How Much Does a Electric Scooter Battery Cost?

Probably, the most expensive part of an electric scooter is the battery. Yes, it’s more expensive, in most cases, than the scooter’s engine itself. But how much does it cost? Well, the answer depends on your specific model of course. Some are more expensive than others.

The most important factor in price is the power of the battery. I will list here some examples of batteries.

How much does an electric battery cost?

An electric scooter battery costs between 150$ and up to 300$ for an average model.

The typical price of a battery will be from 1/3 to half the price of the electric scooter.

• Xiaomi Mija M365 Electric Scooter Battery – Around $150.00 on China websites, but it’s very hard to find
• E-Twow Master Electric Scooter Battery – MASTER S2 24V 8,5Ah E-Twow – 300$
• Super Booster S2 Battery 33V 8.5 Ah E-Twow, also known as Uscooter Booster Plus S+ – 300$
• Battery ECO S2 24v 6,5Ah E-Twow – 260 $
• E-Twow Booster Electric Scooter Battery – ~200$

Where to find electric scooter batteries for replacement?

Finding replacement batteries is not such an easy task as it may seem. I don’t know why, but they seem difficult to find. Best places to find battery replacements for Chinese models is probably AliExpress or Alibaba (but on Alibaba, you often need to buy more than 1).

I found almost no batteries on Amazon, some on eBay and more by searching for manufacturer sites. You can search on Google for “[your_model] spare parts” and try to find the manufacturer website or a site that sells battery spares.

If your manufacturer provides batteries, I suggest getting the batteries from them and also ask for installation. Even if it’s not free, at least you will benefit from scooter’s warranty which is typically longer than battery warranty.

On my scooter, the battery warranty is 1 year or 1000 km or 621 miles and for the scooter’s engine and other parts is 2 years or 2000 km or 1242 miles.

Battery position

The battery on an electric scooter is either in the handlebar stem or under the scooter’s deck. Having the battery under the deck usually gives the scooter more stability and more control. The battery is heavy and when placed in the handlebar stem it can affect the comfort of your ride.

1 – Battery placed in the handlebar stem, usually the handlebar stem will be thick in this case

2 – Battery placed under the scooter’s deck

Why is the cost so high?

Well, the technology behind batteries is most often Lipo or Lithium-Polymer. In recent times, the price of Lithium increased a lot due to its usage in electronics and battery production. Today, a lot of things use batteries (even cars like Tesla and many others) so they need Lithium.

But that’s not all. Cobalt price is driving battery prices even higher than Lithium. Most of the Cobalt is produced by a single country (Democratic Republic of Congo). As cobalt is acting as a negative cathode for this Lipo batteries, we need it.

Cobalt is far more expensive than Lithium and the fact is that after Congo which has (66000 tons production) the next is China with only 7700 tons.

There are a lot of types of batteries. Some use other materials, but the cathode material is the main responsible for the high price.

Tesla tries to produce its own batteries in big factories (Giga Factories) to get a lower price for batteries.

How much can you expect them to last?

Xiaomi uses batteries from LG, which are pretty high-quality. They don’t specify the minimum number of cycles that the batteries should last. But they say the batteries will go up to 1000 charging cycles. Finally, they will lose about 70% of their capacity. (280Wh total battery power, 37.41V output voltage, and 7800mAh)

E-Twow or Uscooter batteries are lithium polymer and they say in the user manual that can resist a minimum of 500 charges. If used normally, they say it can resist up to 1000 charges. That’s more than enough for a scooter. Their batteries cost between 200-250$ depending on the model (Master or Booster).

The S2 Master has a 24V and 8.5 Amps, while the Boster has a 33V and 6.5 Amps battery.

Charging time for a Master is 1-2 hours and for a Booster it’s 2-3 hours.

The Booster has more power due to a higher voltage of the batter (and the engine) but the autonomy is less and charging time is (1 hour) bigger.

Please note that not all lithium polymer batteries last between 500 and 1000 charges. It depends a lot on the manufacturer of the battery and their quality.

Ok, but what does that really mean?

Ok, back to the numbers.

500 charges with 20 km autonomy mean:

• 10000 km
• 1000 days with 10 km/day or 500 days with 20km/day
• 500 hours of riding at 20 km/h or 20 days
• 1000 rides to work and back (given a 10 km/day ride), 500 rides to work for a (20 km/day ride)

1000 charges with 20km autonomy mean:

• 20000 km
• 2000 days with 10 km/day or 1000 days with 20km/day
• 1000 hours of riding at 20km/h or 41 days
• 2000 rides to work and back (given a 10 km/day ride), 1000 rides to work for a (20 km/day ride)

So these are the worst and the best-case scenarios. Your results may be even better. The Xiaomi has an autonomy of 30 km (but in Eco mode only) and E-Twow’s or UScooters have 30 and 40-45 km autonomy (again, probably at lower speeds).

The best autonomy is at about 12 mph or 19 km/h. Actually, it’s the optimum speed. Of course, you will get better autonomy riding with 3 mph or 5 km/h but it’s not a practical speed to ride.

You can see that the battery will last a lot, so the cost of the battery shouldn’t be a decisive factor in getting an electric scooter.

