engines. What’s more, improvements in electric technology are making electric utility vehicles an option for many tougher chores that were once the sole domain of gas vehicles.
“Up until a few years ago, electric utility vehicles had their limitations when it came to some jobs around the course. But that’s just not the case anymore,” said Mike Packer, Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Club Car.
In 2007 the company recycled more than two million pounds of waste (mostly in the form of cardboard and metal). It also decreased the amount of landfill trash produced by 25 percent. Its goal in 2008, according to John Forrester, the company’s Safety and Environmental Manager, is to reduce the amount of energy used to produce each of its thousands of vehicles by three percent.
Last year Club Car also began using nitrogen rather than oxygen, to fill the tires on many of the vehicles it manufacturers.
Down the road, even newer technologies such as solar- and hydrogen-powered vehicles may pave the way for major energy-efficiency breakthroughs, the company says.
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