Battery alternatives

[jbond]

Was browsing around bmsbattery and ecitypower today and came across this.

They're saying available some time soon. I like this idea.

Specification:
1. Voltage:24V,36V;
2. Capacity:9~15Ah;
3. Continuous Discharge:10~30Amps;
4. Range:30~50Km
5. Battery Cells: 26650,6665143;
6. Battery Chemical:LiFePO4,Li-Ion；
7. Weight：2.2Kg;
8. Battery case: Aluminium Alloy
Advantage:
1. The controller can be placed into the battery case.
2. Easy Assembling: just remove the water bottle and mount the battery there.
3. The battery is placed in the middle of the ebike frame, which enables the bicycle to be more stable when riding

BMSBattery also appear to have some Headway cell based LiFePo packs with high C values and 10AHr upwards.

 

[Old Timer]

That is a step forward. I found when my spare battery was strung under the crossbar it was about the best balance.

 

[NRG]

Looks like an after-thought as it is, would look more integrated mounted on the seat tube (I can see 2 mounting points in the pic) and integrating the controller to the battery means a multiway plug with potential problems for failure at some point if the battery is charged off-bike....

 

[jbond]

I think this is where the battery should be mounted. The problem is the wide variety of frames and space available. And not all frames have the water bottle mounts on the seat tube as well as the downtube. Which all makes it virtually impossible to make a design that fits everyone. ISTR DaaHub also tries to do this as one battery design but with a choice of clamps or bottle mount.

The other problem is that we ride with splayed legs. There's 10cm or so available between the crank arms down at the bottom of the triangle. But up near the cross bar, your legs brush against anything much wider than 5cm.

I don't think this is quickly detachable. If you have a sensorless motor then you could perhaps get away with three plugs; Charging, motor, and control signals. PAS, Throttle, Mode switch-Display is what? 9 wires? The battery capacity display could be on the top of the battery rather than the handlebars.

 

[NRG]

9 wires? More like 14 plus the motor, still think it looks like an after thought. I prefer rack or behind the seat tube mount even if it is supposed to compromise geometry (which I don't think that important outside of none powered bikes).

 

[eddieo]

exactly where a battery should be IMO, why only BionX are the only ones to achieve this in a stylish way is totally beyond me....A good first effort, they just need to style the container a bit

 

[flecc]

exactly where a battery should be IMO, why only BionX are the only ones to achieve this in a stylish way is totally beyond me....

Two others are making a good attempt at it, Cybien in this photo and Bosch as shown here:

 

[NRG]

Again the Cybien looks....well...just wrong like the above and Bionx, however, the Bosch one looks much better to me and I don't see any issue with clearance at the top...my knees are somewhat forward of the seat post but others anatomy may of course differ to the norm.

 

[eddieo]

The Bosch does look very good, probably the best integrated soloution.........BUT what is the battery capacity like? and that under slung drive looks very vulnerable. I would be interested if it turns out to be a powerful alternative to a Panasonic drive, a much better looking bike

I have a good feeling about it due to their battery technology so fingers crossed this could be the one!

 

[flecc]

Personally I'm happy with the widespread rear of seat tube position for a battery.

It's very accommodating of a wide range of capacities, it's more flexible regarding frame design, many suspension mountain bikes have far too small a frame triangle for an integral battery.

And of course inside the frame triangle makes step-through difficult to impossible, which is unacceptable in many markets. Bosch will have to overcome this objection for their German and Dutch markets where step-through bikes are popular and common choices for both genders.

It's only in the UK that we call them "ladies" bikes.
.