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Taotao 500w electric scooter battery or charging issues

I have had my Taotao ATE501 500w electric scooter for about 5 months now, it was pre-owned from a co worker who had it for about a year in a half, now the other night I forgot to un plug my charger from my scooter after an entire night of charging,and now it seems to only charge about half way. now my first question is. Can the charger overheat from being plugged in to long? Or is there a way to test if it's shot. My second question is or do you think it's the batteries that are shot? Any information is appreciative as this is my first electric scooter and don't know a lot about them

The charger should not overheat from being plugged in for too long. The only reason that a battery charger would overheat if plugged in for a long period of time is if it was malfunctioning.


The battery charger's output Voltage can be tested with a multimeter set to DC Volts to see if it is working or not. Here is the polarity of the TaoTao ATE-501 scooter's battery charger output plug.



And here is a video we made that shows how to test an electric scooter battery charger.



The TaoTao ATE-501 battery charger should have around 56 Volts at its output plug when it is plugged into the wall. If it has zero Volts then it is faulty.


If the battery charger has the correct output Voltage then the next step I would take is to physically inspect the batteries in the battery pack to make sure that they have not swollen or melted. If they have then they should not be used any longer and be replaced.


If the battery charger has the correct output Voltage then after inspecting the batteries and if they look good the next step I would take is to perform a more comprehensive test on the charger and battery pack. To perform this test the charger should be plugged into the scooter and then plugged into the wall. Then the Voltage of the battery pack can be tested with a multimeter to see if it slowly increases while the battery pack is being charged. You will need access to the battery pack terminals in order to perform this test. If the battery pack Voltage does not slowly increase while it is being charged then the charger could be malfunctioning or the batteries could not be accepting a charge due old age or internal damage.


If the battery charger simply failed and stopped working then the batteries may not have received a full charge which is causing them to be half charged. However if the battery charger is working and the batteries are only half way charged then that could be caused by a faulty battery charger port or faulty wiring between the charger port and the controller, or it could be from the batteries being old or worn out. The comprehensive battery charger test described above will help to determine if power from the charger is reaching the batteries and if they are accepting a charge.


The batteries could also be load tested to see if they are in good shape or worn out. Here is a link to our electric scooter battery load testing guide: http://www.electricscooterparts.com/loadtest


Please let us know if you have any questions.

After further investigation I've come to a conclusion it's my batteries, they are swollen what is the best replacement batteries for this scooter to get the best output
For the TaoTao ATE-501 and ATE-502 electric scooters there is a choice of either 18Ah batteries or 22Ah batteries. Both of these batteries will provide more power than the controller will ever use so there will be no difference in power, acceleration, or top speed between using one or the other battery, however the 22Ah batteries will provide around 20% more ride time than the 18Ah batteries will.

The same battery charger can be used to recharge either of these batteries so a new charger would not need to be purchased if upgrading from 18Ah to 22Ah batteries or visa versa. Both of these batteries also have the exact same dimensions and terminals so they will fit the ATE-501 and ATE-502 scooters perfectly.

Here are links to both of these batteries for your reference:
18Ah: http://www.electricscooterparts.com/scooterbatteries12v18ah.html
22Ah: http://www.electricscooterparts.com/scooterbatteries12v22ah.html

Please let us know if you have any questions.
I've purchased my new batteries finally but can't seem to get the old ones out of the housing, are there any videos anywhere that I can view to pull the batteries out? I can't tell if they are locked in place by bolts or what any help is appreciated, I checked YouTube and all I'm finding is whole scooter assembly and battery testing
We do not have or know where any online videos are located showing how to remove the batteries.

If the batteries are attached to the scooter it would usually be with a metal strap going over them and attached to the scooter frame with bolts. If the batteries are not attached to the scooter and are held in with gravity then if they can not be easily removed they might have swelled which is locking them in place. If the batteries can not be removed because they have swelled then they will need to be forced out of the scooter.

If you have any photos of the old batteries in the scooter that might help us to figure out how to remove them.

Please let us know if you have any questions.
They were swollen and stuck to each other, after an hour of prying at them I finally got one to come unstuck in which I then had a very small space to grab each side and pull the 15lb battery out using only my finger tips. In all took me about 2 hours to get them all out and each screw that was holding a wire undone (they were all oxidized and stripped as soon as I tried turning a Phillips head screw driver) now I discovered I have a flat tire.... so gonna have to purchase new ones Friday and hope that they don't take so long to get to my place

Great to hear that you finally got the batteries out of the frame. Sometimes when the batteries are swollen removing them from the scooter can be virtually impossible. 

So I've searched the internet to find a video on how to remove the rear tire and I can't find anything anywhere. Was wondering if there was a video or even a PDF file showing how to remove the rear tire in order to change the tires tube, while I'm mentioning it I'd like to take the chain off as well as the back gear had rusted out and I have no need for the pedals any more. Any help is appreciated thank you
Unfortunately we do not know of any videos or files that show how to remove the rear wheel of a TaoTao electric scooter. 


TaoTao electric scooters are built on the same platform as most other Chinese-made electric scooters are though, so the process of removing the rear wheel would be almost identical to that of any other similar street legal type of electric scooter.


I found a video showing how to remove the rear wheel of a GIO electric scooter which should provide most of the information that you are looking for. Here it is.



Please let us know if you have any questions.

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