When many scooter and power-chair customers purchase batteries for their mobility devices, they do so with a plethora of misinformation and myths that can make battery sales and service more difficult for providers, such as Jack Parker, owner of Park-Er-Go, Norwich, NY.

Recently, a customer called Parker up complaining that he had taken advantage of her because she believed that less expensive car batteries and scooter batteries were the same. “I said, ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll come over, take them out, and give you your money back’...which I did,” Parker says.

Misinformation ranges from the belief that mobility batteries must be discharged completely before being recharged to the belief that they cannot be taken on aircraft. However, although the myths persist, more consumers are getting their facts straight thanks to better manufacturer and provider education. As a result, sales become easier, maintenance is reduced, and customers are happier.

One client of Park-Er-Go could be the poster boy for battery longevity thanks to the advice that Parker gave him. Many of Parker’s customers believe the myth that the less they use their batteries, the longer the batteries will last. In reality, batteries left unused for months slowly lose power and can sulfate or corrode, becoming useless. “I told him the day he bought his scooter that the more he uses it, the better it is for the scooter and for the batteries.”

The customer took the advice to heart and in the winter, when he cannot use his scooter, he puts it up on blocks and runs it anyway—an innovation devised by the customer, and not something that Parker told him to do.

Most batteries will last about 2 years and will probably take 400 to 700 recharges. “He’s been my customer since I started this business 11 years ago, and I’ve sold him one set of batteries,” Parker says.

Where Myths Come From
Of course, not all mobility battery customers are misinformed, and even some of the myths—though untrue today—have a basis in fact. Customer safety concerns are an example. Mobility batteries sold more than 20 years ago were much less reliable and safe than modern batteries. These earlier wet batteries had to be recharged regularly, and, while they were recharging, the batteries emitted volatile hydrogen gas. Another disadvantage was that the battery was an open-type design, which meant that its corrosive fluids could be spilled. In the 1980s, the development of the gel battery alleviated many of the safety issues—spillage and gas emission—plaguing the more primitive wet batteries. And in the 1990s, absorbed glass mat technology made gel batteries even more reliable.

However, even with better, safer, and more reliable technology the myths persist. One of the most prevalent is that a battery must be discharged completely before it is recharged. In reality, manufacturers recommend that batteries be charged after each day of use, whether or not they have been completely discharged. Modern batteries also include a cutoff feature, so once the battery is fully charged, it will discontinue drawing power from a wall socket.

Parker must often explain this, as well as the importance of often running a scooter or powerchair, to his “snowbird” customers who spend summers in New York and winters in Florida or other warm states. “A battery will discharge even though it is not activated,” Parker says. “I go [over] this a lot with my snowbirds who have a scooter down in Florida and one here in New York. They will go to Florida for 6 months and leave the [New York] scooter in the living room and never touch it until they get back.”

For 1 or 2 years, the batteries can survive being left idle for months, but eventually the plates within the batteries sulfate from the nonusage, Parker says. Occasionally, a customer will complain that Parker sold them a bad battery, but when Parker does a little detective work, he usually discovers that the problem is the misuse of the battery by the customer and not a defect in the product.

Fighting back with Facts
Other myths confronting providers include that power mobility batteries are not reimbursable by Medicare, that they will discharge if placed on concrete surfaces, and that they are only an overpriced version of a car battery. In response, manufacturers and providers have gotten better at supplying information to clients—the key to dispelling battery myths.

Erik Strader, PE, ATP, owner of Integrated Rehabilitation Systems, an assistive technology provider with locations in Dallas and Houston, points out that most battery manufacturers have good printed materials that can be used to educate scooter users on the ins and outs of battery maintenance. However, he doesn’t take any chances. Although most scooter users change their own batteries, to alleviate problems that might arise from installing the battery incorrectly, Strader’s technicians go to clients’ homes and install the battery for them.

Parker takes a similar precaution. With every new scooter package he sells, he includes a surge suppressor for charging the battery. "We’re up in the sticks, with low voltage, power spikes, power surges, and you have more of a tendency to burn out a charger if the unit happens to be plugged in under those conditions,” he says.

And though there are still clients who insist on buying car batteries because they are less expensive and recharging the battery only after it has been completely discharged, there is a growing number who are being guided by the facts. “I had a lady who brought her husband’s scooter over [because] he wanted me to check the batteries,” Parker says. “She said, ‘Well, they’re acting fine, I charge them every day...I read the manual.’”

C.A. Wolski is associate editor of Dealer/Provider.