Most veteran electric scooter riders have been there – wanting to get up and ride their e-scooter but unfortunately, there is little time remaining to fully charge it.
What then can you do to make your electric scooter charge faster?
It’s a Frequently Asked Question.
If slow charging is a problem is your nightmare, then this blog post contains tested and proven ways to accelerate the charging time.
Table Of Contents
1) Use dual chargers whenever possible
Most high-end electric scooters (think of Vsett 11+, Wolf King GT Pro, Yume X7, or even Emove Cruiser) come with dual charging ports.
Dual charging ports are awesome when it comes to accelerating the charging times.
Under most circumstances, these electric scooters come with a standard and fast charger.
When you use the two at the same time, then you can reduce the overall charging time from say 9 hours to 5 hours depending on your e-scooter.
There are other e-scooters that come with single charging ports, though.
With these, you can use a fast charger whenever possible.
To know if yours supports it, you may get in touch with the manufacturer if the manual doesn’t suggest something of that kind.
2) Use the original charger
It may happen that your charger gets spoilt or lost.
The best way to ensure that you are using the right charger is by contacting the manufacturer and asking for another.
If for some reason you cannot find it from the manufacturer, then you will need to ensure that the charger you are getting is similar to the original one.
A great way to go about it is by looking at the connector and the kind of output (DC or AC).
Some of the connectors available in the market today are GX16-3P, XT60, USB, XLR, and DC coaxial.
An important point to note is that if you have the wrong charging output or connector, the charger won’t work.
Similarly, if you use the wrong charger, the charging time may be slower.
Also Read: Make your electric scooter go faster
3) Turn off the e-scooter as you charge
An electric scooter will charge faster when turned off than when it’s on.
While you may be tempted to let it stay on while charging so that you may listen to music or even keep on checking on the power percentage as it adds up, it’s better when you keep checking the charger’s lights.
Most chargers will have their lights turning green when the e-scooter is charged and red when not yet.
Try as much as you can to charge the e-scooter when it’s off.
4) Charge the e-scooter properly
Did you know that there is a proper way to charge an e-scooter? If you follow the best practices to the letter, you will be surprised to find that the overall charging time is greatly reduced.
- Start off by plugging the charger into the socket first. You will need to ensure that the socket is in an area with sufficient airflow. This way, the charging capacitors are safer.
- Plug the charging capacitor to the electric scooter’s charging ports. Depending on the type of connector, you will need to be extremely careful at this point. Poor plugging in may lead to the connector getting fried.
- It would be best if you unplug the charger after the battery percentage reaches 80% (or 100% if you are commuting for long). Between 35 to 80% is a great charging percentage to enhance the battery’s longevity.
- The best way to cut off charging is by removing the charger first from the e-scooter and then from the wall.
When you charge your e-scooter properly, it will charge faster in the sense that optimal charging conditions are met.
5) Charge it in a cool, dry place
If your charging station is in a sunny place, it’s best to avoid it when in the quest to charge your scooter.
When it’s hot, the charger also tends to overheat and this makes charging relatively slower.
Besides, hot places may lead the battery to overheat, which can lead to the battery bursting or the risk of causing a fire.
6) Clean out the charging port
In case you didn’t know, you may have a properly functioning charger, a great battery, but still have the e-scooter charging slowly.
Lint, dust, and mud are three of the leading types of dirt that may cause charging slower, and especially when the scooter has no charging port cap or when it’s broken.
To clean dirt properly, you will need to ensure that the charging port is completely dry.
After that, a piece of toothpick comes really handy to gently remove debris from the charging port (s).
7) Inspect the battery
If the charger works perfectly, then the problem could be with the battery.
Since most electric scooters come with Lithium batteries nowadays, ensuring that the battery is in perfect condition rocks.
When internal corrosion occurs especially during charging and discharging, then there may be affected cells.
Damaged cells may mean that the charging time gets slower.
The best choice you are left with at this point is to replace your e-scooter battery.
8) Don’t completely discharge the battery
As some store their electric scooters for winter, they charge their gadgets fully and take them for recharging after the season.
However, this isn’t recommended at all as it causes the discharging of the battery.
Instead, it’s best to leave the battery at a maximum of 80% charge.
After a maximum of 30 days, recharge the battery to the same percentage until winter goes.
Complete discharging leads to the oxidation of the battery cells, which in turn leads to slow charging time and more power consumption of the battery.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why an electric scooter may be charging slowly.
If you are using dual chargers, the original charger, and you take care of your ride, then the charging time should be as per the manufacturer’s specifications.
Importantly, ensure that you charge your ride well and that all the parts are inspected to be functioning properly.
That way, you will make your electric scooter charge faster.