The removable pack: charging, storage and the airline question

All five of our power chairs use a removable lithium pack. That single design choice decides a surprising amount of the user's daily experience — and most listings mention it only as a bullet point.

What removable actually buys you

• Charging anywhere. The pack comes out and goes to a socket. No cable trailing across a hallway to reach the chair.
• Charging upstairs. A user who lives in a flat can carry 2 kg of battery up instead of 25 kg of chair.
• Swappable range. A second pack doubles the day. For rental fleets this is the difference between one chair per customer and one chair per shift.
• Air travel. The pack is what the airline assesses, not the chair.

The watt-hour line, again

Our packs are 24 V, offered at 6, 12 and 20 Ah:

• 6 Ah → 144 Wh
• 12 Ah → 288 Wh
• 20 Ah → 480 Wh

The commonly applied limit for a lithium battery fitted to a mobility aid is 300 Wh per battery, with one or two spares depending on the carrier. 144 and 288 sit under it. 480 does not. If your customer flies, the 20 Ah pack is the wrong default, however good the range figure looks.

Storage is the part nobody documents

A lithium pack that sits at 100 % in a warehouse for six months will not perform like a fresh one. Practical rules to pass on to your customer:

• Store at roughly half charge if the chair will not be used for weeks.
• Do not store below freezing or in a car in direct sun.
• Top up every few months — a deeply discharged pack may not wake up.
• Charge before first use if the pack shipped at storage voltage.

What to check on the sample

Take the pack out with one hand while the chair is on a slope, with the brake engaged. It should come out without tools and without the chair moving. Then check the connector: a pack that needs force to seat will eventually be forced in wrong, and that is a warranty claim waiting to happen.