Electric vehicles are popular for their environmental friendliness and convenience, and have become so widespread that almost every household owns one. If you ride every day, do you know what to pay attention to when maintaining the battery?

1. Ride daily, charge daily

Lead-acid batteries have no memory effect. The rapid loss of capacity is mainly due to sulfation, water loss and discharged storage. A battery fears falling below its protection voltage most. If it is often left discharged, the plates are easily damaged. In reality, up to 70% of the capacity loss in electric vehicle batteries is caused by the strong starting current stretching the plates during discharge, which is especially obvious on electric motorcycles. Plate stretching is physical damage that cannot be repaired. Therefore, ride daily and charge daily, keeping the battery at full voltage at all times.

2. Use a gentle start

The starting current of an electric vehicle is large, and even larger for electric motorcycles with high-power motors. High current damages the battery plates badly. The best practice is to get the vehicle moving a little like a bicycle before switching on the power. Of course many electric motorcycles have no pedals, in which case nothing can be done.

3. Deep-discharge the battery once a quarter

After a period of use, some active material of a battery will inevitably settle. If the active material is not activated in time, the capacity will suffer. So for regularly used electric vehicles, give the battery a deep discharge once every quarter.

4. Check the charger often

Charging a new battery usually takes 6-8 hours, and the charger turns green when full. If charging takes too long, check whether the voltage protection device of the charger is damaged, and replace the charger in time, otherwise the battery can easily be ruined by overcharging. Besides, do not buy fast chargers, because fast charging also damages the battery plates.

5. Use a battery protector early

A battery protector is a pulse generator. Continuous pulses remove sulfation and keep the plates clean, thus extending battery life, though it does little against plate damage from high current.

6. If the battery is unused for a long time, charge it at least once a month.

This prevents sulfation and discharged storage caused by long idle time.

7. Keep the battery out of direct sun

Direct sunlight raises the battery temperature, so be careful.