Hello from FL and an Addmotor owner

[Walking-not-cruising]

I'm just joined EBR and just watched the intro from Justin, Michael and Ben. Very Impressed! Good luck to Court and Good Luck to the new crew.

My story.... I bought two Addmotors from a local dealer in May 2021 in NE Florida. The bikes have been well taken care of.

In March of 2025 my M430 ADDMOTOR (picture attached) would not turn on. I contacted our local dealer and they stated that they were no longer an Addmotor dealer because they could not get parts from them in a reasonable timeframe, if at all. My local dealer looked at the bike and determined the the battery was bad and would only resister 6 volts and it needed 48V volts. I was advised by tem to be very careful about using 3rd party batteries as they could cause other issues as well as catching on fire.

Next, I contacted Addmotor and after discussing the situation with them they they told me that my M430 Ebike was discontinued and so was the battery and there was NOTHING they could do, or were willing to do. I went back to my local dealer and let them know what Addmotor said. They then told me that they had located a source for 3rd party batteries and they were $800.

So, That is where I need some advise as to what to do. Do I buy a 3rd party battery, buy another bike or what? HELP!!! ALSO, Should I be posting this under another forum besides this Introduction Forum.

 

[Watana Bob]

Welcome to the forum!
Sorry to hear of your problems with your Addmotor. I would advise you to buy a new bike if you can afford it, rather than dropping $800 on a new battery on a bike that is no longer supported by the manufacturer. For around the $2000 or less you can get a new model Lectric or Aventon which would be similar but better than your old Addmotor, maybe Jeremy or others that are familiar with them can give you better information.

 

[Walking-not-cruising]

Thanks Robert. I would be interested in a new or slightly used one that is lighter than my M430 Addmotor. Would my M430 that is in great condition be worth anything on the used market. IS there a used market on this forum? Can anyone rebuild batteries? Terry

 

[Watana Bob]

Thanks Robert. I would be interested in a new or slightly used one that is lighter than my M430 Addmotor. Would my M430 that is in great condition be worth anything on the used market. IS there a used market on this forum? Can anyone rebuild batteries? Terry

Walking, there is a clasified section at the bottom of the forum listings. With a bad battery and the age of your Addmotor it probably doesn't have a lot of value, but you could try selling it on craigs list or Facebook marketplace.
You might take a look at Upway, https://upway.co/, they have a vast selection of e bikes for sale at pretty good prices. These bikes are used (some new and many very low milage) check them out for something to fit your budget, they also have a good reputation.

 

[Watana Bob]

Forgot to address battery rebuilding, yes there are rebuilders out there but the battery is a crucial piece of the e bike and you only want the best, factory sealed from a known manufacturer with high quality cells, anything less and you are risking a fire that could burn not only your bike but your entire house down. In my opinion a battery is not the place to cut corners to save a few bucks.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

I agree that selling it as is and buying a new ebike is a good choice. Im sure you’ll disclose the faulty battery when you list it. Seems like a BMS issue. Someone might be able to fix the issue.

 

[Walking-not-cruising]

Watana, Thanks for the input and I will check out upway and the used forum here. Any guess as to what a fair value for the bike would be "asis". Good advise about the battery... Scarey...

Slaphappy, What is BMS ? Battery something?

 

[Slaphappygamer]

It’s a Battery Management System. It’s responsible for monitoring the battery pack. If low voltage is registered, the BMS will shut the pack down. Which is what I suspect may have happened. The BMS will (should) also manage cell balancing while charging, could monitor temp (if built for that), and BMS will (should) also recognize when full charge has been reached and will stop receiving charge from the charger.

Not all BMS are the same which is why I mention (should).

 

[Walking-not-cruising]

Thanks. Where would I look for someone that might be able to fix the BMS?

 

[Watana Bob]

Walking, as they say, "something is only worth what somebody is willing to pay" In 2021 bikes were scarce and prices were high, what you paid for it then is probably making you think that it is worth more than it is. Technology has improved and costs have come down, especially on the lower end bikes, all of that said, your bike will only appeal to someone who likes to tinker and build up their own bikes and they generally don't like to spend a lot of money on projects. If I were such an individual, I probably would offer no more than $300-$400, some of the bike builders on this site might chime in and give you a better number than my wild guess.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

Thanks. Where would I look for someone that might be able to fix the BMS?

That’s the problem. Not many people are willing to do this work. It’s not like you just swap it out. A new BMS may have a different interface (towards the battery series cells) and you may need to solder in a new 14 wire harness. Then you have to resolder the charging and discharging leads. Of course you’d have to unsolder the old BMS first.

But before you replace the BMS, you’d have to check each p group of cells to be sure they are healthy. If one p group is bad, then the others may follow in time. This leads to premature heating of the pack and it just gets worse from there.

I completely agree with Watana. It’s be best to sell it as is and all faults disclosed for whatever price you can get for it. You’ll probably get low balled a few times. A new battery isn’t cheap. Then use whatever money you got back and buy a new ebike. If I were in the market for a new ebike, I’d be sure to get one with 21700 battery cells. They are “newer” so they have higher capacity and higher discharge rates. Their life span is greater than 18650 cells since 21700 are more energy dense. Ride1Up made that change a few months after I got my 700 Series. I think their Vorsa finally replaced that bike. The Turris replaced their 500 Series first.

You can get a good ebike now for under $2000USD. Some might say that you need to spend at least $5000, but that’s not true at all.

 

[stompandgo]

Our shop will attempt to repair any e-bike, and we have a pretty good success rate. However, we have a $175 diagnostic fee which you pay whether we can fix it or not. Nobody else here will attempt to fix an e-bike that they did not sell.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

$175 isn’t bad. Testing and isolating is the most time consuming part of fixing an issue. Could take hours or days (if it’s one of those, “every now and again such and such happens”). The intermittent trouble can be hardest to find because, first youll have to replicate the issue. Finding and ordering parts could also be time consuming, but you’ll need to know where the fault is first. You can’t fix what you can’t find.

Of course you can go with the “replace things and hope for the best” approach, but that’ll probably cost more and you’ll be tossing good parts away.

 

[stompandgo]

The $175 gets it in the door and the next steps determined. Any remediation is parts and labor on top of that. If you decide to trash it and walk, you only pay the fee. If you pay for parts and labor, and more than one "fix" is needed, you pay for parts and we cut you a deal on labor. We may also do a trade-in if it's a manufacturer that we have inventory of and can use the parts. It's not good business to stiff customers for every dime. All good shops work like this.

The biggest issue we have is finding critical parts, like controllers, displays, harnesses, battery mounts, etc. for no-name bikes. If the company is in business and we can order parts, great. If not, then the customer has decisions to make.

 

[Walking-not-cruising]

Stomp, I'm 90% that the battery is the issue. Do you repair batteries? Where are you? Shipping could be another issue.

 

[Walking-not-cruising]

Is Addmotor one you would want as a trade-in?

 

[stompandgo]

We do not repair batteries, and only take trade-ins on new bikes in person. We are in Massachusetts.

HIC rebuilds Addmotor batteries.