A customer comes in and says ?I'm looking for a 12 volt scooter?. The first question I ask is, ?who is this scooter for?? If it is for anyone older than say, six, then I need to explain a few things so that they understand what they are asking for. What's in a volt and what role do they play with your electric scooters?

By definition, a volt is The International System unit of electric potential and electromotive force, equal to the difference of electric potential between two points on a conducting wire carrying a constant current of one ampere when the power dissipated between the points is one watt. According to the ?American Heritage Dictionary ? .

What we dealers look at is how much power the battery system will supply to get the job done efficiently.

Electric Scooters used to be based on a single 12 volt system, (One 12 volt battery). That was simple, and was consistent throughout the industry. Over the years, electric powered scooters have evolve into 24 volt, 36 volt and even 48 volt systems. Much more to choose from and much more variety have come about.

The amount of total voltage does play an integral role in which scooter your should purchase. The amount of voltage, combined with the number of watts your motor is will determine how far, how fast and how much weight your scooter can carry without dieing out or burning up.

The traditional 12 volt system. Now-a-days, the small kids electric scooters are single twelve volt systems. As you increase in wattage, that is how many watts of power that is generated by your electric scooter engine, the more juice that is required to power that engine more efficiently.

As with all things, the need for speed kicked in and the manufacturers had to find a way to get more out of their electric powered scooters. An overnight sensation was the advent of the 24 volt system. Originally it was a single 24 volt battery, but The 24 volt battery was a bit large and cumbersome. Now a days, your 24 volt system consists of a dual pair of 12 volt batteries chained together. This is known as a trickle charge system.

A trickle-charge system where two or more 12 volt batteries are simultaneously connected and then the whole system runs the engine, as well as any other add-ons that you have on your electric powered scooter. Each battery in the set gives off a little voltage at a time, and charges the same way. The best thing about the trickle charge system, in our opinion, is that if a battery goes bad, you don't have to replace all of them. 99.9% of the time, you only need to replace one. If anyone tells you that you need to replace all of them, they just want your money.

The traditional electric powered scooter that has all the extras will be either a 24 volt system or for the heavy duty and longer lasting electric scooters, you will get a much better setup with a 36 volt system.

The higher voltage systems provide more power to carry more weight farther. With a 24 volt system, your average electric powered scooter can travel for about ten to fifteen miles; if you're lucky. The 36 volt systems have been able to reach as far as twenty-five to even thirty miles on a single charge. There are some 48 volt systems out there that can travel up to thirty-five miles on a single charge, by those are few.

As you can see, voltage does make a difference when you are talking about the actual distance and the distance that your electric scooter will take you before needing more juice.

About The Author:

M.S. owns TM-MotorWorks Scooter Store and services electric scooters. They feature the electric powered scooter as well as Gas Powered Scooters