Areyou trying to decide between an NiMh or a Li-ion battery for your electric bike? The Li-ions are likely to be a bit shorter lived but it's too early to be definitive. They cost more, and if they don't last as long, that further increases the cost. The advantages are that they are best charged as frequently as possible, after every journey or every few miles, not run right down to empty, so that suits a mixed usage, shopping, local pleasure trips etc. The Li-ion is also lighter. There's a minute performance advantage with Li-ion, but it's too small to be concerned with. The Li-ion has a slightly longer range for most people.
By contrast, NiMh are best run down to virtually empty at least every few charges and that could be inconvenient if there's a prospect of running out some way from home. Being well established, a longer life can be confidently predicted when they are cared for properly. They're cheaper.
In summary, choose on the basis on your usage, and whether you are risk averse. If you hate any risk and running the battery down low every four or five charges is convenient, choose NiMh. If you don't mind a small risk, choose the small benefits and convenience of Li-ion.
Use the following examples to help you decide:
If my journeys consist of:
Short to medium journeys
Daily 15 mile single trip or 2 x 10-mile trips on one charge
Strict Budget
and my charging frequency is:
Frequent Charging
Once or twice daily
then my optimum battery is:
Lithium Ion
NiMh
NiMh
Notes:
Since recharging frequently gives me the maximum performance of a full battery all the time, the battery for me is the one that can be recharged frequently, the Li-ion.
This doesn't suit Li-ions as well, but it's the ideal usage for NiMh which should be quite fully discharged either every time or at least from time to time when recharging.
If I have a strict budget, I'd go for the lower costs of NiMh in either circumstance and put up with the inconvenience of having to run the NiMh charge down low from time to time at the risk of running out short of home.
Article contribution by Flecc - you can visit my website here
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