Bosch's battery recommendations

[Lar]

I've seen as an example some manufacturers recommend storing at between 60 to 80% and charging to 100% just before using while the electric bike review members consensus seems to be charging only to 80% is best.
I have a 500Wh Bosch PowerTube battery. Not finding anything in the user manual are there any Bosch recommends?

 

[troehrkasse]

I think storing it at around 50% is a good rule of thumb, you don't want to store it at 100%, and running out to 0% anytime is hard on the cells. One of the best things you can do is take it off your bike and store it inside instead of in the garage, or worse outside in harsh weather and more extreme temperatures. Also try not to run it out to 0%... but hey, sometimes you gotta make it home, you know? I've done that every once in awhile and it doesn't seem that my batteries have suffered for it. Take that with a grain of salt, as an ebike reviewer I rarely keep a bike for over one year so I may just not be able to notice the fallout from how I use them.

You can technically maximize the life of your battery by charging to only 80%, and never depleting past 20%... but in my opinion, it's not worth the effort. I think the gains on battery longevity are marginal at best. Worth considering is how much effort and frustration you have to put in to micro-manage your battery charge level, is it worth it? Not for me, but only you can answer that for yourself

 

[Johnny]

I think storing it at around 50% is a good rule of thumb, you don't want to store it at 100%, and running out to 0% anytime is hard on the cells. One of the best things you can do is take it off your bike and store it inside instead of in the garage, or worse outside in harsh weather and more extreme temperatures. Also try not to run it out to 0%... but hey, sometimes you gotta make it home, you know? I've done that every once in awhile and it doesn't seem that my batteries have suffered for it. Take that with a grain of salt, as an ebike reviewer I rarely keep a bike for over one year so I may just not be able to notice the fallout from how I use them.

You can technically maximize the life of your battery by charging to only 80%, and never depleting past 20%... but in my opinion, it's not worth the effort. I think the gains on battery longevity are marginal at best. Worth considering is how much effort and frustration you have to put in to micro-manage your battery charge level, is it worth it? Not for me, but only you can answer that for yourself

This is all good advice and true for all ebike battery packs since all of these, including Bosch, are sourcing the cells from the same manufacturers.

I may just have one comment on gains. If you try to stop charging around %85, the experimental data suggest that you can almost double the cycle life which is significant. The reason why this may not be a big deal with many riders is that, even when you go 0-%100 all the time, it takes around at least 500 cycles until you reach a point where there is a significant capacity loss (~%20). Even when you do 35 miles per charge you are looking at 17500 miles before this happens. Most riders don't reach this kind of mileage easily.

 

[Stephen - Bosch Team]

Good morning everyone! I just wanted to share a digital copy of our Bosch eBike Battery Guide here!!

Page 24 of the guide (page 13 of the digital PDF) calls out all the recommendations for storage.

cheers

 

[Lar]

Thanks. One question would charging to 100% say the day before or day of riding defeat the purpose of storing in the 30-60% range or should 80% be considered topped off range?

 

[Stephen - Bosch Team]

Thanks. One question would charging to 100% say the day before or day of riding defeat the purpose of storing in the 30-60% range or should 80% be considered topped off range?

It would not! Recommendations for 30-60% charging are more aimed at winterizing or 2-3 month storage. Daily to weekly use of a Bosch battery----a user should always feel comfortable topping off that battery fully to 100%. With no memory, there is not detriment to topping off (i.e. charging an 80% battery to 100% or a 95% battery to 100%).

 

[webcurl]

It would not! Recommendations for 30-60% charging are more aimed at winterizing or 2-3 month storage. Daily to weekly use of a Bosch battery----a user should always feel comfortable topping off that battery fully to 100%. With no memory, there is not detriment to topping off (i.e. charging an 80% battery to 100% or a 95% battery to 100%).

And depending on how the BMS works, charging to 100% is usually beneficial to enable full cell balancing which in turn may increase the total energy of your battery, especially if you have been using/keeping the battery in the 10-80% SoC (state of charge) range, also prolongs the life of the cells in the pack.

 

[steve mercier]

We have 6 powerpack 500,s , some are 3 years old and some newer. We rotate the powerpacks randomly between 3 bikes. We always charge to 100% as it is the easiest way since the charger shuts itself off when fully charged, and we routinely run them down to less than 5 km remaining ( often down to 1km ). We have not noticed any substantial degredation of any of the batteries with over 41,000 km in total. You have a solid product to represent there Stephen!

