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Watchdog investigates claims that the lead acid batteries in some mobility scooters, purchased from Green Power Mobility, are losing charge quicker than customers were expecting.

We meet customers Martin and Michael who share their issues with their purchased mobility scooters. Martin says that even on a full charge, the battery would only get around 20 miles before dying. Michael says he was having issues with his battery charge and now his foldable scooter is unable to unfold, meaning he can't use it.

Electrical engineer Dr Robert Brown inspects the battery on another customer’s scooter, and expresses his concerns about how the battery has been installed. He feels as though it shouldn’t be left to move around, otherwise it might experience damage.

We contacted Green Power Mobility and it said that the success of Green Power’s business is evidenced by that fact that it now serves over 10,000 customers per year, making it one of the largest mobility scooter providers in the UK.
One of the reasons is the quality of the after sales servicing and repair it provides, as part of its warranty policy. Green Power employs a team of 16 technicians/engineers, which allows it to reach any location in the UK to provide home service, so as to minimise the inconvenience, caused to its customers, almost all of whom have mobility issues. The servicing and repair is provided in the first instance at the customer’s home, which generally ensures that customers can have their scooters repaired at their convenience without needing to be without them for long periods of time. It said it’s engineers undergo rigorous, lengthy training on all the models they service and that it keeps a very substantial stock of spare parts (tens of thousands of items), allowing it to provide prompt and efficient servicing and repairs without the need to wait for component parts to be shipped to it by third party suppliers and thus reducing to a minimum the time when customers are inconvenienced by any issues that arise in relation to their scooters.

Green Power said that it frequently goes well beyond its warranty obligations offering numerous free visits and free parts. Green Power’s said its reputation is very important to it as most of its customers, who are primarily the elderly and people with disabilities, purchase its scooters without ever having seen them or having had an opportunity to use them, relying instead on client’s reputation, knowing that its brand signifies reliability and high-quality.

Green Power said it has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot and 4.6 out of 5 on Google reflecting what it says the vast majority of its customers think of it. It said that of course any business, no matter how good its products and services, serving such a very large number of customers, is going to have some customers who are dissatisfied with its products or services. One percent of 10,000 customers per year is 100 customers: a small number of complaints does not signify a bad business.

Green Power said that it is not complacent and understands that there is always room for improvement and that it is currently looking into how it might improve its products and services in response to the issues raised in Watchdog’s letter.

It said Martin was a satisfied customer of Green Power on 27 June 2023, when he purchased the Monster model of mobility scooter. As a loyal customer he received a £300 loyalty discount, and so paid £5,690. He was offered, as all customers for the Monster scooter are, the option of a more expensive but more powerful lithium battery but decided to stick with the lead acid battery that is offered as standard on that scooter.

It said that thereafter on 19 July 2023, Martin raised an issue with the nearside door of his scooter not opening properly.

Green Power sent a senior engineer, who has been with Green Power for more than six years, out to Martin’s flat on the morning of 27 July 2023. He adjusted the latch on the offside door. He also tested the maximum speed of the scooter (24 mph) and performed a battery voltage check as part of Green Power’s standard practice and noted that the batteries were in "good condition".

Martin further then contacted Green Power in August again in relation to the offside door issue and an engineer attended his flat again on 30th August 2023 and adjusted the locking mechanism. With the locking mechanism adjusted Martin was videoed by an engineer opening and closing the door with no issue.

Thereafter, on 24 October 2023, Martin again contacted Green Power, this time in relation to the battery on his scooter, the level of which he said dropped from 100% to approximately 50% after about 10 miles use of the scooter. Green Power asked Martin to complete a full test drive, which would involve running his scooter, with the battery at the start fully charged (100% charge) to 0% charge, to check the total mileage it would cover. It said Martin refused to carry out that test. Green Power said that Martin took the position that it wasn’t acceptable for the charge indicator on the scooter to show that the level of charge dropped from 100% to 40% after around 15 miles.

Nonetheless in response to Martin’s 24 October 2023 complaint, Green Power sent another engineer, to Martin’s flat on 31 October 2023. The engineer conducted a battery voltage test and a ten mile test drive test on Martin’s Monster scooter, which showed that the battery was in an acceptable condition and would be expected to enable a journey of about 28 miles on a full charge. The engineer communicated these facts to Martin and explained to him that this was within the expected range for a normal battery, considering the use of heating, road conditions, etc.

Nonetheless Martin insisted that the engineer replace the battery, claiming it was defective. Even though the engineer had concluded that the battery was not defective in any way, he nonetheless replaced it with a new one, at no cost to Martin.

Green Power said that the engineer specifically asked Martin to sign the job sheet with the sole purpose of him confirming that it contained an accurate and true record of the work that the engineer had done on his scooter and that Martin signed it, it isn’t clear to Green Power how Martin can now credibly maintain that he wasn’t informed about the change of battery and now dispute that it even occurred.

