Batteries for electric scooters: a technical guide

Batteries for electric scooters

You can think of the battery as the motor, lights, controller, and other accessories of your electric scooter as the “fuel tank.” The battery stores all the energy that is used by them.

Due to their extremely high energy density and longevity, lithium ion batteries are typically used in electric Scooter battery. Lead-acid batteries are commonly found in electric scooters for kids and other inexpensive models. Batteries for scooters are made up of cells and electronics, known as battery management systems, which keep them safe.

An electric scooter with a larger battery pack will travel farther thanks to its higher watt hour capacity. They also make the scooter more heavy and bulky – decreasing its portability. In addition, batteries are among the most expensive scooter components, so the overall cost increases as well.

Batteries types

An e-scooter battery pack is made up of 18650 Li-ion cells. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Individual battery cells make up e-scooter batteries. Specifically, they are made of 18650 cells, a size classification for lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries with cylindrical dimensions of 18mm x 65mm.

In a battery pack, each 18650 cell produces an electric potential of *3.6 volts (nominal) and has a capacity of about 2.6 amp hours (2.6 A*h) or about 9.4 watt hours (9.4 Wh).

Batteries operate between 3.0 volts (0% charge) and 4.2 volts (100% charge).

(INR, NMC) Lithium Manganese

The INR battery chemistry is one of the safest chemistries used in quality electric scooters. The battery provides high power and current output. The manganese present in the battery lowers its internal resistance, enabling the battery to deliver a high current at low temperatures. Because of this, the battery is less likely to overheat and fire.

WePed GT 50e and Dualtron models are two electric scooters with INR chemistry.

Asbestos

In cars and some larger electric vehicles, such as golf carts, lead-acid batteries are typically used. Some electric scooters come with these batteries, including cheaper children’s models from companies like Razor.

Lead-acid batteries are inexpensive, but suffer from having very poor energy density, meaning they weigh more than their energy capacity. Compared to lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries have a tenfold higher energy density.

Batteries

A brick-like structure is made by assembling many individual 18650 Li-ion cells together to create a battery pack with hundreds or thousands of watt hours of capacity. An electronic circuit known as a battery management system (BMS) controls the flow of electricity into and out of the brick-like battery pack.

A comparison of parallel and series battery connections. The photo is from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Batteries are made up of individual cells that are connected in series (end to end) and whose voltage is summed. In this way, it is possible to have scooters with 36V, 48V, 52V, 60V, or even larger battery packs.

A parallel connection is then made between these individual strands (many batteries in series).

Manufacturers of electric scooters can increase output voltage, max current, and amp hour capacity by adjusting the number of series and parallel cells.

Battery configuration changes do not increase total energy stored, but they allow a battery to provide greater range and lower voltage and vice versa.

Voltage and remaining percentage

The voltage of each cell in a battery pack can range from 0 volts (zero charge) to 4.2 volts (100% charge).

In other words, a 36 V battery pack (with 10 batteries in series) can be operated from 30 V (0% charge) to 42 volts (100% charge). We have a battery voltage chart that shows the relationship between % remaining and battery voltage for every type of battery.