The Xiaomi M365 electric scooter comes equipped with a 42 volt Li-ion rechargeable battery and a 42 volt 1.7 Amp charger.
A great deal of people has grown accustomed to the specific handling and charging of older type batteries, such as NiCd or lead acid. These methods do not apply to Li-ion batteries, yet, still lots of folks use them (quite inappropriately) on these batteries. Doing this is not only silly, but it may also lead to battery damage.
How long does it take to charge Xiaomi M365?
It takes about 5 hours to fully charge the scooter using the original wall plug-in charger. If using third-party chargers with lower amperage (Amps), the time to a complete charge will be extended.
When should I charge my Xiaomi M365
Lithium-ion batteries do not handle complete discharges too well. In other words, you should try to avoid completely discharging your battery. For this reason, I usually charge my battery when it gets down to 10-20% of its full capacity.
Since intermittent charging (more on this below) is completely allowed with Li-ion cells, it is perfectly fine to charge the battery when it is at 30%, 50%, 80%, etc. of capacity. The most important point is to avoid discharging it completely.
Ok, so we have talked about when to charge the battery. Now, let’s say a few words about when NOT to charge it. Avoid charging the scooter at temperature extremes. Li-ion batteries do not work well at temperature extremes and for this reason you should avoid charging them in such environments. Another reason for not charging the battery would be a significant increase in the temperature of the battery. A spike in the temperature of a battery during the charging process may suggest malfunction of individual cells. This is a dangerous situation, because the battery may catch on fire.
How do I know when my Xiaomi M365 is fully charged?
The simplest way of telling if a battery has fully charged is to look at the charger while it is connected to a wall plug and a scooter. If the diode on the charger is RED – it means that the charge process is taking place. On the other hand, a GREEN diode signifies end of charge.
Another way of checking if the battery has completed its charge is to download one of many Xiaomi M365 Dashboard apps available for Android and iOS.
The final method of telling the state of charge of a battery is to remove it from the scooter and use a multimeter to find out its voltage. In case of the M365 battery, 42 V is a complete charge, while 36-37 V suggests a nearly discharged (empty) battery.
Intermittent charging
Unlike older-type rechargeable batteries, lithium ion batteries allow for intermittent charging. You will not damage the battery if you unplug the charger while it is being charged and then reconnect a short while later to continue the charging.
Does the M365 come charged?
Factory new Xiaomi M365 comes with 55-75% charged battery. It is the ideal charge state for Li-ion battery storage.
Should I fully charge my M365 before first use?
The rechargeable Li-ion battery included in the M365 does not need to be “primed” or fully charged prior to first use. The process of priming batteries applied to older rechargeable cells, such as NiCd batteries. There is no “memory effect” with the Li-ion batteries.
Should I fully charge my M365 before prolonged storage?
You should not store the Xiaomi M365 with its battery fully charged because with time this may reduce the life of individual lithium-ion cells.
It is generally agreed upon that the battery should be stored with roughly 50% charge, or just a bit more.
Should I use a third-party charger for my Xiaomi M365?
If you have lost your original battery charger, or perhaps you need a second one for the office, you may be tempted to buy a third-party charger that costs half of the price of the original one.
Before you make the choice, keep in mind several things.
- Compare the amperage on a third-party charger vs the original one (1.7 Amp). If it’s lower than the original charger, then you should realize that it will take longer time to fully charge your e-scooter.
- Not all chargers are made the same. While it is not true of all third-party manufacturers, you should know that in some cases the overall quality of the product will be lower. Both chargers may look alike on the exterior, but on the interior they may be composed of slightly different components, which if designed incorrectly, may damage your battery. I don’t have any experience of using third-party chargers for my Xiaomi M365, largely because I chose not to use them and I did so based on my experience with smartphone chargers. More often than not, a cheap third-party charger will work much worse than an original one. So, based solely on my past experience I chose not to use third-party chargers for my M365.
Can you overcharge a scooter battery?
Most of today’s electric scooters use lithium-ion batteries. Li-ion batteries are extremely susceptible to overcharging. A single overcharge episode may be enough to damage the battery. For this reason, Li-ion battery-powered devices come equipped with a BMS, or Battery Management System. The BMS protects the battery against overcharging and ensures proper function of each of the cells, as well as the entire battery and its communication with the rest of the components of the scooter.
