Hello! We will be at Epcot and MK next week and my husband will be driving an ECV due to recent knee surgery and being in a full brace. We will have our own ECV through a rental company, but my main concern is the one that I chose only has a battery life of 4-6 hours. The next size up has a battery life of 8-10. If the charging stations are easy to find and usually readily available, I will stick with the smaller one. If not, I will go with one with the larger battery for peace of mind and convenience. Does anybody have any feedback or opinions on this topic? My main concern would be no being able to find these when we're getting low. Thank you in advance!
The quoted 4 to 6 hours is actual "run time".
If your husband practices good battery hygiene, that number could easily become 6 to 8 hours, maybe even more. Here's how:
- Always always always turn off the ECV whenever the ECV is going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds. Yes. Really. This applies if sitting in line, waiting for a crowd to clear out of your way, watching a parade, etc.
- Always turn off the ECV when stopping for a meal or snack. Regardless of if you husband sits on it to eat or not.
- Always turn off any unneeded accessories - and don't use headlight/tail-light/undercarriage lighting in the daytime. (And don't use it indoors in the queues - if you can not see to drive where others are walking, then you shouldn't be driving). Remember that any powered accessory - like fancy lights, fans, and cell phone charging will all add to battery drain.
- Always turn off the ECV when parking it to walk to a ride, show, table, etc.
In short... always turn off the ECV when it isn't moving.
When you look at actual "run times" it may be that you have a 10 minute drive to the bus stop in the morning, and it takes (lets be generous) about 5 minutes to load on the bus. It's another 10 minutes from the bus to the gates at the park and through bag check. So, even though that might have taken an hour on the clock... it was probably less than 25 minutes of actual drive time on the ECV battery. Once you are in the Parks, you won't be moving all the time either - you will stop for snacks, sit for shows, and rides, etc. By turning off the device while waiting for the bus... riding the bus... and sitting in line at bag check, you are extending the run time every time you shut off the device.
You can maximize the battery life on any personal mobility device by following that strategy.
But yes, Gold Mobility does indeed get very high marks in this forum for both affordability and reliability.