How To Maintain Your E-bike Battery
The battery is the life blood to any powered vehicle or portable component, that goes without saying when owning an electric bike. Although very simple to use, there are many things to consider when installing, operating, and overall maintaining your electric bike’s battery.
Charging
Pretty simply put, just plug and go right? Well, there are a few things most people don’t consider when charging a battery.
Knowing When and Where to charge your E-bike battery is crucial when it comes down to prolonging battery life.
Most new e-bike batteries are shipped at about half charge out of the box. It is important at this time that the battery will need to be fully charged before use for Cell Balancing to take place. Cell balancing is the process of charging all the cells evenly in the battery at full charge so that they are all at the same voltage. This ensures that the battery is operating on all cells at the correct voltage to extend battery life.
Battery Temps
Batteries and chargers get hot when the charging process takes place, never place any objects on or cover the battery in any way, this will cause excessive heat to build up and can damage the battery.
Temperature directly affects the life of the battery when charging and discharging such as high temps and extreme low temps. You will typically see a decrease in performance(range) a battery will provide when using them in extreme hot or cold temps, although not recommended for very cold or hot temps, if you’re a rider who enjoys riding below 45⁰F it may be beneficial to wrap the battery in thermal wrap.
Battery storage
An undercharged battery is just as damaging as an overcharged battery. It is recommended to keep battery charge levels at 40-80%. If storing the battery for longer than 3 months, we recommend investing in a programmable lithium charger, and set it to keep the state of charge at around 60-80% continuously.
Most chargers that come with the bike will charge the battery to 100% and keep it there, it is not a recommended practice to keep it plugged in at full charge for days on end. Will it be the end of the world if left on the charger, probably not, but at the end of the day, we are trying to
preserve our batteries as long as possible. As we know, these batteries can be expensive with the average battery costing between $500-$900.
Choosing the location to store an e-bike battery is also very IMPORTANT, and no, under bed sheets on the closet floor is not a safe way to store a battery. Lithium battery fires are no laughing matter, these types of fires are extremely difficult to put out without the right type of fire extinguisher. You will feel helpless to know that the lithium fire is not going out with just water alone. A standard class ABC fire extinguisher will work on lithium battery fires.
Final tips on battery storage:
- Find a designated area to isolate the battery when charging and storing, such as a shed or garage.
- KEEP away from combustible or flammable materials.
- Store battery at room temp
- Avoid hot humid areas, likewise avoid freezing areas.
- Remove a fully charged battery from the charger or invest in a smart charger to keep battery level maintained at around 60-80%.
