Don't charge your bike battery above 80% and don't ride below 20%. Maybe, maybe not.

[tomjasz]

It's pinching pennies. Just charge and ride.

I've seen quite a few tired out batteries that have gotta far to saggy to soon.
BTW In my youth, we understood the magic of compounding. Pennies become dollars, and dollars become tens of dollars...and so on...
There's nothing wrong with either approach, but conservation and best practice CAN mean a stronger battery that lasts longer too!

 

[Figs]

I bought my eBike to ride, not obsess or stress over. Charge it and ride, that’s what it’s made for. In real world use none of the computer models or spreadsheets matter.

 

[KLee]

I have found the easiest solution for me is to keep it partially charged until I'm ready to use it and then fully charge it just prior to going on a long ride.

That's what I do. I keep it at around 50% and top it off to 100% before riding. That only counts as half a charge cycle, right?

 

[tomjasz]

I bought my eBike to ride, not obsess or stress over. Charge it and ride, that’s what it’s made for. In real world use none of the computer models or spreadsheets matter.

Yes! That said an eBike is a major purchase for many. Wanting the best for their aBike is laudable.

 

[fr8dogjoe]

How do you or not charge your battery over 80% with out a smart charger? The only bike company that sells a smart charger is Juiced. Otherwise, try to maintain 50% and then a full charge prior to a ride.

 

[KLee]

How do you or not charge your battery over 80% with out a smart charger? The only bike company that sells a smart charger is Juiced. Otherwise, try to maintain 50% and then a full charge prior to a ride.

I use a multimeter to measure the voltage directly from the pack. It is a crude way to do it but gives a more accurate reading. The LCD display on the bike gives a voltage about 0.8 volts lower than the reading from the multimeter.

 

[Slow Rider]

I'm basically following the 80/20 rule, but charging to 100% every once in while. I also recently saw this in the Giant user manual, so I guess I'm going to take it down to empty every once in a while too.

Discharge the EnergyPak completely by riding the
bicycle after 15 normal charges or at least every 3
months totally before charging the EnergyPak again.
This will increase the lifespan of the EnergyPak.

The post from Giant's website below says their newest batteries "can comfortably be charged 1000 times up to and including 100% of full capacity – not something that can be said for other brands on the market." The post also describes a few interesting things they are doing to try and extend battery life, I wonder how effective what they are trying is going to be in the long run.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/news/all-you-need-to-know-about-panasonic-e-bike-batteries/23652

 

[AHicks]

Slow Rider,
The better question would be regarding if they are doing/using anything unique to the e-bike market. My thought would be a firm no. They make bikes. They buy battery technology.

The concept of riding the bike until battery exhaustion occasionally totally contradicts everything I know about this type battery technology. That advice would be placed on my list of bad practices.

 

[tomjasz]

not something that can be said for other brands on the market."

sales malarkey. AKA BS!

 

[Alex M]

Pick a high price of $700 for a fairly small 11ah, 36 Volt battery.

Divide that by 24000 miles ridden of pure enjoyment and spent a wopping 2.9 cents per mile! Woe is me. I'm going broke!

What is important here is not 2.9 cents per mile, but $700 each year, if you ride a lot. Maybe you won't go broke treating battery as disposable. Still, many people choose to save $100-$200 a year by taking simple precautions like 20/80 charging, storing it out of cold and out of heat etc. I don't even want to touch pseudo-green nature of ebike batteries, this is a different topic.

 

[Alex M]

While long term storage below 80% is recommended, charging to 100% will not significantly shorten battery life.

Pedego is over-simplifying this to the point where it becomes plain wrong. Can't blame them, consumers want it "simple", companies want to sell. Check articles by batteryuniversity.com. Charging to 100% will shorten the cycle life by 2-3 times, compared to 80%. But there are many other factors affecting the battery life, besides SOC at the end of charging.

 

[Alex M]

I'd be turning around at 10 miles into each ride to return home to watch my charger {for 80% charge}! I would barely make it to the coffee shop and back! I'm going to trust the manufacturer's expertise ...

Don't turn around - turn in to Home Depot and get a cheap plug-in timer. Set it to 1.5 or 2 hours, whatever is the estimate to bring it to 80%.

"Manufacturer's expertise"? What you're getting is a marketing material, not an expertise. They don't share engineering expertise in short booklets that come with the bike because the bulk of the customer base are not engineers or technicians with background in chemistry and electricity.

 

[PaD]

I use memory control to charge my battery to e.g. 80%. The problem with this method is that in my case this memory control is biochemical and almost 68 years old.
Yesterday I wanted to charge my battery to about 80%. This was the 2nd charge of my new battery. First charge was to 100% as recommended by Specialized and thats fine because I also wanted to test range with a full charge.
Well, memory failed last evening so I left the charger working while I went to a meeting with the housing cooperative and had a fully charged battery when I came home. Couldn’t really get out and ride at night just to relieve the battery from voltage.
Will get a simple timer to assist (replace?) the memory control.

Edit
I don’t find it bothersome to charge to 80% if it will help in keeping battery capacity high for a longer time. I will give it a full charge from time to time because I want full range on some excursions. But I don’t need 100% every time I go for a ride.