Martin then contacted Green Power again on 3 November 2023 claiming that the battery on his Monster scooter was depleting significantly after a short ride.
Green Power then sent out an engineer to Martin’s flat on 22 November 2023. The engineer took Martin’s scooter for another test drive but did not notice any issues with the battery depleting quicker than would be expected.
During the 22 November 2023 call out, the engineer explained to Martin that it is completely normal for the battery level indicator to show one or two bars less charge after a 10 - 15 mile ride and that that was not an indication of a faulty battery. It is important to understand in this context, that the rate of depletion of charge held by a battery is not a linear function of the amount of charge held by the battery. The rate of depletion of the charge may be quicker when the battery is fully charged. The rate of decline of charge may decrease significantly as the total amount of charge held by the battery becomes low and approaches zero. Just as with mobile phones, the last 5 - 10% of the charge held by the battery can sometimes last much longer than expected. The precise rate of depletion of charge depends on a number of factors, including for example the temperature of the battery.

In any event about a month after the 22 November 2023 call out, Martin contacted Green Power yet again with the same complaint about the battery/range for this scooter. The engineer then visited Martin’s flat for a fifth time on 2 January 2024. This was the first time Green Power charged Martin, solely for the service call, in the amount of £95.

On 9th January 2024 Martin wrote to Green Power to tell them that his scooter would run out of power after between 10 to 14 miles.
On 10th January 2024 Mr Pickard spoke to Martin again and offered him the opportunity of changing his lead acid batteries to lithium batteries. Green Power is still investigating precisely what was said during this call but has not had time to complete its investigations in the limited time available.
Green Power remains willing to replace Martin’s lead-acid batteries with two lithium batteries (valued at approximately £1,500) to resolve the issue and, naturally, to ensure his satisfaction at no charge to him.
Martin is a much valued customer who purchased a product from Green Power in 2021 and, due to his satisfaction, returned to purchase a much more expensive scooter in 2023. Green Power has tried to address Martin’s concerns, including by making multiple visits to his flat and replacing his battery with a new one at no cost to him, even though the replaced battery was not faulty.

In relation to your non-scientific test, we comment as follows:-
(i) Firstly the test you conducted was not to determine the actual maximum range of a new Monster scooter but the range that could be achieved whilst depleting the battery from 100% to 20%. We refer you to the comments made above as to relationship between the rate of depletion of the charge in the battery and the total amount of charge left in it. If the Monster had been run until the battery was flat it would likely have gone materially further than the 12 or 6 miles determined by your experiment.
(ii) Your experiment only evidences the performance of the particular batteries on Martin’s Monster. At the time when those experiments were conducted, the batteries had been in use for approximately 14 months. (iii) Your experiment was conducted on a bitterly cold day in or around London. Cold temperatures can affect the performance of lead acid batteries and the rate at which they take on charge and of course the scooter’s heating system has to work much harder to defend a given temperature when it is very cold.
(iv) The batteries fitted to the Monster are made by one of the largest and most reputable manufacturers in the world. Green Power has not experienced issues with those batteries in the Monster model in the seven years since they started selling it in early 2018. They have had a handful of issues with different aspects of the scooter but these represent a tiny fraction of their overall sales and did not relate to the battery.
(v) Lead acid batteries don’t last forever and the amount of charge held by them will vary significantly depending on how they have been used and charged. The battery on a mobility scooter must be kept charged by the user. A lead-acid battery must be charged at least once a week, regardless of whether or not the scooter is used, to maintain full functionality. If the scooter was not used for several weeks, this would (as with a car) cause the battery to drain and fail much more quickly.
(vi) In urban driving, with all electronic components in use (lights/MP3, wipers, and heating), the Monster can realistically travel about 25 miles per charge. Without these components being used, such as in summer, the Monster can travel 35 to 40 miles per charge. These figures were tested by the manufacturer and verified by Green Power before they began marketing this model.
(vii) For all the above reasons, Green Power believes that your test results likely evidence issues with the manner in which Mr Gardner used the scooter and in particular whether or not he charged the battery regularly, even when it was not being used.
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In the case of Michael, Green Power strongly suspects that his battery was not charged in accordance with the user instructions that had been provided to him when the vehicle was delivered.

In regard to the batteries moving under the seat, Green Power said that the battery cannot move under the seat, even without Velcro, as the seat secures it and prevents movement. However, the battery should always be secured with Velcro, as Green Power consistently ensures is the case. However following this case all Green Power’s technicians have been told to check for this Velcro fastening issue when delivering scooters and during any call out.

We asked some further questions regarding Michael’s scooter and Green Power said that it
cannot, without inspecting the scooter, determine what the issue is with its folding mechanism. However, based on very extensive experience of selling thousands of this scooter model, in many cases, the "issue" is simply that the customer is not pressing the silver button on the back of the device to enable folding. This is an easy action that Green Power explains to customers over the phone or via video call and which invariably resolves the issue immediately.
It said that Michael did not contact Green Power, on 30 November 2024, to request a repair for this issue but rather to request that Green Power collect the scooter for a return and full refund. He was informed that he was not eligible for that, as the mobility scooter had been in his possession for approximately ten months.

Green Power, are however, willing to replace the battery and investigate and resolve the folding mechanism issue for him and further, as a goodwill gesture, they will waive all charges for the battery, any repair to the folding mechanism and the £95 call out fee. However, such a concession is offered entirely on that basis that there has been nothing improper in Green Power’s handling of this matter.

You can watch the full VT here, for 30 days /iplayer/episode/m0027n7m/the-one-show-05022025?seriesId=unsliced