Winter screens and heaters for a buggy

What actually stops people using a buggy in winter

Ask the people who stop using the machines and the answers come in a predictable order. Wind chill, because an open vehicle at walking pace still moves enough air to strip heat from hands and faces. A wet seat, because the machine lived outside overnight. A screen they cannot see through. The dark, arriving in the middle of the working afternoon. And a pack that gives less than it did in September, so the round that used to be comfortable now finishes on a warning light.

Heat addresses precisely one of those, and not the first one. That is why a guide about heaters has to spend most of its length on things that are not heaters. Fix the draughts, the water and the visibility, and a great many sites find the machine gets used all winter without any heating at all. Fit a heater to a machine that is still open at the sides and wet underfoot, and you will have spent money to be cold in a slightly warmer draught.

Screens, and the ventilation they need

Screens come fixed or folding, in acrylic or in glass. Acrylic is light, cheap to replace and scratches if you wipe it with anything gritty, which every buggy screen eventually meets. It also crazes with age and with the wrong cleaning products, so it wants a soft cloth and a product meant for plastic. Glass resists scratching and weighs more, and where a machine is used on a road, the screen becomes part of a regulated specification rather than an accessory.

The folding type matters more than it looks. A screen that tilts or folds gives you a ventilation path, and a ventilation path is the difference between seeing out and stopping to wipe. On a fixed screen, look for a vent, a gap at the top or a design that lets air past the edges. A perfectly sealed screen in a curtained cabin, with two damp people inside it, will fog faster than you can clear it.

Misting, and beating it without heat

The water on the inside of the screen came from the people and the wet clothing in the cabin, and the screen is where it condenses because it is the coldest surface. That single fact suggests everything useful. Get the moisture out of the cabin: shake out mats, lift wet coats off the seats, do not park a soaking machine with the curtains zipped up overnight. Then give the air somewhere to go, because a cabin with no through-flow simply recycles it.

Anti-mist treatments work reasonably well on clean plastic and badly on plastic that has been wiped with a wet glove all week. Keep a dedicated cloth in the machine rather than using a sleeve, which smears the treatment and adds scratches. If the machine has to run with the enclosure fully closed on a wet day, accept that you will be opening a panel now and then to flush the air, and that this is a design limitation of a small cabin rather than a fault to be cured.

What heating options exist for a small electric vehicle

There are three families, and they behave very differently. Electric seat and grip heating warms a person by conduction, which is efficient because it heats the thing that is cold rather than the air around it, and the draw is modest compared with anything that runs a fan and an element. Electric cabin heaters push warmed air into the cabin, work as well as the enclosure allows and draw continuously, whether or not the machine is moving. Fuel-fired air heaters, the type used in vans and boats, burn a small amount of fuel and take almost nothing from the traction pack.

Each brings its own conditions. Seat heating needs a proper fused feed and seats designed to take it. A cabin heater needs an enclosure to heat, or it is warming the countryside. A fuel-fired unit needs a fuel supply, a mounting, combustion air and an exhaust routed clear of anyone breathing, and it is an installation job rather than an accessory you clip on. Fitment on any of them depends on the model, so start with what your maker offers or approves.

• Heated seats and grips: warm the person directly, modest draw, straightforward to fit on a machine designed for them.
• Electric cabin heater: only sensible behind a proper enclosure, and it draws whenever it is on rather than only when moving.
• Fuel-fired air heater: independent of the pack, and it brings fuel, an exhaust and combustion safety into the design.
• No portable gas or paraffin heater, in any cabin, at any time.

Why cabin heat is expensive on a battery vehicle

A petrol vehicle heats its cabin with waste heat it was producing anyway. An electric one has no waste heat worth having, so every bit of warmth comes out of the same pack that drives the wheels. On a small machine that pack is modest to begin with, and a resistive heater is a genuinely significant load beside a motor that is only pushing a light vehicle across grass at low speed. The heater also runs while you are stationary, which the motor does not.

The situation compounds in exactly the conditions you want the heater. Cold reduces the capacity a pack will deliver on the day, so the machine already has less to give, and the heater wants more the colder it gets. The only honest way to know what it costs on your machine, on your ground, is to run a normal day with it on and compare. Nobody can tell you the figure in advance, and any supplier who quotes one without knowing your route and your pack is guessing.