 

[BobG]

Don't turn around - turn in to Home Depot and get a cheap plug-in timer. Set it to 1.5 or 2 hours, whatever is the estimate to bring it to 80%.

Yes, I already have a timer. I set it for 6 hours for maximum charge as a fail safe over the built in shut off. I have the complete dealer manual pdf from my manufacturer and will indeed take their advice. I'd like to think they've already set their charger to shut off at the optimum voltage and the motor to shut down at the minimum. Can't imagine them requiring customers to get charging advice at internet chat rooms.

"Don't turn around"? That's the problem. An 80% charge would have me turning around real soon! Home Depot is a 26 mile round trip from home. I might need that extra 40% of juice to climb all the hills back.

The bottom line for me (manufacturer's expertise or not), 40% off the already limited range of an ebike is inadequate. Heck, just a few years back I was leading ACA TransAm tours on my acoustic bike. 55 miles would be the minimum, 85-100 miles would be the maximum. Can't do that any more. Now my ebike says "I'm tired, turn around now" after 10 miles? Sorry, I'm going to ride it the max distance it will allow even if it shortens its life. Yes, I'll carry a spare battery for longer rides.

 

[6zfshdb]

Pedego is over-simplifying this to the point where it becomes plain wrong. Can't blame them, consumers want it "simple", companies want to sell. Check articles by batteryuniversity.com. Charging to 100% will shorten the cycle life by 2-3 times, compared to 80%. But there are many other factors affecting the battery life, besides SOC at the end of charging.

I should have included this in my above post to clarify. In my battery discussion with Pedego tech support, I was also told their chargers do not actually charge to 100% even though the meter and battery gauge indicate that it has. The Pedego charger actually cuts out at 92% of the maximum 4.6 V per cell. Granted this is greater than 80 but still less than 100%. As a safety factor, I suspect other manufacturers do something similar. Whether or not this has anything to do with overall battery health, I have no idea.

If you're the type of rider that commutes a short distance or takes short rides, great. You can afford to charge to 80%. For those of us, including myself, who ride long distances until the battery gives out, I'll cram as much juice into a battery as it will hold and pay the piper down the road if it comes to that.

This whole discussion really depends on how you ride your bike. There is no right or wrong. It's a matter of personal preference.

 

[harryS]

We 100% guys may sound like Big Oil lobbyists denying the science of batteries. I get the science, and believe I'm OK with 100% charge because I rarely go below 50%. A half cycle, as someone called it. Probably not half, maybe more. but still a partial cycle. I don't store all winter at 100% though. I did for two years. DIdn't kill the packs because it was cold.

Meanwhile, I put on my engineers hat and look at the spec sheet for a very good Sanyo GA cell, Wish all my batteries had this cell. Yet the manufacturer's testing says it loses a third of its original capacity after 500 cycles. Where are the bike makers pulling out these 1000 cycles? They must figure most of us do partial charge cycles.

My usage on a battery is under 100 charge cycles annually. I don't have to worry, I can appreciate the people who have to charge 2X a day to get to work and back. Now a battery is a annual expense like gasoline, heat, mortage and taxes, so you plan according,

 

[DouglasB]

I think the best solution and the simplest is to not charge your battery to 100% until just before you ride. It's the sitting with a 100% charge that is a lot of the problem. That and draining it completely. If my battery is way down after a long ride, I'll charge it up to around 80% and then top it off just before I ride, if I need to. I don't give it much thought any more.

 

[ebikemom]

Pedego is over-simplifying this to the point where it becomes plain wrong. Can't blame them, consumers want it "simple", companies want to sell.

It's possible that the Pedego battery management system does not charge to 100%. As some have mentioned here, that is true of some battery management systems. I will ask Pedego tech support.

REPLY FROM PEDEGO:
I emailed Pedego tech support. Kris reports that Pedego battery chargers charge to 100%.

 

[ebikemom]

BTW, I met a guy on San Juan Island who runs a Kayak business. He has 5-6 year old (?) Pedego City Commuter. He rides it constantly during Kayaking season, then locks up his shop, including his Pedego shop bike and battery, and heads South for the cold months. He is still using the original battery. I didn't ask him how much range he gets, but I did ask about his charging habits. He said that when he isn't riding the bike, he plugs it in and charges it.

Meanwhile, I charge to 100% when I'm going to ride soon (the next day) and if not, charge less. I use a dial timer so that I can control how long the charger stays on. I charge to 100% because I like having the maximum range available to me to do my round trip. I could charge less and then give it a boost at work to prevent charging to 100% .... thoughts? My husband and kids' battery charging practices vary. The kids charge when their bikes get "low" (one green bar), back up to 100% generally. My daughter bike habits are more erratic--sometimes she rides frequently, sometimes not, so I asked her not to charge it up completely unless she plans to be riding the next day.

 

[JoeinJP]

I’m 75 year old and I did a 50 mile bike trip last weekend. Of course I’m not using the seat that came with the bike. Ed

Now that's an amazing ride, standing up the whole 50! Or very sore.