If you are wanting to buy a folding powerchair then you are in good company. This type of powered wheelchair is available in an increasingly diverse range of options. Lifestyle & Mobility pride ourselves not only on offering an impressive and growing selection of these “travel powerchairs” but on our many years of expertise. This expertise has proved invaluable in helping customers make informed decisions, so, today, let’s apply it to folding powerchairs.
How Lightweight Can You Get?
Many prospective buyers are looking for lightweight folding mobility products. Some folding powerchairs undoubtedly fall into this category. Lifestyle & Mobility would point especially to the ever-popular Q50 R Carbon (14.5kg with batteries removed) the eFOLDi powerchair (14kg with batteries removed) or, if lightweight is absolutely vital, the new Scooterpac Atom (just 12.1kg with cushions, batteries and anti-tip wheels removed)
Is Lighter Always Better?
The answer to this question depends entirely on what you intend to use your new folding powerchair for. Whilst almost all powered mobility vehicles can be used outdoors, and lightweight folding powerchairs are no exception, not all mobility vehicles can be used offroad. If you want a powerchair which you can use on surfaces other than smooth pavements and indoor surfaces, the super-lightweight models are not for you.

The Scooterpac Atom
It is also important to remember that, whilst powerchair material technology has come a long way, it is worth remembering that “lightweight” is still a relative term. The most lightweight folding powerchair available to buy in the UK – the Scooterpac Atom – still weighs almost 2 stone fully stripped down. Accordingly, Lifestyle & Mobility cannot stress enough considering whether this is a product which you can easily get in and out of car boots etc. So long as you have someone to help you with folding and lifting the chair if needed, then all should be well – but do think on this.
What About Auto-Folding Powerchairs?
On the topic of help with the folding and unfolding of powerchairs, automatic folding powerchairs are an option of interest to some. The trade-off here is between total weight and ease of actually folding the product up. The automatic folding mechanisms mean that these chairs do weigh significantly more than their manual folding equivalents. For example, the Quickie Q50 R Folding Powerchair, pictured to the right, weighs 32kg with the battery removed, more than double what the manual folding version weighs. Thus, it is most definitely not a lightweight powerchair. However, some users appreciate the automatic folding.
Are There Prescriptive Folding Powerchairs?
The customisation options for folding powerchairs are more limited than for other sorts of powerchairs. This is partly because the emphasis with these chairs is on ease of folding and transportation. Since add-ons risk interfering with these operations, they are less commonly available. So, for the user wanting a highly customised powerchair, the folding option may not be the way to go.
To sum up, as with all mobility products, there are trade-offs to be made. In this case, the trade-offs don’t just include the choice between folding and non-folding powerchairs, but the trade-offs between different makes and models within the selection of folding powerchairs themselves.
Luckily for you, Lifestyle & Mobility are here to answer your questions about folding powerchairs. Email us on sales@lifestyleandmobility.co.uk or phone 02081 597070