How To Unlock Extra Range From Your Electric Bike

Cycling Weekly

The battery in your electric bike is the lifeblood of the system and if treated poorly, won't last for as long as you may hope as ebike batteries are ultimately an exhaustible item.

Transcript

00:00Looking after your battery should be one of your main priorities because it does have the ability

00:10to degrade over time but to what extent can be determined by how you treat it. So here are my

00:15top tips to ensure that it lasts for as long as possible. First up, if you've got a lithium-ion

00:20battery, which most e-bikes do, then don't allow your battery to get all the way to zero. You do

00:25have what's called a BMS or battery management system. Now that's there to ensure that the

00:30battery never actually gets to zero and it will cut the charge off to make sure that there's a

00:34little bit of residual power in there. Should you ever actually get to zero, then the cells will

00:40never recharge again and it will be absolutely toast. So the best practice is to ensure you never

00:45let your battery get near that level and to charge it regularly. A question that often comes up is,

00:51will I damage my battery if I charge it up to 100%? Well, no you won't, but you may get fewer

00:56charge cycles. Now a charge cycle is a full discharge and recharge. A normal e-bike battery

01:02would be expected to get between 800 to 1000 charge cycles. If you charge to 100% all the time,

01:09then you may be looking towards the lower side of that bracket. If however you charge to 90%,

01:15you could be looking towards the higher side of that bracket. The trade-off is though that you might be

01:20left with slightly less range to use when you're out riding. The good thing is though that the BMS

01:24will ensure that when you get to 100%, it will cut off the charge and protect the battery. So it is

01:29very hard to do long-term damage. Balancing a battery is some pretty nerdy e-bike knowledge, but bear with

01:35me here. As we already know, the BMS will protect the battery so that the level won't get so low that

01:41it damages itself. And it will also mean that when we get to 100%, it will also cut off the charge.

01:48However, if you don't charge the battery to 100% on occasion, then it won't have a chance to balance

01:52itself. And this means that the overall range of the battery will slowly decrease over time. So if you

01:59do want to maximize the number of charge cycles you get by charging to 90%, do ensure that on occasion

02:04you charge to 100% to allow the battery to balance itself so that you ensure that you maintain the

02:10amount of range that the battery is capable of delivering. This may mean that you have to closely

02:15monitor the battery level whilst charging, which for some may just not be practical at all.

02:20Come winter time when perhaps you've stayed with the pony, but you want to ensure that you're still

02:24looking after it properly, there are a couple of things you can do to make sure it doesn't damage itself.

02:29So if you're planning on leaving your bike stationary for anywhere up to a month, it's absolutely

02:33fine to leave at 100%. If you're going to be storing it for over a month and longer, then I'd recommend

02:39leaving it at 70% and also dismounting the battery from the bike and leaving it at an ambient room

02:45temperature. Some manufacturers recommend charging every six months to ensure good battery health if

02:51you're really putting it into some long-term storage. It should go without saying, but definitely don't

02:56leave it without any battery at all. Like I've previously mentioned, if the battery then dips below that

03:01safe level, it will be completely toast and it will not charge up again. So do not store it close to

03:06empty. Continuing along the vein of storage, if you're able to leave your bike or just the battery

03:13at an ambient room temperature, then this is definitely a really good thing to do. If a battery

03:18is left out in the cold, then it will lose its charge and the range would also drop considerably.

03:22If you regularly ride in freezing conditions, then I would recommend investing in an insulating

03:27thermal jacket to keep the battery at an optimal operating temperature. Now you can find a link to

03:32one of these down in the description down below. So there we have it. Those are my top tips for

03:36looking after your electric bike and hopefully making it last for as long as possible. Ultimately,

03:41a battery is an exhaustible item and over time it will degrade. So if your range has dropped so far

03:47below what it was when you got it from you, it may be that it needs replacement. With my tips though,

03:52you can make sure that it will last for as long as possible. If you have any of your own tips,

03:57that you think are worthwhile sharing, then drop them down in the comments. If you enjoyed the video,

04:01drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I will see you again very soon.

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