Taking care of the Onewheel and its battery is something you should do if it’s done incorrectly the battery performance will decrease faster over time. To help we have compiled important information on how you should charge and keep your Onewheel battery in a healthy state.
Common questions are answered down below.
How to charge a Onewheel
Normal charging of the Onewheel is done by simply:
- Connect the charger first to a power outlet and then to the Onewheel charging port. The charger will display a red light when charging.
- The charger will automatically stop charging when the battery pack is fully charged indicated by a green light.
- Disconnect the charger first from the Onewheel and then from the power outlet.
How long does it take to charge a Onewheel?
With the normal standard charger, it takes 2 hours to fully charge a Onewheel.
| Model | Standard Charger | Ultra/Hyper Charger |
| Onewheel+ XR | 120 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Onewheel Pint | 120 minutes | 50 minutes |
| Onewheel Pint X | 225 minutes | 110 minutes |
| Onewheel GT | 200 minutes | 90 minutes |
Should I leave my Onewheel plugged in?
The Onewheel has an intelligent battery management system (BMS), designed to keep the battery in good shape. Future Motion made a statement that is fine to leave the board plugged in, f you plan to not ride in a couple of days it’s good practice to unplug the board. for long-term storage, more than 2 weeks leave it at 50-70%. When the board is fully charged and connected the BMS will start to balance the cells to keep them in good shape.
How long does a Onewheel battery last?
The Onewheel+XR can go 12-18 miles on a full battery, compared to the Onewheel Pint and its predecessor, which has a range of about 6-8 miles per charge.
There are extension modifications like swapping the battery for a higher capacity (like Chibatterysystems and the CBXR), and adding battery packs on the fender or in a backpack to extend the range of the Onewheel (VnR).
One of the latest is the GT40 from GTmod which almost triple your Pint’s range. Read more in the roundup and our recommendations of the best Onewheel battery extensions for the Pint.
VNR the Onewheel, Vamp & Ride, comes from Vamping/Biting into the main leads inside the Onewheel box to allow for a second battery to be connected. This secondary battery can be sitting on a 3D-printed holder on the fender or in a backpack. Vamping avoids the risk of bricking the BMS, the BMS and controller is parred to each other, if one goes the system is bricked.
Nowadays you can get a chip called JWFFM by JW batteries that allows you to connect any BMS and controller.
VnR can be done on both the XR and Pint, the main supplier DIY of VnR kits is Sonnywheels.
Can I leave my Onewheel charging overnight?
Yes, you can leave the Onewheel charging overnight, the BMS is intelligent and will stop charging when the battery is full and start balancing the cells. It’s recommended to periodically leave the charger attached to your Onewheel overnight to allow the battery pack to thoroughly balance. You actually can’t overcharge your board so there’s no harm in leaving it on the charger overnight.
How do I balance the battery of the Onewheel?
When the Onewheek is fully charged the system starts to balance the cells in the battery pack. It’s recommended to periodically leave the Onewheel attached to the charger. If you haven’t used your Onewheel in more than 2 months make sure to charge it and let the battery balance before riding. Not charging it every two months will break the warranty according to Future Motion.
The battery should be charged at least once every two months. Failure to do so may void your warranty.
Future Motion
Long-term storage of Onewheel?
Onewheel made a statement that for long-term storage of more than 2 weeks leave it at 50-70% other than that just leave it plugged in. Leaving it at 100% is not the end of the world and is better than a fully depleted battery. You shall not long-term store a battery fully depleted, this will degrade it over time.
What battery does the Onewheel have?
Depending on the model of the Onewheel you either have a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) or Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC). The latest models use NMC.
Lithium nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC)
NMC is compact and lightweight, and therefore ideal for devices like Onewheel, its weight/energy and quality/price ratios are excellent. The battery technology is considered dangerous due to its lack of chemical stability and therefore does need a good Battery Management System (BMS).
| Model | Battery |
| Onewheel Original | Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) 48V |
| Onewheel + | Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) 48V |
| Onewheel XR | Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) 324Wh 63V |
| Onewheel Pint | Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) 148Wh 63V |
| Onewheel Pint X | Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) |
| Onewheel GT | Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) |
| Technology | Power | Prices | Number of cycles | Energy density | Safety | Lifetime | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NMC | +++ | ++ | 300-800 | ++ | + | + | +++ |
Deep charge a Onewheel
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, reports that using a reduced charge level of 50% SOC increases the life expectancy of the vehicle Li-ion battery by 44–130%.
Does the Ultra charger degrade battery life?
Fast charging will put stress on the battery but not significantly degrades battery life if a correct fast charger is used. Let’s look at the Onewheel Pint:
- Standard charger is 63V @ 1.3A (~0.6C)
- Ultra charger is 63V @ 3.0A (~1.2C)
The Battery University says NMC charge rate above 1C reduces battery life. A 1C rate means that the discharge current will discharge the entire battery in 1 hour. These are over full discharge cycles, which most people aren’t doing. Even when the Pint’s app battery meter shows 0%, there still is some capacity remaining to prevent damage to the cells, the same goes for 100%.
Lithium-ion battery fast chargers like the Onewheel do the “fast” charging up to around 70%. Then they relax and slow down the output current until the battery is full. So the Ultra charger is not delivering 3A for the entire charging time.
How a Onewheel degrade
All batteries like the Onewheel naturally degrade over their lifetime, this is because they are built upon consumable chemical reactions. The battery degradation can be accelerated by many means, generally the result of material defects, physical abuse, or being left in a state of charge of 0% or 100% for extended periods of time. As long as the battery management system (BMS) is well designed and engineered it does not degrade because of the frequency of charge or fast charging.
