Electric vehicles use lead-acid batteries with a service life of usually 2-3 years, and the cost of replacing the battery becomes the biggest expense in using an electric vehicle. So how can you properly maintain and use the battery to extend its life?

1. Protect the charger

For cost reasons, most chargers today have no vibration-resistant design; once a charger is vibrated, the potentiometer inside drifts, causing the parameters to drift and the charging state to become abnormal. Therefore, the charger generally should not be kept in the trunk or basket of the vehicle. If it must be carried, wrap it well with plastic foam to reduce vibration and jolting. Keep the charger ventilated while charging.

2. Charge often and charge early

Many people think that charging an electric vehicle battery before it is fully discharged is bad for the battery. In fact, this misunderstanding comes from everyday household nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries (such as phone batteries), which have a memory effect due to their chemical structure. Most electric vehicles, however, use lead-acid batteries, which contain lead plates and acid and behave differently from nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride batteries. When charging, these batteries form lead oxides; when discharging, a reduction reaction occurs that forms lead sulfate. When the battery is deeply discharged and the concentration of lead sulfate becomes too high, the battery easily sulfates and its capacity drops. The way to avoid this is to charge often and to avoid high-current discharge.

Once the battery is discharged, sulfation begins, and obvious sulfation appears after 12 hours. If it is not charged in time, the sulfate crystals will accumulate and gradually form large crystals; ordinary chargers cannot deal with these large crystals, and the capacity falls. Charging in time can remove mild sulfation. In particular, when the battery must sit unused for a long time, first charge it fully and then recharge it regularly, generally once every 1-2 months, keeping the charge as full as possible.

3. Mind the charging environment and avoid overheating

Most chargers are designed for an ambient temperature of 25°C, and charging is best at 25°C. But in summer

when the temperature is too high, the battery automatically opens its valve to release gas, losing water and raising the concentration of lead sulfate inside, which causes sulfation. So try to avoid exposing the battery to direct sunlight; when charging, place the battery and charger in a ventilated environment and avoid long overcharging.

In winter in the north, take special care. When the battery is brought from outdoors indoors, condensation appears on its surface. To avoid leakage caused by condensation, charge it only after its temperature rises to near the room temperature and it has dried.

4. Periodic deep discharge

Giving the battery a periodic deep discharge helps activate it and can slightly increase its capacity. A common method is to fully discharge the battery regularly. To fully discharge it, ride on flat ground under a normal load until the first low-voltage protection is triggered. After the first low-voltage protection, the voltage will rise again after a while and the battery returns to a non-low-voltage state; using it again at that point harms the battery greatly. You should charge the battery after a full discharge.

5. Ride the electric vehicle correctly

Start slowly, accelerate gently, carry light loads, and keep a steady speed. High-current discharge easily causes sudden lead-sulfate crystallization near the electrodes, which both ages the battery and wastes energy. So when starting, do not turn the throttle all the way, and try to avoid rapid acceleration and overloading. While riding, keep a steady speed according to road conditions; avoid crowded roads, routes with many traffic lights, or routes with many bridges, and avoid braking, accelerating, and climbing in turn. When riding an electric vehicle with pedals, use pedal assistance when starting, accelerating, going uphill, or riding against the wind, or slow down to reduce the output power of the battery.

The ideal situation is to accelerate slowly when setting out, then keep a constant speed on the road, and release the throttle as you near the destination, letting the vehicle glide to a stop by inertia; this saves the most power. Of course, real life cannot be so idealized, so riders should try to choose favorable conditions and keep good riding habits, so as to reduce the loss of charge and the damage to battery life.