New Bike Charging Question

[Ballynoes]

Hi All,

just got my first ebike at the weekend, fantastic machine.

I did 25 miles or so on Sunday, and my battery is still 3/4 charged.

Question is, is it best to run the battery down to almost nothing before re-charging, or can you just charge and discharge these batteries at any point.

It's a Bosch power system with Bosch battery.

I'm sure there are folks on here who have had ebikes for years and I would like the benefit of their experience in charging techniques.

Thanks

All

 

[Steve A]

My understanding has always been to charge up to 100% after every ride. So far no issues. Info was from ebikeshop.co.uk

 

[danielrlee]

Degradation of a lithium battery is minimal when stored at around 50-60% charge. The less time the battery sits at either of the extreme states (fully charged, or fully discharged), the slower the calendar aging of the battery. Batteries also don't like being stored at higher temperatures as this also ages the cells faster than if stored at cooler temperatures.

I generally store my batteries 50% charged (~3.85V per cell) and charge to 100% just before use. Following this rule has seen my oldest (LiPo) pack enter its sixth year of usage with around 85% of capacity remaining.

 

[GLJoe]

danielrlee's advice is sound.
The only one slight snag with it though, is that if you find yourself wanting to go out for a long/hard ride on a whim, its always a good idea to have a fully charged battery ready and waiting!
For this reason, I leave my batteries at around half charge if I'm away for some weeks/months, however I always charge back up to full after every ride the rest of the time! It won't unduly damage the batteries.

 

[Steve A]

As I ride my bike about 3 times a week I keep it fully charged. In winter, I agree, it sits at about 60%.

 

[danielrlee]

The only one slight snag with it though, is that if you find yourself wanting to go out for a long/hard ride on a whim, its always a good idea to have a fully charged battery ready and waiting!

Too true! That's why I now use a 3kW charger and a battery chemistry that supports rapid charging. The result is that I generally never have to wait more than 15 minutes for a charge nowadays.

 

[asc99c]

Also agreeing with danielrlee, it's the extremes that need avoiding. Some laptops have battery saver modes which limit charging up to 80%. This is meant to improve longevity, at the obvious cost of battery life from the 'fully' charged state.

Since I'm mainly using my bike for commuting, and I know I only need a half charge for the journey, I generally try and unplug the charger before it's finished, to simulate the same effect.

Only done 1600 miles so far, so still too early to tell if it makes any difference.

I must admit I wonder if fast charging makes things worse. My phone came with a 4A fast charger that gets it back to 60% charge in 15 minutes. But after 9 months its battery life is well depleted. I've seen similar with my laptop since I got my wife one with the same power connector but a 130W brick that I often now use.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

 

[danielrlee]

A reminder for those that use batteries with a BMS - A full charge to 100% once in a while is necessary to allow the BMS to balance the pack.