Want more autonomy? Use this simple trick

If you want your battery to last more and have a longer life, try this simple trick. Always when you start from 0 mph or km/h, give it a little help by two pushes with your leg. This will get your electric scooter to about 5-6 mph or  8-10 km/h and accelerate only after reaching this speed. 2 pushes with your leg should be enough to reach that speed.

The most power is consumed by the scooter when starting off. Giving it a little help you may extend your battery’s autonomy a lot.

How to maintain it well

When you get your electric scooter, don’t ride it right away. I know it’s fun and I’ve been tempted to go for a ride as soon as I got my hands on it, but it’s not such a good idea. Your battery charging level can be low, and even if it’s charged, most manufacturers recommend charging it 100% for the first use. Even if the scooter’s menu says it’s 100%, it’s probably not.

If it seems that the battery doesn’t last as much as the manufacturer says, don’t rush to return it. It usually takes about 3 cycles of charging for the battery to be 100% functional.

Storage conditions

In order to extend your battery life when you are not actively using the scooter, like in wintertime you need to be careful at this rule. Charge it at least once at three months. This will prolong the battery’s lifespan and will maintain the battery fully functional.

Keep it away from a wet environment, excessive heat or cold. Even if the cold, in theory, will prolong the battery life, it can lead to condensation inside the battery which can damage it.

These been said, the best storage temperature is at room temperature in a dry environment, away from sunlight or other things that can damage it, like kids. I recommend keeping it in a room where there are at least 60 Fahrenheit degrees (15 degrees Celsius) constantly.

Before storing it for a long time, it’s recommended to clean it in order to avoid parts damage, rust, and other corrosions.

Heat vs Cold

Cold temperature is, in theory, better for storing a battery. But, there is a problem with cold temperatures. Due to cold temperatures, condensation is likely to form inside the battery.

Condensation is a process that destroys the battery, so while, in a perfect environment (humidity) cold temperatures will perform better for storing, in reality, room temperature is still the best.

Charging Temperature

When charging your battery it’s temperature will increase significantly. It’s not recommended to go for a ride right after charging it. Also, it’s not recommended to charge it right after using your scooter because when riding the battery temperature will go up.

So, let the battery adapt to the room temperature for at least 15 minutes before charging. This way, you will prolong your battery’s life.

How to replace it?

Replacing it wouldn’t be so hard, but it may need replacement by the manufacturer if the scooter is still under warranty.

Most batteries are under the peddle or in the head tube. Replacing the ones in the peddle compartment will need some simple steps:

1. Unscrew the screws holding the battery compartment cover
2. Unplug the battery connectors
3. Get the battery out
4. Install the new battery
5. Connect the wires like they were before
6. Put back the battery cover

If your battery is in the head tube, you will probably need to get the handlebars out and get the battery out through the tube’s head.

This video below is probably not for your type of electric scooter, but the steps may be almost identical for every scooter.

 

Can I use batteries from other brands?

Usually, the battery warranty is less than the overall electric scooter’s warranty. Replacing your batteries with nonstandard (not OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer) ones can void the warranty and even affect other parts of the scooter.

Remember that your electric scooter was tested with this particular type of battery. Besides the voltage and amperage, their quality will determine how long they last, how much they heat, current spikes, etc.

My recommendation and the manufacturer recommendation is to get only original batteries for your scooter. More than this, some scooters have some sort of protection to prevent the usage of non-standard batteries.

Replacing battery cells?

While this can be a good idea sometimes, I’m not sure it will work with all models. You can try to keep the old battery controller and replace only the cells (the small batteries inside) which are more generic. But, sometimes this trick doesn’t work because the controller somehow stores the state of the cells.

It may worth trying if your warranty is gone and you can’t find a cheap battery online.

Can I use an after-market charger?

Again, not a good idea. The manufacturer prohibits this in the user manual, and it won’t be as easy to find one with the same connector and same amperage/voltage. You may be better off with the original one.

The original charger also has a charging protection function. So when the battery is full, it will stop the charging automatically and will a green light will light up. (The charging one is, usually, red).

While the Xiaomi Mijia M365 takes about 5.5 to fully charge, mine (E-Twow Booster or Uscooter Booster) charges in a maximum time of 3 hours. Which is great considering the battery autonomy.

Like the battery, keep it away from water, humidity, or other abnormal factors that can damage it.

Conclusion

The battery is a pretty expensive part of an electric scooter, and like in all other tech applications (like cars, smartphones, solar panels, etc) the technology is not so advanced. With new technology coming, the price will probably be lower and more affordable.

Buuut, I don’t think you should worry about it too much. Even if the price is about 1/3 or half of the scooter price, the battery usually lasts for at least one year and a half or two depending on the usage conditions.

For example, my autonomy is said to be 30 km. (it’s at 75 kg, without wind, etc., so a bit lower in reality) Even so, with 20 km range and 500 (guaranteed charges), I can do 10.000 km! That’s a lot considering an electric scooter. If I divide that to the distance to work, I can go to work 909 times! Or 2.5 years every day.

With an average speed of 20 km/hour, I can ride for 500 hours or 20 days non-stop. And that’s with 500 cycles only. It is supposed to resist a lot more.

If you’re using your scooter as a “last-mile” vehicle, you will need to charge it only once a week or so.