Will Ebikes become a disposable epidemic in the future

[johnnyb47]

Hi,
I've been thinking about buying a ebike lately and today whilst out cycling on my non ebike I started thinking about random things( as you do) and somehow started to think about the average life of an e bike.
If reading the tinterweb is anything to go by, an ebike battery will last somewhere between 3 and 5 years before it starts to lose it's range.
Cheaper bikes may also suffer from displays screen/motor/or general electrical problems.
The simple thing is to buy replacement parts ,but I would imagine a lot of people would just end up binning them..
If you bought a relatively cheap ebike for around £1000 and you use it heavily through all kinds of weather and it gets "knocked about"and the battery starts to play up or the motor ect,your faced with an expensive bill replacing them.You may not even be able to get your hands on the none standardized parts either as they become obsolete.
It could leave you with a heavy paper weight after a few years down the line that's good for nothing.
When I buy something ,I like it to be able to be serviceable for many years to come and to able to get hold of parts easily.
Ordinary non e bikes generally fall into this category.
Ebikes are becoming very popular and the more that are appearing on our streets the more we will see them being disposed of 5 + years down the line when an expensive battery is needed.
Also will the authorities have to get there act together in dealing with the extra influx of dead Ebikes going to the tip with there hazardous batteries..
Does my thinking of this have any valid points or do you think a little different to me,
All the very best,
Johnny

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I think you are right.
After all there are already plenty of ordinary push bikes destinated to landfill because their owners cannot be bothered to repair them, or simply lose interest in riding them.
Bikes that spend years rusting in some shed then being skipped, or ending up at the bottom of some canal.
Not bottom of the range either: plenty of good finds by our members in skips!
Like the phone before the latest must have, an E-Bike can become obsolete or too expensive to repair within a few years of purchase.

 

[johnnyb47]

Year's ago ordinary everyday bikes where very much standardized in that components would fit all.
If you had cheap components you could always easily upgrade to a more expensive item i.e brakes ,derailleurs wheel sets.
A bike could be virtually a bike for life because parts were standardized.
E bikes by there nature all seem to have bespoked parts.Chargers are all different with there connectors to a battery, Display screens have to be specific to the particular bike, bearings and seat post diameters all unique to the make.
Once these bikes go out of production trying to find such items will become either expensive or non existent.
To the person who just uses an e bike for knocking around on I can see these bikes having a relatively short lifespan.

 

[mustang1]

Why do companies want proprietary parts? Control. Why? Profit. Why? Coz that's why companies exist. Why? Capitalism. Why? Coz mines bigger than yours. Why? Coz my other thing ain't that big. Why? Evolution. Why? That's the world we live in and I need to attract the opposite sex. Why? Coz it's being human, well, that's what animals do.

Right, what were we talking about again?

Oh, batteries. Uhm, yeah, see the above. Can be used to explain most things.