The rise in popularity for electric scooters is showing no signs of slowing down and if anything, this popularity will continue to rise for a number of years.
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Whether it’s commuting to and from work, taking a trip to a coffee shop, or even picking up shopping, electric scooters are now being used for a wide variety of tasks and correct maintenance has now become essential as these vehicles are no longer considered ‘toys’.
Electric scooters usually come with a noticeable price tag and therefore it’s essential that you get the most for your money and take care of the scooter and one of the most important components that you need to maintain is the scooter’s battery.
To make your scooter battery last longer you should follow a few simple tasks. Firstly, never store your scooter with the battery left charging via a mains outlet, secondly, ensure that the battery is always stored and used at temperatures between 32 F° and 117 F° to prevent environmental damage and finally, ensure you charge your scooter regularly with recommendations being at least once per month whilst never letting it fall below a 10% charge on a daily basis.
Depending on your brand of scooter or the power of the battery that you use, if uncared for you could find yourself with a substantial cost when it comes to replacing these batteries and therefore you should read on to find out how you can best extend the battery life of your scooter.
Electric Scooter Battery Type
To understand how you can prolong your scooter’s battery life, it’s first important to understand what type of battery your scooter is using as this will then dictate the maintenance measures that you will need to use to preserve it.
The most common type of battery on most electric scooters now is a Lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery. These batteries have replaced the previous industry standard which was lead acid batteries and these were heavier, took longer to charge, and were more prone to damage.
As you can likely deduce, a Li-Ion battery is not only lighter and quicker to charge but it can hold and produce more energy whilst being smaller in overall product size. These batteries are therefore a clear advancement in technology over the years and with proper maintenance, you should be able to extend the battery life quite significantly.
How to Make Your Scooter Battery Last Longer
The standard battery life cycle for an electric scooter is 300 – 500 charge cycles which provides roughly 3,000 – 10,000 miles worth of use over a lifetime. This is an average and whilst you can certainly get more powerful (and expensive batteries) with longer run time, you can also get cheaper ones that will provide less.
Factoring in the average life cycle, a single charge for most of these scooters will give a usable time of 30 – 60 minutes per charge and can cover 15 – 30 miles depending on the specific brand or model.
Depending on your frequency of use, it’s in your best interest to extend the life cycle of these batteries and below we have some of the key tips that you need to utilize in order to make your battery last longer.
Keep It Charged
The easiest thing you can do to extend your scooter’s battery life is to always keep it charged. When we say always keep it charged we don’t mean constantly have it plugged in (as this can actually shorten the battery life) but always charge it after use.
It’s unlikely that someone will frequently use up the full charge on their scooter’s battery during use and if you do then it might be best to consider an upgrade. With moderate and frequent use you should always look to keep the battery sufficiently charged and not let it drop below 10%.
A general guide is to charge the battery immediately after use, though it’s also worth noting that you should allow the battery 30 minutes to cool down first so if we are being very specific, charge your battery 30 – 60 minutes after use.
Protect It From Extreme Temperatures
Protecting your scooter battery from extreme temperatures and weather conditions is an essential way of not only preserving and extending your battery life but also from preventing it from performing worse than the factory recommends.
Storing your scooter and battery in freezing temperatures can cause damage to the battery and leaving your battery under direct sunlight can also have equally damaging consequences.
Storage of your battery when it’s not in use is therefore very important to ensure your battery lasts as long as possible and you should store the battery in a dry place with a temperature between 32 F° and 117 F°.
Storage
We’ve just covered short term, daily storage for frequent use however, if you are going to be storing your scooter for a long period of time then you should make sure the battery is charged by roughly 50% and once stored it should then be charged regularly at least once per month.
This will prevent the battery from running low or flat which will then result in a lesser battery life in the long term.
Avoid Overcharging
We’ve mentioned the importance of not letting your battery run low or flat a few times now but it’s also just as important to not overcharge your battery by leaving it on charge for extended periods of time, especially overnight.
Overcharging your battery will not only shorten its life cycle but it could be prone to catching fire or overheating as this video below demonstrates.
This isn’t common and is not meant to scare anyone but it’s just to point out that overcharging a Li-Ion battery will not only reduce its longevity but it could also be a fire hazard, particularly if left unsupervised for a long period of time.
In Summary
The batteries on an electric scooter are now powerful but also quite expensive to replace. The warranty on a scooter’s battery is usually much shorter than the warranty on the scooter itself and therefore you’ll want to maintain the battery not just to get full use out of it but also to avoid a potentially expensive replacement sooner than you need to!
It’s also worth pointing out that while the recommended battery life cycle is 300 – 500 full charges on average, this is only for optimal performance. After 500 charges your battery and scooter will still operate but at a reduced capacity meaning it could see a 10% drop in how long a charge lasts followed by a 20% drop in time.
As long as you follow the above steps, however, you should be able to ensure your battery lasts a long time for repeated use.