E-bike batteries are made up of multiple connected cells which are constantly monitored by a battery management system (BMS). Lithium-ion batteries, like the ones in your e-bike, are able to pack a ton of energy into a small space but if that energy isn’t properly managed it can become a safety risk. The BMS in your e-bike monitors and keeps the voltage, temperature, and other factors in check so that the battery can work safely and efficiently.
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On your e-bike, the BMS is always on – even if your bike is not – and while it doesn't use a lot of energy, it is one of the reasons you might notice a drop in charge after not riding your bike for a few months. It’s important to note that if your e-bike battery ever completely discharges and there’s not enough voltage left to keep the BMS running, your e-bike battery will effectively lock itself and restrict both charging and usage because it can no longer verify the safety of the system. In most cases the only fix for a fully discharged battery is replacement.
Luckily, 0% charge on your battery indicator is not the same thing as full discharge since manufacturers leave a bit of extra capacity to keep the BMS running for a while after. Just make sure to regularly monitor and charge your e-bike and never leave it stored with no charge – this way you won’t have to replace your battery before its time.
1.Unless you need to use the complete capacity of the battery, try not to run it to below 20% or charge it above 80% to limit long-term wear on the cells.
2. To limit safety risks involved, don’t charge your e-bike batteries unattended or overnight.
3. Charge your battery as close to room temperature as possible to limit wear and increase charge efficiency. It’s often easier to do this with the battery removed from the bike if it allows.
4. Use only manufacturer approved chargers to avoid safety risks and damage to your battery.
1. If removed from your e-bike, store your battery away from direct sunlight and in a dry environment.
2. Store your E-bike battery as close to room temperature as possible, doing your best to avoid temperatures below freezing and above 30°C (especially during charging). This is sometimes easier to do if your battery is removed from your bike for storage.
3. For long-term storage, keep battery levels between 30-60% and check the battery levels monthly to avoid complete discharge.
4. If you notice any leaking, corrosion, swelling, or burning then immediately move the battery outdoors away from flammable objects and dispose of at a dedicated battery recycling facility as soon as possible.
1. Most importantly, try and use all your gears and shift as often as you would on a normal bike. While you might be tempted to stick it in the hardest gear and let the motor do the heavy lifting, using your whole gear range will help to evenly distribute the wear as well as vastly improve your range, efficiency, and battery life.
2. Like all chain and derailleur drivetrains, you want to avoid shifting under load as much as possible to limit unnecessary wear and broken parts. On a traditional bike, you can modulate the power to the pedals while you shift, but on an e-bike it’s sometimes easier to stop pedaling briefly to ensure the motor has cut assistance before making a shift.
3. Try and shift only a single gear at a time, letting the chain fully engage before choosing another gear. This will help keep the mis-shifts to a minimum and avoid broken chains.
4. If you’re having trouble getting enough power during slow, steep climbs – increase your pedal cadence! Most e-bike motors are optimized for pedaling cadences of 60-90 rotations per minute and will struggle to reach their peak power output if the cranks aren’t spinning fast enough. High cadence can also help reduce drivetrain wear and increase battery efficiency.
5. If you have a newer e-bike optimized drivetrain like Shimano LinkGlide or Sram Transmission, they were designed to handle the extra power and torque of e-bikes so not all these tips are relevant – but we still think they’re good habits to get into as the benefits are only positive.
We know how fun it is to put your e-bike on turbo and ride like there’s no tomorrow. Unfortunately, that smile can get wiped off your face pretty quickly when you realize you’re quickly draining your battery reserves or can’t seem to find any traction on those loose, technical sections of trail. Like anything, moderation is key – use turbo to get up the steepest part of your climbs while switching down to more moderate assist levels for flat or downhill terrain.
Some bikes even have an automatic power mode that will switch assist levels for you, or you can also connect to your e-bikes paired app as many can automatically adjust your power levels based on a set riding plan or route navigation.
1. While most e-bikes are designed to handle rain and wet conditions, making sure your battery is securely installed and all contact points (like the charge port) are covered will make sure you limit damage to any of those crucial electronic components when you ride or clean your bike.
2. For day-to-day cleaning, a waterless wash is a great way to keep dirt and grime from building up.
3. For bigger jobs with caked-on mud and dirt, avoid directly spraying the bike with pressurized water, especially around the battery and motor junctions, electric contacts, and bearing surfaces. Instead, use either a garden hose with no attachment or go the good old-fashioned bucket wash route.
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4. One of our favourite ways to clean any bike (including electric bikes) is a bucket of warm water, a big sponge, and some soft-bristled brushes. For soap, use a gentle dish detergent or a dedicated bike wash. This gentle, hands-on cleaning method helps you get into all the nooks and crannies while limiting wear to your frame paint and bike components.
5. Once everything is clean and dry, make sure to re-lubricate your chain and derailleur pivots with appropriate product for the conditions and weather you plan on riding in.
A high-quality electric bike can be a significant investment. Prices range from less than $1,000 to well over $10,000, with the average bike in the $2,000 to $4,000 range. In addition to being costly to replace, high demand for e-bikes in some areas could make it tricky to find the one you want. Sales of electric motor-assisted bikes were 238 percent higher in than in , according to Circana, a firm that tracks the industry.
