Swollen, wet or hot scooter battery: what to do now
A lithium pack that has swollen, taken in water or got hot without riding can catch fire. This page is about keeping you safe first — the repair comes second.
Updated 2026-10-10
Right now
- Stop charging. Unplug the charger from the wall first, then from the scooter.
- Do not ride it. Not even around the block.
- Move it outside or into a garage, away from doors, cars and anything that burns — if you can do it safely. Concrete floor, nothing on top of it.
- If it smokes, hisses or pops, step away and call 911. Do not try to put a lithium fire out with a small extinguisher at close range.
What not to do
- Do not open the deck or the battery case yourself.
- Do not put it in water "to be safe" unless the fire department tells you to.
- Do not try to charge it again "to see if it is fine".
- Do not bring it into the house or into a car to take it somewhere.
Signs to watch
A deck that bulges or no longer sits flat, a deck plate that will not close, a sweet chemical smell, a hiss, heat from the deck when the scooter has been sitting, or water that got into the deck after a deep puddle or a hose wash.
How it gets fixed
A swollen or water-damaged pack is not repaired by drying it out. The damaged cells have to come out, and the pack is rebuilt on new cells or replaced. Transporting a damaged lithium pack needs special handling, so text us first: we plan the pickup with you instead of loading it like a normal scooter.
Tried all of that?
Then the fault is inside the scooter. We pick it up anywhere in Southern California, find the fault and quote it before any work — about a week from pickup to return.