Battery Vehicle Society

We've been looking at electric mobility scooters with my father who has problems with ill-health and needs some help on longer distances.

He's after something that can folded and be put in the back of the car (a Ford Fusion) and ideally something that can be used both on-road and off.

The problem is my dad is very tall - some 6'4" and most scooters are too small for him.

I've been horrified by some of the rubbish that is out there. My dad's just bought a 'Shop Rider'. It's got the two front wheels very close together so it's little more than a three wheeler. The batteries are useless and packed up as soon as it left the shop: there is not enough power to go along a flat road let alone a slight incline.

We replaced the batteries, which have improved it slightly. However, as well as a throttle control there is a power knob that you need to fiddle with in order to tune the performance so the power guage doesn't drop into the red all the time, and the braking is done purely with regeneration: turn the power knob down to restrict the power, you also restrict the braking capability and take the thing down a slope and you can't stop.

This really is horrendous. We've seen some other ones but they seem to be little better and at the price, surely there should be something better out there?

Everything I've seen is very crude and basic, not even coming up to the standards of the very worst electric bikes currently on the market.

Surely there has to be something better out there? But I'm damned if I can find it...

Hmmm the little I know of them they do appear to me to be a bit of a racket.

My Dad used to design aids for the elderly and disabled so I may rattle his cage a bit but he himself is getting on. It would be a project he'd like to do I'm sure but we do clash a lot so I won't go rushing to suggest it to him. There is a very good piece of kit that someone from the Electric Boat Association has which can even climb mountains but I suspect it's megga bucks. I think it's called something like StrolaRoamer

From what I know (very little) you are best off going for an older type, and stick new batteries in it.

The one I modified into a go-kart for my daughter is so robust; it must be 15 years old, and it takes a hammering everytime we have a party! We have time trials around the garden, adults and children all join in! It did over heat once, but after hours of use.

It weighs a ton, though. It could be folded down easily, and the rear drive unit seperated, but that part alone weighed 30kg or so.

I would look for 2nd hand ones on ebay or gumtree.

Yep I'd agree find a old one, yeah they are heavy but they are way better than some of the new stuff.

Do remember the light weights are mainly designed for shopping centers and thats about it.

Recently revamped a oldie for someone and the replacement batteries alone topped in @ 35kgs on their own but it does have the range of around 20 miles also full suspension.

Look for a class 3 one

ChrisB

MikeBoxwell wrote:We've been looking at electric mobility scooters with my father who has problems with ill-health and needs some help on longer distances.

He's after something that can folded and be put in the back of the car (a Ford Fusion) and ideally something that can be used both on-road and off.

The problem is my dad is very tall - some 6'4" and most scooters are too small for him.

I've been horrified by some of the rubbish that is out there. My dad's just bought a 'Shop Rider'. It's got the two front wheels very close together so it's little more than a three wheeler. The batteries are useless and packed up as soon as it left the shop: there is not enough power to go along a flat road let alone a slight incline.

We replaced the batteries, which have improved it slightly. However, as well as a throttle control there is a power knob that you need to fiddle with in order to tune the performance so the power guage doesn't drop into the red all the time, and the braking is done purely with regeneration: turn the power knob down to restrict the power, you also restrict the braking capability and take the thing down a slope and you can't stop.

This really is horrendous. We've seen some other ones but they seem to be little better and at the price, surely there should be something better out there?

Everything I've seen is very crude and basic, not even coming up to the standards of the very worst electric bikes currently on the market.

Surely there has to be something better out there? But I'm damned if I can find it...

what you have written does surprise me,as shoprider scooters are quite good. although basic.
and all the ones ive encountered have solenoid brakes as standard and unless faulty will stop the scooter going downhill once the throttle is released.
as for turning down the power control affecting the braking that should not happen.

Well, the ShopRider went back to the shop where it was bought. New batteries were fitted and then a new controller as well. Since then, it's a big improvement.

For sure, it's still a fairly basic mobility scooter, but at least it now does what it is supposed to do. The brakes work - although they're vague compared to wheel brakes - and it does a reasonable job.

Range isn't great though - you're struggling to do more than 4 miles, which was not enough for a trip around the classic car show at the NEC.

I still think there ought to be something better out there...

Mike what Ah batteries does it have in it ??

ChrisB

2 x 12v 14a/hour batteries. I'm designing a removable battery pack so you can take a second set of batteries with the scooter. They'll be 7a/hour batteries to keep them comparatively lightweight.

Regarding all the comments about older scooters - the problem is weight. The scooter needs to be easy to get in and out of a car.

I have to say, I am so unimpressed with this particular scooter I've got half a mind to design my own: I'm convinced I couldn't do a worse job than this Shoprider scooter.

The only problem is time.....

How did you get on with this in the end MB, I sort of forgot about this thread over time

Just wondered if you thought about bunging a set of Lipo's in it, certainly a couple of weedy 14ah units wont exactly give it exciting performance or range

ChrisB

I designed a separate pack that you could plug into the scooter so you could have two sets of lead acid batteries running in parallel, but we didn't get to implement it... for one very good reason: my dad's medication and fitness regime worked and he's not had to use the scooter for the past eight months. He's getting better and better all the time: yesterday he had a minor operation on his foot and today he was striding about at a goodly pace without a walking stick for the first time in almost two years.

So, I'm delighted to say that the project is on the back-burner. I'm hoping it will remain on the back-burner for many, many years to come.