Kalkoff Batteries -4 years on and still going strong

[oriteroom]

My wife and I both have had Kalkoff Pro Connect's for nearly four years now and I have always recorded our distances and battery performance/ recharges. We've covered about 6,500 miles and my battery has been recharged 61 times and my wife's 55 times. I generally recharge when 3/2 lights are left on battery which works out about every 3 weeks or so. A couple of times a year i take them to exhaustion particularly after the Winter when the calibration is affected by the cold weather. As you can see we get over 100 miles between charges and the batteries are generally only 1/2 to 3/4 discharged, reflecting our usage which is mainly for hills and headwinds. From my data, I typically get an average of 40 miles/ battery indicator light whereas my wife gets 58 miles - she's 4 stone lighter and doesn't go so fast! Of course these are average figures, sometimes we get a lot more (sunny, balmy windless days on the flat - not much of that lately!!!) to much less on hilly windswept days.

When recharging I measure the mW/hr absorbed after deducting 3.2 mW/hr per hour of charging to allow for the residual energy required by the charger itself. I'm pleased to report that both batteries are still taking a full 9.9 to 10.1 amp/hr as they did when we first had them 4 years ago. The recharging characteristics (charge taken versus time) has also stayed the same as when new. One might conclude that usage/number of charges has a far greater effect on battery deterioration than time since I've not measured any decline at all in battery performance.

An exhaustion test on my battery at the end of Feb 2012 after 6100 miles and 56 charges returned 32.5 miles to discharge battery from full to cut off and it took 9.9 amp/hr recharge. I use the same test circuit with a mixture of flat and hills and have assistance set continually at 1:1.

I hope that I'm not tempting fate by reporting my experiences with these batteries and look forward to more years of happy e-biking with the same batteries. Even more I look forward to some sunny balmy wind free days when the battery assistance won't be needed in the near future as I'm sat here reporting my battery results to you on a cold windswept rainy bank holiday. Oh to be in England now that Spring is here!! Much more of this and I'll need to recalibrate my batteries again!!!!

 

[Mike63]

....Well...If that's not a reason for buying a Kalkhoff...I don't know what is !!!

 

[flecc]

These Panasonic 26 volt 10 Ah batteries have been performing well over very long periods since the end of 2007 and are definitely a class leader in the respect of long life.

It's worth bearing in mind that the current Kalkhoff bikes are equipped with German made BMZ-Kalkhoff batteries instead for which there is no history yet. They are however claimed to be good for 1100 charges so if true will last a similar long life. Other e-bike makes using the Panasonic unit still use Panasonic batteries.

 

[tillson]

My Panasonic battery is 3 1/2 years old now. I've do e just over 11500 miles using it on my Pro Connect and it will do my 20 mile round trip commute with 3 out of five charge lights still lit at the end. I only use Low assist mode, so it has an easy life, but I am still very impressed with it.

The bike (Pro Connect) is just as robust as the battery. I will be replacing the sprockets and chain for the first time on Wednesday. I don't think that 11.5 thousand miles is bad on the original set. I am only replacing them now because a tooth has broken off the rear sprocket. Never let it be said that the Panasonic system has had its day, or that they eat chains and sprockets. It just isn't true.

 

[Oxygen Bicycles]

These Panasonic 26 volt 10 Ah batteries have been performing well over very long periods since the end of 2007 and are definitely a class leader in the respect of long life.

It's worth bearing in mind that the current Kalkhoff bikes are equipped with German made BMZ-Kalkhoff batteries instead for which there is no history yet. They are however claimed to be good for 1100 charges so if true will last a similar long life. Other e-bike makes using the Panasonic unit still use Panasonic batteries.

The latest range of Kalkhoff bikes are equiped with BMZ packs assembled in Poland and powered by latest Samsung cells. Probably the best cells now.

 

[Cyclezee]

eZee use Samsung ICR18650-22P 2150mAh cells

 

[Maddz]

I got a Kalkhoff Groove F8 earlier this year and have not been impressed by the battery range. OK, I'm on the heavy side, but with a commute of 1.5 miles each way on the flat (or as near as makes no difference) with the occasional trip into town at lunchbreak (which does involve the only hill in the area), I expect not to have to recharge the battery more than once a fortnight. Instead, I seem to be recharging twice a week.

The dealer has tested the battery and the charger and found no problems and advised me to recharge every time I use it, so I'm wondering if it's a duff battery. It's a Chinese made battery, "E-Bike Battery, Li Ion 36V, 900 mAh/324 Wh" so it looks like a generic.

Any other F8 owners out there with the same problem? I'm very loathe to do longer trips (if the summer ever arrives) unless I can get better range.

 

[tillson]

I got a Kalkhoff Groove F8 earlier this year and have not been impressed by the battery range. OK, I'm on the heavy side, but with a commute of 1.5 miles each way on the flat (or as near as makes no difference) with the occasional trip into town at lunchbreak (which does involve the only hill in the area), I expect not to have to recharge the battery more than once a fortnight. Instead, I seem to be recharging twice a week.

The dealer has tested the battery and the charger and found no problems and advised me to recharge every time I use it, so I'm wondering if it's a duff battery. It's a Chinese made battery, "E-Bike Battery, Li Ion 36V, 900 mAh/324 Wh" so it looks like a generic.

Any other F8 owners out there with the same problem? I'm very loathe to do longer trips (if the summer ever arrives) unless I can get better range.

So, if your round trip to work and back is 3 miles (I assume that you work five days per week) and you are charging the battery twice a week, from the information that you are providing, that means that you are achieving about 7.5 miles of cycling, plus an occasional trip of an unknown distance to the shops, between charges. I assume that the shopping trip is not a significant distance or else you would have quoted it.

7.5 miles between charges seems wrong and if this is true, there is a fault somewhere. The fault is either with your bike or in the information that you have provided.

The battery on your bike isn't the same one being discussed in this topic, and your bike is a hub motored model as opposed to the Panasonic crank drive. That said, you should be achieving better results than you have stated.

 

[Maddz]

That's pretty much what I thought. I reckon I'm getting about 10+ miles per charge, maybe 15 max (full charge Sunday night, recharge Wednesday or Thursday night depending on how far I've gone in the meantime); even with being overweight and using the sport mode, I still would expect at least 25-30 miles per charge. If I'm lucky, and don't make any side trips, I can go from Monday to Friday, and the power indicator is flashing on the way home Friday. Kalkhoff quote a 60 mile range with a 70 kg rider and eco mode, and say you get a 10% loss in range for every 10 extra kg you put on the bike (but don't say what the range difference between modes is).

Part of the reason for getting an electric was because my knees are giving out (we have a history of arthritic knees in the family) and I was finding using my old bike more and more painful when putting pressure on the pedals. My doctor advised me to do more exercise and because of other health issues, I can't spend more than 15 mins walking at any one time except in the city centre. As it takes me 30+ minutes to walk to work not in the city centre, I can't do that.

I have raised the question with Kalkhoff and will see what they say.