Noob question - battery life cycle

[Eziemnaik]

Thanks to a new job I am considering buying an ebike for +30km commute. As I understand it is recommended to charge it after each use - twice a day, roughly 500 charges per year. What's the word on battery longevity with such use? Would it suffer after a year? I am not too keen to spend 3k on a bike to find out I would have to change the battery yearly...
Another question is how many different standards are there? Buying a Giant can I use aftermarket replacement product or no chance?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

You don;t say whether the 30km is one way or 30km each way?

However, the most reliable advise that I have found says that
1) a battery should be charged when it gets low on charge - but not too low.
Ideally it should be charged just before you ride - but that is often inconvenient and not practical. I tend to charge it overnight if I intend to use it the next day and rely on the battery management system to stop it over charging
2) It is a very bad idea to charge it when it is cold - room temperature is best - so you need one where you can either have the bike inside for charging - or remove the battery and take it inside
3) If you intend to leave the battery unused for a long (ish) time then you are supposed to store it between 50 and 75% of charge.

Based on your 30km commute - which is about 18 miles - my experience shows that most ebikes will have enough range for at least 2 full trips assuming you use a relatively low assist level and the terrain is not too hilly.
If either of those in untrue then the range will suffer.
However, I would suggest that you would only need to charge the battery every 2 trips - i.e.36 miles - 60 km. You might even make 3 trips but that would be something you can find out when you start using it

Also - remember that most batteries are thought to be good for 500-1000 charges - a charge being a full charge so if it has a range of 50 miles and you recharge from 25 miles - then that is a half charge

Bear in mind that this is based on my bike which has a Bosch system - so I expect (hope, pray??) that it is well made and designed and will last well. Cheap systems may not work as well and the battery protection may not be as comprehensive as well as the cells being of lower quality.


Sorry about the length - and details - hope at least some of it helps
Other may have different opinions based on different advise and experiences with different systems. Take it all (including mine) on board and make you own mind up!

Good luck and welcome to teh dark side

 

[Pale Rider]

Your round trip if 60km+ would be at the limit of range for most users, so you would need a top up at work.

The key point here is a charge cycle is deemed to be a full discharge then a full recharge.

So even though you would be plugging the bike in twice a day, you would only be using one charge cycle from the battery's estimated service life.

As you say, that's usually deemed to be about 500, thus you would get 500 commutes from the battery - a lot more than a year unless you are a modern slave and in work every day.

The 500 is also only an estimate, and usually means that after that number you will see a drop in range.

The battery doesn't fail catastrophically, so you should be able to still get a commute charging twice a day for a lot longer than 500 days.

Giant bikes are as good as any, but batteries are tied to the motor manufacturer - Giant offer two makes - so you would have to buy a replacement of the correct make.

 

[Eziemnaik]

Thanks for replies

The commute would be 30km with roughly 300m of climbing each way, hence why I thought twice a day charging would be needed.

At this moment is there much difference between Bosch, Shimano and Giant/Yamaha systems in terms of reliability?

 

[Pale Rider]

The commute would be 30km

That still not entirely clear, is that 30km each way or round trip?

Reliability is hard to judge.

The crank drives you've picked are among the most popular and the makes which have been around the longest.

I reckon they are about as reliable as each other, and all give some access to service, even though the bike shop may have to 'send it away' to be fixed.

They each ride similarly, although Bosch still sets the standard for smoothness of power delivery and the most push bike or 'invisible motor' feel.

 

[CXRAndy]

If you charge to 80% and dont often drain below 20% then the suggested 500 charge cycles could be improved to 1000 or even 2000 charging cycles.

This depends on whether the bike's drive system has a charger you can set to different charge levels. Some of the manufacturers supply a charger which if left would always charge to 100%.

My ebike has a battery that I can use an aftermarket variable charger. I set for the vast majority of rides to 80% , this gets me around 30 miles of range with around 15% left in the battery. I have two batteries, alternate per ride, one is charging whilst whilst I'm out riding

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I contacted Bosch a while ago and asked them for charging advise for the ACtive line batteries. Their reply was that their battery management systems are more comprehensive than some cheaper systems and hence optimise the charge in order to prevent problems and prolong battery life
Of course - they have an interest in putting out information that makes Bosch look good - but I have so far done 6000 miles over 2 years and range has not dropped - well it did over winter in the cold - but recovered in the summer.
On which point - I will probably get the battery a coat this winter!!!

 

[Pale Rider]

I contacted Bosch a while ago and asked them for charging advise for the ACtive line batteries. Their reply was that their battery management systems are more comprehensive than some cheaper systems and hence optimise the charge in order to prevent problems and prolong battery life

I'm sure that's right and also applies to the likes of Shimano Steps and Yamaha.

No point in pratting around with variable chargers when the battery management system does it all for you.

My Bosch bike is twin battery, so the charger also charges each battery a little bit in turn.

I would caution against using a third party charger on a factory bike because it might brick the electronics.

 

[Tenkaykev]

A point of note is that the number of charge cycles stated by the manufacturer is usually until the battery capacity has reduced to 80% of the original capacity. The battery doesn't suddenly give up the ghost and stop working altogether.

 

[CXRAndy]

There is nothing too special about charging, limit current to safe level apply a voltage just above the specified battery voltage. There are plenty decent variable chargers.

Its manufacturers keeping all their systems in house by using unobtainable connectors for their batteries.

It all smells like Apple chargers.

 

[Pale Rider]

There is nothing too special about charging, limit current to safe level apply a voltage just above the specified battery voltage. There are plenty decent variable chargers.

Its manufacturers keeping all their systems in house by using unobtainable connectors for their batteries.

It all smells like Apple chargers.

I've remarked in the past that Bosch are like the Apple of ebikes in terms of being locked down.

Like Apple the stuff works pretty well, so if everything else suits, there's no reason not to buy.

 

[CXRAndy]

I've remarked in the past that Bosch are like the Apple of ebikes in terms of being locked down.

Like Apple the stuff works pretty well, so if everything else suits, there's no reason not to buy.

For those with Bosch, Shimano etc

It would be interesting to see what the fully Charged voltage is with a digital multimeter. I would not be surprised to see maximum 4.2V per cell