You are being misled, 23-26V is nonsense for a lead-acid system.
A lead-acid 12V battery has a range of 15V full charge to 11V discharged.
So, a working range of at least 30V - 22V for a 24V system.
Why not just rearrange the battery to 7S (and any number parallel) ??
As long as the battery voltage roughly fits within that 22 - 30V range, it's in the design spec of the wheelchair drive system and will be a lot more efficient than running via a DC-DC converter.
Make sure you allow for balance charging on a series lithium pack, not just under/over voltage protection!