Tips to increase Your Ebike Battery Duration and range

11. February 202214. November 2022
E-Bike News, E-Bike Tips, E-Cargo News

Ebike battery duration

The way you use your battery can considerably increase its duration and even its performance.

Correctly using your battery to extend its life

Manufacturers often specify ebikes battery duration as ranging from 500 to 1000 recharge cycles for a capacity of at least 70 %. This matches what most electric battery manufacturers guarantee, about 180,000 km or five years before the battery loses more than 30 % of its capacity. Nevertheless, here are some tips to extend our battery life.

I explain in detail in another post how to charge your battery to increase its duration (for insatnce, avoid charging it beyond 85%).

Try to avoid overheating and overcooling in general. A battery ideal working temperature is around 20 °C. Here’s what can bring the temperature well above this level; nevertheless, a battery cover can effectively attenuate thermal shocks:

Parking your ebike in the sun. Since your battery is normally black, after a few minutes of exposure to the sun, it can easily exceed 40 °C, even more if it was already warm after a ride. I would prefer a white battery, like some Bosch ones, even if it would require more frequent cleaning, because of exhaust pipes smoke.
Submitting your battery to a prolonged effort, for instance biking on a long, steep climb. I remember having a bike with two batteries. On long climbs, every 10 minutes I switched from one battery to the other. When I switched back, the battery display showed a higher level of charge, since I had allowed it to cool down a bit.
Biking in the sun can also considerably heat your battery. And frequent usage with temperatures below zero can wear it off faster.

Ebike Trek Domane ascent test

Moderate energy consumption

1,000 cycles of recharge, amounting at 25,000 to 30,000 km, is the average estimation for the duration of a li-ion battery. Personally, I rode 6,400 km with a 300 Wh battery, purchased in March 2014. I just had it checked by an ebike mechanic. The Bosch measuring device stated that my battery has still got 78 % capacity. Nevertheless, I was appalled to know that a friend of mine has still got 80 % of capacity on his battery after five years and 28,000 km. The difference, is that I always ride with maximum assistance, climbing every day at least 300 m, whereas my friend rides on flat territory, with minimum or nearly minimum assistance.

Properly store your battery

A garage or even a cellar, if not too moist, would be okay, since extremely low or high temperatures can damage your battery. Normally, a stored battery loses between 5 % and 10 % of its capacity every 12 months. Storing a battery completely discharged or completely charged can also decrease its capacity, more seriously if it’s completely discharged.

The advice I gave in this article can be applied also to other kinds of lithium-ion batteries.

Take good care of your battery, and it’ll do the same with your biking.

Find more ebike tips here.

Updated on 11/14/2022.

Post Views:
1,073

2 thoughts on “Tips to increase Your Ebike Battery Duration and range”

József 17. February 2022 at 10:08
My question is whether it is worth buying a double battery 625+500wh bosch to increase the range, because if the battery loses capacity over time, it may not be used to its full capacity and you have to buy a new one, so it is not economical. Can a battery last 10 years?

Reply
1. LT 28. February 2022 at 10:34
  Hello Jozsef,
  
  right, if you don´t often use both batteries, it´s not worth owning two. A li-ion battery lasts even more than 10 years, it depends on how you use it.
  
  Cheers,
  Luca
  
  Reply