What Battery Will Work Best for Your Electric Skateboard?

The battery is what powers the motor. So, without that, you just have a manual skateboard. To ensure you can travel long distances without needing to charge it constantly, you need a battery with the most watt hours possible. The more hours, the farther you can travel. If the battery doesn’t say how many watt hours it provides, you’ll need the number of ampere hours (aH) and the volts to figure it out. It’s a pretty simple calculation.

But before we get to all that, let’s look at a few of the best electric skateboard batteries on the market.

L-Faster Electric Bike Lithium Battery

The L-Faster Electric Bike Lithium Battery has 36 volts, 12 Ah, and a charging time of six hours. It will give you quite a bit of range, but not enough that you’ll be able to travel long distances. On this battery, you most likely won’t travel more than 20 miles on one charge. The battery also comes in a blue battery bag to keep it safe from any debris or dust. As a plus, it includes its own charger, so you don’t have to buy a separate one

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Maxfind LG Li-ion Battery

The Maxfind LG Li-ion Battery has 2.2 Ah and 36 volts with 79.2 watt hours. The more watt hours, the longer you can travel – so this battery will take you at least a few miles without needing to be charged. Because of the lower Ah count, it won’t last as long as a more powerful battery. It includes a blue bag to ensure no debris or dust messes with the components of the battery.

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What to Look for in an Electric Skateboard Battery

When searching for an electric skateboard battery, the first thing to decide is if you want a lithium ion battery (Li-ion) or a lithium polymer battery (Lipo). A Li-ion battery is more expensive, safer, and lasts longer. The Lipo is less expensive and doesn’t have as much voltage, but is less safe and could catch on fire if misused. A Lipo also needs the user to drain the battery when it’s being stored. That’s a lot of maintenance.

The next thing to look for is the number of volts and the number of ampere hours. Once you have that, all that’s necessary is to multiply the two numbers together; this gives you the watt hours. The watt hours will then tell you how long (in distance) the battery will last until it needs to be charged. One watt hour equals ⅔ of a kilometer. Decide how far you’d like your skateboard to travel on a single charge, and then look for the power of battery you’ll need. It’s that simple.

Next, you should ensure your battery is compatible with your motor. You want the voltage of the battery to be less or equal to the voltage of your motor. You can shorten-out your motor very easily if the number of volts in your battery are higher than the motor.

Finally, verify that whatever enclosure you end up using is big enough for the battery you choose. You must secure the battery inside the enclosure, but you don’t want it to be too tight. You can make an enclosure yourself with a 3D printer or use a simple metal box that can be mounted onto the undercarriage of the board.