Kalkhoff Batteries

[Deleted member 4366]

I don't know if they're any good:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Kalkhoff-Impulse-electric-bicycle-battery-36v_1767945320.html

 

[tillson]

I have no idea what the quality of these batteries is like or how long they will last, it's a complete unknown and a gamble. They may be very good or you may be wasting your money. Who knows?

Initially the prices look very good, but when I enquired the shipping costs were horrendous. The total price delivered brought the battery to within £100 of a UK sourced battery.

In the end, I bought an Ebike Vision battery off Ebay. This was for a 26 Volt Panasonic motor, but I believe Ebike Vision produce batteries for both Bosch and Impulse motors. The packs are assembled in Germany and sold via German retailers on Ebay. My 18 Ah battery worked out only about £20 more expensive than one of the Alibaba Chinese units delivered.

Time will tell, but so far it has been excellent. Ebike Vision also receive good technical reviews on Endless Sphere (I think that's what it's called). Might be a good time to buy with the pound currently strong against the Reich Mark.

 

[JohnCade]

I have no idea what the quality of these batteries is like or how long they will last, it's a complete unknown and a gamble. They may be very good or you may be wasting your money. Who knows?

Initially the prices look very good, but when I enquired the shipping costs were horrendous. The total price delivered brought the battery to within £100 of a UK sourced battery.

In the end, I bought an Ebike Vision battery off Ebay. This was for a 26 Volt Panasonic motor, but I believe Ebike Vision produce batteries for both Bosch and Impulse motors. The packs are assembled in Germany and sold via German retailers on Ebay. My 18 Ah battery worked out only about £20 more expensive than one of the Alibaba Chinese units delivered.

Time will tell, but so far it has been excellent. Ebike Vision also receive good technical reviews on Endless Sphere (I think that's what it's called). Might be a good time to buy with the pound currently strong against the Reich Mark.

At a quick look they say they are rated for 500 charge cycles. But the genuine ones are good for 1100.

 

[tillson]

At a quick look they say they are rated for 500 charge cycles. But the genuine ones are good for 1100.

I'm not sure what you have been looking at John, but they carry a 24 month / 1000 charge cycle warranty. The cells used are supposedly Sony.

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ersatzakku-Akku-Set-18Ah-fur-Panasonic-26V-E-Bike-z-B-Kalkhoff-Flyer-Lader-/261740337126?pt=Sport_Radsport_Fahrradteile_Komponenten&hash=item3cf0f097e6

 

[JohnCade]

I was looking at the link that d6veh posted at the top of the page. I though you were referring to those as well.

 

[shemozzle999]

Hi tillson, How about 21Ah for £250

http://sklepebike.pl/pl/p/Bateria-26V-21Ah-zamiennik-Panasonic/224

 

[tillson]

I was looking at the link that d6veh posted at the top of the page. I though you were referring to those as well.

No, I probably didn't make it clear. The ones D8veh linked to are an unknown quantity. They may be perfectly ok or they may be rubbish. The shipping cost on those batteries results in the total price being close to that of batteries with a certain amount of pedigree.

The battery that I linked to, Ebike Vision, has been reviewed and tested by members on Endless Sphere and seems to be well thought of. Of course only time will tell how good it really is, but at the moment this is all we have to go on.

Other pluses for the Ebike Vision battery is that it is packed with Sony cells (I assume they are considered to be a quality cell) and the battery is assembled in Germany. It also has a 1000 charge cycle or 24 month warranty.

It's easy to find slightly cheaper Chinese offerings, but the price differential (don't forget to add the very expensive shipping costs on the Chinese batteries) between those and the German Ebike Vision batteries with a 2 year guarantee is relatively small. For these reasons, I think the German battery is the better option.

The battery that I linked to above comes with a fast charger which enables you to recharge that battery on the bike. If you don't buy it the cost of the battery is reduced by about £70. It can still be charged using the original desktop charger if you choose that route.

 

[flecc]

Other pluses for the Ebike Vision battery is that it is packed with Sony cells (I assume they are considered to be a quality cell) and the battery is assembled in Germany. It also has a 1000 charge cycle or 24 month warranty.

BMZ of Germany who build the Kalkhoff batteries have used both Sony and Samsung cells in them.

Since the Ebike Vision battery for Kalkhoff bikes is also built there, I wonder if it is also a BMZ, a sort of "Own Brand" product at a lower price, just like some of the Own Brand items in supermarkets that are made by the leading brands as a sideline.
.

 

[shemozzle999]

I suppose it depends on which BMZ factory it is made in:

"The company, which currently builds around 70 million lithium cells per year into customer-specific rechargeable batteries and has its own production facilities in Germany, Poland, China and also the USA"

 

[flecc]

I think that could make it even more likely that it's as I posted above as a possibility Shemozzle999.
.

 

[tillson]

BMZ of Germany who build the Kalkhoff batteries have used both Sony and Samsung cells in them.

Since the Ebike Vision battery for Kalkhoff bikes is also built there, I wonder if it is also a BMZ, a sort of "Own Brand" product at a lower price, just like some of the Own Brand items in supermarkets that are made by the leading brands as a sideline.
.

I think that you could very well be right. You mentioning Samsung cells has reminded me that one of the reviewers on Endless Sphere mentioned that his battery was packed with Samsung cells, but the advert now says Sony.

So far I have been very impressed. The build quality and performance is good. I will do a more in depth review at some point in the future.

Forum member JamesC initially drew my attention to these batteries.

 

[JamesC]

As Tilson says, I have been getting good results from the 26v 18Ah E-Bike vision battery over the past 18 months, with no issues to report.

I had imagined that these German built batteries came from a different factory to the BMZ series that followed on from the original Japanese Panasonic batteries.

It appears that E-Bike Vision now supply for the Panasonic 36V motors and the Bosch 36V motors, neither of which I have any experience of.

Link to E-Bike Vision Range - you may need "translate" switched on.

James