Battery question

[BlueGenes]

Did you try these folks? https://www.fthpower.com/

I used Luna for parts on a bike I recently built. I've only had to use their customer service once. They were ethical and replaced a damaged part without argument. That's why I'll use them again.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

My 2018 Rad City has 3500 miles. I ride it 95% of the time at PAS 2, in town, on flat ground, and rarely use the throttle. Currently, my range is 10-12 miles. I've been kind to the battery, nearly always recharging inside while I work (and storing the bike at home inside as well). I'm rather disappointed the battery has deteriorated so much, so fast. I will replace the battery soon, but will do so with a non-RAD battery.

I know next to nothing about batteries or how kind you were to yours, but it seems pretty reasonable to me that Rad gives you a year to find any defects. And in my experience, they are great at dealing with things under warranty. Not sure it's fair to expect Rad to extend their warranty.

TT

 

[FlatSix911]

Did you try these folks? https://www.fthpower.com/
They're saying less than $300 to replace all the cells in your pack, but they test it and determine if there are bad cells or other problems or mismatched capacity.
IMO it would be worth the $50 or $80 or whatever it is to send the pack for a repair estimate. Also, in my opinion, you should be getting more like a 40-mile range.

Here's Court's vid on them:

Great video... thanks for sharing. Has anyone on EBR used this service?

 

[rich c]

If the battery costs $500 and you got 3,500 miles, that equates to 14 cents per mile. Pretty cheap transportation!

 

[BlueGenes]

If the battery costs $500 and you got 3,500 miles, that equates to 14 cents per mile. Pretty cheap transportation!

My car averages around 30 MPG. With gas at $3/gallon, that's 10 cents a mile. My RAD costing 14 cents a mile doesn't impress me.

 

[opimax]

Using you comparison I believe you should compare the cost of electricity to the cost of gas. Replacing a battery every x years is maintenance such as tune ups O2 sensors etc.

use .15 per charge for electricity...

 

[PDXzap]

Has anyone on EBR used this service?

I had a very unsatisfactory experience with FTH Power.

The battery in my Evelo was starting to get weak and I had previously seen on their site that they sold shrink wrap packs so I went to find the pack that would fit the Evelo's plastic case but I couldn't find the shrink wrap packs on their site. I called and was told by the gal that answered the phone that they had never had shrink wrap packs for sale. I replied that they had been listed for sale a few months ago but she insisted they had never had any of those for sale.
I took pictures of the Evelo pack with the top cover off (but with it's original shrink wrapped cells still in place) and a metric tape measure placed to show the size the case could hold and emailed those with a description of what I was seeking.
I never heard back from FTH Power.

Here is a screen shot of the PDF titled Packs3.pdf that FTH had on their site of the shrink wrap packs they had for sale.


Something else I found interesting, if you google "Packs3.pdf", that same pdf shows up at https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1601/1503/files/Packs3.pdf and FTH Power's web site is powered by Shopify.

 

[Browneye]

That sounds more like miscommunication or misunderstanding, or they never got your request.
You never followed up but call them unsatisfactory? Maybe try calling them and actually make contact. It is entirely possible your email simply failed.

 

[PDXzap]

Maybe try calling them and actually make contact.

Maybe you misunderstood my post? I clearly stated that I called them and spoke to someone, representing themselves as an employee, and then sent an email. How is that not following up?

I didn't say FTH is a horrible company nor did I say anything about whether or not someone should use FTH Power's services. @FlatSix911 asked if anyone has used their services and I gave my experience of trying to use their services.

 

[harryS]

One issue with putting a pre-made shrinkwrap inside a case battery is that the shrink wraps don't usually have on/off switches, so you will lose the convenience of having that. The other is they probably don't fit.

PDXzap, Have you looked at these guys?

Evelo Battery | Rebuild Service

Always contact your current manufacturer to see if they have options for your rebuild service, when available. These are battery rebuilds only, the bike is not included in our battery refill service. Simply mail in any equipment that came with your battery as well as the charger. From there we...

ebikemarketplace.com

When I first watched Court's video of his FTH visit, didn't they show shelves and shelves of blue packs? They probably pulled them because of liability issues. Softsided packs get dropped. If they land badly, whose fault is it if they catch fire later?

 

[PDXzap]

@harryS I have looked at them, to me they seem a bit over priced. I don't fear a shrink wrap pack too much and have the skills too install one into my existing case and possibly modify things if need be.

When I first watched Court's video of his FTH visit, didn't they show shelves and shelves of blue packs? They probably pulled them because of liability issues. Softsided packs get dropped. If they land badly, whose fault is it if they catch fire later?