 

[Stephen - Bosch Team]

We have 6 powerpack 500,s , some are 3 years old and some newer. We rotate the powerpacks randomly between 3 bikes. We always charge to 100% as it is the easiest way since the charger shuts itself off when fully charged, and we routinely run them down to less than 5 km remaining ( often down to 1km ). We have not noticed any substantial degredation of any of the batteries with over 41,000 km in total. You have a solid product to represent there Stephen!

Thank you for the kind words, Steve! It's truly a pleasure to represent

Here's a picture of my daily drive, a Civia North Loop---just passed 2,600 miles on the Active Line Plus drive. I've ridden this thing through everyyyything.

 

[AvalancheRun]

It would not! Recommendations for 30-60% charging are more aimed at winterizing or 2-3 month storage. Daily to weekly use of a Bosch battery----a user should always feel comfortable topping off that battery fully to 100%. With no memory, there is not detriment to topping off (i.e. charging an 80% battery to 100% or a 95% battery to 100%).

Batteries are expensive and the most environmentally unfriendly part of the bike - why not provide a user-selectable charge limit in the software?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Batteries are expensive and the most environmentally unfriendly part of the bike - why not provide a user-selectable charge limit in the software?

Specialized has done it. For me, it is the feature I never use.

 

[AvalancheRun]

Specialized has done it. For me, it is the feature I never use.

Yeah, I’m impressed that they implemented that 80% + occasional 100% for balancing scheme. Having owned EVs, this is the way to go.

What brought me to this thread is my wife’s bike was charged to 100% by accident while she will be away for an extended period. Some decent software control would have avoided that.

 

[Stephen - Bosch Team]

Yeah, I’m impressed that they implemented that 80% + occasional 100% for balancing scheme. Having owned EVs, this is the way to go.

What brought me to this thread is my wife’s bike was charged to 100% by accident while she will be away for an extended period. Some decent software control would have avoided that.

Yes, it's a great point. For years and still now, we teach to keep the battery stored between 30-60% for long-term storage (i.e. months). I have noticed the new feature by Specialized, note that necessitates the rider being an active member of the app platform. Objectively, there are many, many riders on any system out there that do not partake in connectivity so we need to account for that.

 

[wildtrak]

What brought me to this thread is my wife’s bike was charged to 100% by accident while she will be away for an extended period. Some decent software control would have avoided that.

Just take her bike for a spin then.

I recently bought another used bike for my wife. A 2017 Haibike. It came with a fully charged battery and a diagnostic report from 2 years ago (with 100% charged battery). Probably when the dealer took it in. So it has not been used in 2 years.
On the capacity tester, the battery still showed 100%. The capacity test (battery 7 years old, 121 charges) came out with 90% capacity left.

However, as I am riding a lot and go through 2-3 battery charges every day, I just pick any of my batteries and keep them charged by the sun as much as possible. I am not worried about leaving them alone fully charged, but try to avoid it if it would be for more than 6 months or so.

 

[TrevorB]

However, as I am riding a lot and go through 2-3 battery charges every day, I just pick any of my batteries and keep them charged by the sun as much as possible. I am not worried about leaving them alone fully charged, but try to avoid it if it would be for more than 6 months or so.

2-3 batteries everyday or week?.

 

[wildtrak]

2-3 batteries everyday or week?.

Exactly what I wrote.
I know, there are members here that are ok with two charges a year, but I am actually using my ebikes for what they are made for.

 

[fooferdoggie]

My best was about 950 a month. but it has gone down my energy has dropped since last year I am lucky to get 200 a week now instead of the 230 to 250.

 

[TrevorB]

That is some commute.

 

[AvalancheRun]

Yes, it's a great point. For years and still now, we teach to keep the battery stored between 30-60% for long-term storage (i.e. months). I have noticed the new feature by Specialized, note that necessitates the rider being an active member of the app platform. Objectively, there are many, many riders on any system out there that do not partake in connectivity so we need to account for that.

Thanks for getting back. This would be an awesome OTA update. Since the app would have to be used to change the charge limit, it would only be utilized by those that want it.