The cheaper measures that make more difference

Stopping the wind is the single largest gain available, and it costs less than any heating system. Doors, curtains or a full enclosure turn an open vehicle into something with an inside. After that comes staying dry: waterproof seat covers or seats that shed water, a floor that drains and mats that come out, and somewhere under cover to park so the machine does not start the day already soaked.

Then look after the people rather than the vehicle. Gloves that still grip when wet, a windproof outer layer, and a hot drink at the turn do more for a round in January than a heater fighting a draught. Lighting matters too, since the working afternoon is short and a machine used in the dark needs to be seen. These are unglamorous purchases and they are the ones that quietly keep a fleet in service through the worst months.

• An enclosure or doors, which stop the wind chill that causes most winter complaints.
• Waterproof seat covers and a floor that drains, so nobody sits down in yesterday's rain.
• Covered parking overnight, which keeps both the seats and the pack in better condition.
• Working lights, because the useful part of a winter afternoon ends earlier than the work does.

The pack in the cold, and charging

Cold reduces the energy a battery will give you on the day, on any chemistry, and the effect is temporary rather than damage. Plan winter runs shorter and you will avoid most of the trouble. Lead-acid deserves particular care, because a pack sitting partly discharged in frost is at risk in a way a fully charged one is not, and a machine that stands all winter needs the maintenance routine from the maker rather than benign neglect.

Lithium adds one rule worth knowing before you find it out on a Monday morning. Most battery management systems restrict or block charging when the pack itself is near or below freezing, to protect the cells. The machine is not faulty and the charger is not broken. It needs the pack warmer, which usually means charging indoors or charging while the machine is still warm from use. Where a heater is fitted, it takes its share of the pack too, so the winter range planning starts lower again.

Fitting, fire and the rules that apply

The one absolute here is that no portable gas, paraffin or domestic heater belongs in a buggy cabin, whatever the weather is doing. They produce carbon monoxide, they are not designed to be moved while alight, and a fabric enclosure gives a flame everything it needs. A fuel-fired air heater is a different product entirely, and it still needs installing to the maker's instructions, with the exhaust routed clear and a carbon monoxide alarm inside any enclosed cabin.

Electrical heating wants the same care as any other accessory: a properly rated supply, a fuse at the source, and cable routed clear of anything that moves or gets hot. Beyond that, check who sets the requirements for your situation. A road-registered machine has construction requirements covering screens, demisting and wipers, which come from the vehicle approval rules rather than from a supplier. Your site may have its own policy on fuel-burning equipment in stores, and your insurer will have a view on modifications. Ask all three before fitting.

Common questions

Can you fit a heater to an electric golf buggy?

Yes, and the sensible options are narrower than the internet suggests. Heated seats and grips are straightforward on machines designed for them. A cabin heater only makes sense behind a proper enclosure. Fuel-fired air heaters exist and are an installation job with an exhaust and a carbon monoxide alarm. Start with what your maker offers or approves for your model.

How much range does a heater use?

Nobody can tell you honestly without knowing your machine, your pack and your route. An electric cabin heater is a real load and it runs while you are stationary, which the motor does not, and cold weather has already reduced what the pack will give. The way to find out is to run a normal day with the heater on and compare it with the same day without.

Why does my buggy windscreen mist up so quickly?

Because the moisture is coming from you and your wet clothing, and the screen is the coldest surface in the cabin. A sealed enclosure with no through-flow simply recycles that air. Get wet items out, let the cabin ventilate at the top, use an anti-mist product on clean plastic and keep a dedicated cloth in the machine rather than wiping with a wet sleeve.

Are heated seats better than a cabin heater?

On an open or lightly curtained machine, usually yes. Seat and grip heating warms the person directly and asks far less of the pack than heating air that blows straight out of the sides. A cabin heater only earns its place behind a full enclosure. Many sites end up fitting seat heating and spending the rest of the budget on stopping draughts.

Can I use a portable gas heater under the canopy?

No. Portable gas and paraffin heaters produce carbon monoxide, are not designed to be moved while alight, and a fabric enclosure around one is a serious fire risk. If you need combustion heating, it is a fixed fuel-fired unit installed to the maker's instructions with the exhaust routed clear of the cabin and a carbon monoxide alarm inside it.

Should I charge the buggy outside in freezing weather?

Ideally not, and with lithium it may simply refuse. Most battery management systems restrict charging when the pack is near or below freezing to protect the cells, so the machine wants to be warmer before it will accept a charge. Charge indoors where you can, or charge while the pack is still warm from use, and follow the maker's storage guidance over winter.