Safety notice: Lithium ion batteries are prone to catching on fire when overcharged. Fortunately, the BMS controls the charge process and shuts it off when the battery becomes fully charged.
M365 battery maintenance
Thanks to the BMS and the technology used in each of the individual cells, the battery requires literally no maintenance.
- You don’t have to prime it (fully charge prior to first use)
- You don’t have to calibrate it (fully charge, then fully discharge prior to first use)
- There is no “memory effect”, you can charge at any state of discharge (intermittent charging)
Having said all these great things about Li-ion batteries, you should remember that they don’t do well with complete discharges and temperature extremes, especially hot temps which will ultimately lead to a shorter lifespan of the battery.
Battery lifespan
It is generally expected that most Li-ion batteries should last 500 or even 1,000 charge cycles. This means that if your battery hits 500 or 750 cycles, you should not be surprised if it will drop dead completely.
However, as I have found out from my own experience, my M365 battery slowly started losing it’s capacity at around 120-130 charge cycles. The loss of power capacity is not enormous, but it is noticeable. It is possible that this is an isolated incident in my case, and that the vast majority of M365 batteries begin losing their capacity at a later stage. Nonetheless, I find it surprising.
How to increase the life of Xiaomi M365 battery?
You can increase the life of your battery by getting in the habit of following a few simple tips. First, never drain your battery completely. Nothing is more detrimental to your battery’s health as complete discharge. Having said that, this does not mean that if you discharge it 100% once or twice then your battery will be destroyed. It means that if you get used to draining it completely time and time again, then within a short period of time the battery will start losing its capacity. It’s as simple as that.
Second, don’t expose the battery to extreme temperatures, both hot and cold. Lithium ion batteries do not do well in these environments. This means that you should avoid parking your scooter out in direct sunlight for extended periods of time and likewise do not store the scooter outside when it’s freezing.
Third, stay away from water. Water and batteries don’t mix. This is true of most electrical devices and batteries.
Increasing the range of your electric scooter
Although the M365 has a relatively good range of travel, there may be times when you need to ride a little bit further. Especially that the manufacturer’s 30 km (18.6 miles) range of distance is far from the real world range of distance of about 25 km (15.5 miles).
Fortunately, there are ways of increasing the range of an M365. The most obvious is installing a second external battery (more on this below). Besides a second battery, follow these tips to increased your range:
- Don’t accelerate too much, try to ride at a steady pace. Each time you accelerate, the motor consumes more energy. The more you accelerate, the less energy will be left in the battery.
- Try to ride on a smooth, horizontal surface. Avoid riding uphill at all cost.
- Don’t go full speed. The faster you ride, the more energy is consumed by the motor. It is generally agreed that the best speed for power savings is about 50% of the scooter’s maximum speed.
- Keep tires well-inflated. Under-inflated tires tend to stick to the road more and produce more friction, which in the end will result in increased power consumption.
- Turn off the scooter when not in use. This point is not that important because the M365 will turn itself off after a time of inactivity, but you should keep that in mind if you happen to be parking frequently.
- Get rid of the extra weight. The more weight you carry, the harder the motor has to work and the more energy it will consume. Remove the extra weight if you can. This includes things in your backpack, a gigantic security lock or things hanging on the bag hook.
- Check your brakes. Make sure that the brake pads in the rear don’t rub against the disc. If this happens, more friction will be generated and will result in more power consumption. Most cases of rubbing brakes can be quickly and easily fixed.
External battery
Installing an external battery is a relatively simple, but expensive way of increasing the range of your scooter. Most of these batteries available on the market have at least the same capacity as the original internal battery. Many have lots more, 10,000 mAh or even 13,000 mAh.
One thing you should keep in mind is that the higher the battery’s capacity, the more it will weight. A typical 10,400 mAh external battery is made up of 40 Li-ion cells, each of which weighs about 50 g, bringing the total battery weight to at least 2 kg. Given that the Xiaomi M365 weight 12.5 kg, the addition of extra 2 kg or more of battery will have some impact on your power consumption and acceleration.
Conclusion
Lithium-ion batteries are a wonderful invention. They can store more energy, they don’t have the strict handling requirements of older rechargeable batteries (NiCd, NiMH) and they are not unimaginably expensive, making them a perfect choice for electric scooters.
If there is one thing that you should remember from this post, it is this: AVOID COMPLETELY DRAINING YOUR BATTERY.
I hope you learned something from this post. Thanks for reading!