At any price, an electric bike can pay big dividends in increased fitness and inexpensive transportation. Eleven percent of Americans have ridden an e-bike over the past year, according to a recent nationally representative survey of 2,035 U.S. adults conducted by Consumer Reports (February ). The survey also found that, among those who had ridden an e-bike or e-scooter in the past year, 71 percent said fun and leisure activities were among the reasons they did so.
Some e-bikes, regardless of where the motor is located, have a separate throttle control, typically a thumb-operated lever that applies electric power without the rider needing to pedal. This is handy for a quick, effortless takeoff, but it uses a lot more battery life than a pedal-assist setup, and that can limit the bike’s electric range and the amount of exercise you’ll get from riding it.
Nate Bosscher, a principal engineer on the electric bikes team at Trek, says the motor on a mid-drive electric bike is “upstream of the gears and the chain, and that certainly puts more strain on the drivetrain than a non-e-bike.” You can reduce the wear and tear on the drivetrain by regular cleaning and lubrication, he says, adding that hub-drive motors are less sensitive to strain than mid-drives.
Whether you’re riding a mid- or hub-drive electric bike, you should downshift to an easier gear ahead of a traffic light. That’s so you can resume pedaling without having to “mash” or stand on the pedals to make the bike move, Bosscher says.
You also don’t want to stand on the pedals with maximum force while trying to shift, which is especially hard on the bike’s transmission, Bosscher adds. This is true whether you’re shifting at a slower speed or flying down the road full-tilt. And it’s always best to lighten your pedaling as you shift gears to reduce wear on the gear cluster and chain.
Marco Sonderegger, a senior product manager at Specialized, says that the best pedaling speed on the company’s mid-drive bikes is 70 to 90 rpm, which means your legs are moving at a speed similar to a fast jog. That typically puts less stress on the chain because you’re not putting a lot of torque on the system with each pedal stroke.
The moderate pedal speed also optimizes your range and eases the load on the motor because “the faster the internal electrical engine can spin, the higher the efficiency,” he says.
Bosscher says most e-bike manufacturers gear their motors for pedaling speeds of at least 60 rpm. For this reason, Sonderegger thinks that spinning at 70 to 90 rpm will increase your range by roughly 10 to 12 percent compared with mashing at 50 rpm or slower.
He says that speed is also physically easier because repeatedly pushing very hard and slowly is like doing heavy leg presses.
Regardless of how you ride, it’s important to keep your e-bike’s battery in good condition. The three bike manufacturers shared several recommendations with CR for prolonging battery life.
Don’t drain the battery completely. Bike manufacturers use software to make sure batteries aren’t damaged during charging or discharging. But don’t let the battery get below 10 percent too frequently. Most electric bikes have an LCD display or an indicator on the battery itself, so you can keep track.
Charge regularly. A spokesperson from Rad Power Bikes says you should recharge your battery after each ride, but then unplug the bike once it’s fully charged. Trek’s Bosscher says don’t let the battery get below 20 percent before recharging it. “Partially discharging and then charging will extend the service life of a battery significantly,” he says.
Store it partly charged. If you’re not going to ride your electric bike for a few weeks or longer, Bosscher says, it’s better to store it at less than fully charged. “Storing a battery at 100 percent charge is actually bad for its longevity,” he says. Trek’s guidelines recommend storage at between 40 and 80 percent charge. Rad says 75 percent, and Specialized says about 60 percent. Bosch, the German multinational engineering and technology company that makes a lot of the mid-drive bike components, recommends a 30 to 60 percent range. Consult the owner’s manual for specific guidance for your bike.
Cold is the enemy. As with anything powered by a battery, extremes of heat and cold will hamper the range. If storing an electric bike in an unheated shed during winter is your only option, take the battery indoors if you can and charge it separately at room temperature. Rad, Specialized, and Trek all say that riding in the cold won’t harm an electric bike’s battery, though you could see reduced range. But your best bet is to start a ride with a battery that has been stored and charged in your heated home and then inserted in your bike before departure.
Wash with care. While electric bike batteries and related wiring are generally well-insulated from even heavy rain, they’re not designed to be submerged in water or cleaned with a high-pressure washer. Rad recommends removing the battery from the frame, wiping down the battery case and tray with a damp cloth, and allowing everything to dry completely before reassembling. This is consistent with Bosch’s guidance and that of other manufacturers. Wash a bicycle with a sponge and soapy water rather than a garden hose to prevent forcing water past delicate grease seals, which hold components (like bearings) that need to stay sealed and well-oiled.
A chain or U-lock is absolutely necessary if you’re going to park your electric bike on the street. See CR’s bike lock ratings and reviews for more information. Always lock through a part of the frame and one of the wheels to a fixed structure. Worst case: Lock it to something that’s a chore to move. Electric bikes are relatively heavy, so moving both the bicycle and another object would deter most thieves. Always remove the battery, too. Because bike sales have boomed, so have bike thefts. Removing the battery from an electric bike is an easy deterrent because that super-hot commodity doesn’t look so appealing to a thief if it’s missing one of its most expensive parts.
It’s a good idea to remove the bike’s battery even if your e-bike is locked to a rack on your car or RV because exposure to weather and extremes in temperature isn’t great for the battery, either—and, again, will make your bicycle that much less enticing to criminals.
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