How is your battery health?

[m@Robertson]

Oh and this article that you are posting over and over again... It doesn't say what you want people to think it says. Either that or you didn't read past the title.

Memory effect now also found in lithium-ion batteries

Due to their high energy density, lithium-ion batteries are used in many commercial electronic appliances. They are also believed to exhibit no memory effect. That’s how experts call a deviation in the voltage of the battery that can limit the usability of the stored energy as well as the...

www.sciencedaily.com

There were two research studies in 2013 that noted the li ion memory effect. One was the study I already linked (not a clickbait article... the actual study) and the other one was a joint project done by Toyota and Paul Scherer Institute. Here's the part you missed:

BOTH of them focused solely on LiFePo4. That would be the battery chemistry virtually none of us have in our ebikes here. And the article you linked also says that the effect is temporary, which someone will know if they actually read the article rather than see the headline and assume it supports the agenda you are pushing.

Here are a couple of quotes from your cited source:

Scientists have found that idling a sufficiently long period of time can be used to erase the memory effect.

And something the short summary article I cited revealed is also in your source, quoted by the study's lead:

According to Professor Petr Novak, Head of the Electrochemical Energy Storage Section at the PSI and co-author of the publication ... The effect is in fact tiny: the relative deviation in voltage is just a few parts per thousand.

It also goes into how a BMS can be designed for LiFePo4 packs that handles the resting phase automatically.

So lets review:

1. li ion memory effect is something that happens to a type of battery that ebikes do not use
2. The effect is temporary
3. The effect is tiny

The two studies that discovered the effect were in 2013 and a lot has happened in those 9 years insofar as battery management systems are concerned. I know my solar generator that uses LiFePo4 cells that was manufactured in 2022 has a BMS that overcomes this issue (I know because I asked).

 

[J.R.]

Memory effect now also found in lithium-ion batteries​

Source: Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)

The PSI institute's (Switzerland) website has archived this article with the disclaimer that the information might be out of date. The article is from 2013. I read it last week when you were wallpapering EBR with it. In the article they clearly state they were discussing LiFePO4 batteries, which modern ebikes do not use.

Out of date information on an old chemistry that no one here uses.

Your wallpaper needs a disclaimer.

 

[fooferdoggie]

​

The information is correct and is from the battery scientists and ebike maintenance experts and is not my opinion.

when you provided outdated info and data that is not actually about the thing your trying to prove then it is all on you.

 

[Solarcabin]

A few other things to consider about battery health:

1- Before you put a battery on the charger do a visual inspection. Ebike batteries take a beating on rough roads and can crack and a damaged battery can catch fire. If it is damaged don't charge it.

2- Let your battery cool down before charging and watch for overheating when charging. If you have been riding hard throttle all day that battery will be hot and then you are going to add more heat if you stick it on the charger. Let it cool down first. If the battery shows overheating when charging turn off the charger and let it cool down. Batteries sitting in the hot sun need to be cooled down before charging.

3- Clean your battery and ebike battery connectors. Dust, mud and debris can interfere with battery performance, Take your battery off to wash an ebike and clean and dry the battery and ebike connectors.

4-Battery lifetime varies but if you are losing capacity and range you may just need a rebalance and not a new battery.

Happy riding!

 

[K PierreR]

Battery size 4 bank 52 volt 49 Ahr
Age 5 years
27,000Km
200 cycles
95-40
Full charge every 10 cycles
90-91%
15 amp charger
Panasonic GA

 

[Stefan Mikes]

BMZ batttery on Bulls 630 wh. 100%
2 years old 5000+ miles. Charged daily or after end of each ride to 100%

Let me draw a parallel, Rome:
The battery charge % is like determining whether a person is fed or hungry.
The battery health is like determining if the person is healthy or ill. You have no tools to determine the battery health.

The 630 Wh is the nominal charge of the battery, that is, how much of energy could theoretically be stored in a brand new battery under ideal conditions and at 100% battery health. A brand new battery might not be at the nominal capacity even if the Health reported is 100%. Actual battery health can be determined by some e-bike systems. To keep it simple: If you could ride for 50 miles on a fully charged battery (to its discharge) at 100% battery health, you will only be able to ride for 40 miles under exactly the same conditions at the battery health of 80%. And there will come a day (in some distant future) when your battery will just die.

 

[Rexlion]

My battery health is great; it has never been sick. Not even Covid!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My battery health is great; it has never been sick. Not even Covid!

This is what all young batteries do say. They think they are immortal!

 

[tomjasz]

It already barely lasts a day with a moderate usage.

Without any voltages and datavthis is useless information for troubleshooting . More information please!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A newly added Specialized Range Extender (#4) after the initial charging:

 

[416dude]

i have a giant explore e3 2019 and have both the energypak 400 and 500 batteries.

energypak 400
manufactured late 2018
58 cycles
94% health

energypak 500
manufactured early 2018
15 cycles
95% health

the bike has 6750km on the motor

 

[BKing]

My initial Radcity battery is 3.5 yrs old, has about 6000 miles on it. Probably half that was ridden in a way that you would ride if someone said, here, try to kill this battery. It has only been charging to 53.4 for awhile and drops to 52 within a mile on PAS 2. Now the new problem is at 45v (Bolton upgrade with voltage readout) the battery bars went blank. It still powered ok. I usually don’t run them to 45v but this one got there quicker than normal. Probably got 20 miles from 53.4 to 45 over two days. I have a spare with about 1500 miles on it so I’m using it now.

 

[Catalyzt]

Without totally hijacking this thread: From what I can tell, it is no longer possible to check the health of Shimano batteries unless you purchase the pro hardware and application that an LBS would have. I think the capability was available in earlier versions of the eTube app, but it was eliminated in one of the updates-- I've hunted through the submenus and can't find squat. If there's some other way of checking, I would love to do this before I get into the fall riding season and try some rides at the edge of my range, though I'm not really that worried with only about 1,000 miles on the clock.

I'm mainly interested because the hills here are steep, I spend a lot of time in high boost with a low-powered motor, and I wonder if that's having any adverse impact on my range. I doubt it, but would be interesting to know. And of course, I always forget to ask at the LBS when I take the bike in!

If anyone knows the background on this, please fill me in. I could have missed something, or maybe the earlier "Battery Health" option was just a rumor, etc.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I have started documenting the status of my Specialized SL batteries...

Now, as I labelled the Range Extenders and can identify each of them, I would now use the "Blank" RE on a daily basis in the "Discharge the Range Extender first" mode. The other REs will only be used for my long weekend rides!

Next, I will start documenting the status of the three Specialized U1-600 batteries for my big Vado.

 

[416dude]

My original battery is now 53 months old and showing 90% from 277 cycles! This battery is still going strong and shows a distance of 83 miles from a full charge in eco (set at 75%), only 4 miles less than my other 2 batteries!

I bought a second battery in Oct 2020 and it is showing 94% from 70 cycles! I thought this would have been higher as it has been treated very well, very sledom below a 20% charge!

I recently bought a 3rd battery which has only been used twice so no need to report on that!

All of my batteries are 500wh!

Overall distance 21,805 miles!

since you are also a Giant ebike owner, I have a question for you.

my 400wh battery label "Made in China, Battery cell made in Japan"
my 500wh battery label "Made in China" only with no mention of Japan.

Do you mind checking the label to see if there's any mention of battery cell made in Japan?

 

[scottsdalecommuter]

2 years in on my Aventon Pace 500 version 1 with 2000 miles and battery health seems just fine and doesn't seem to have any range drop off at all. I have probably charged it 100 times so far. Fortunately I don't ride very far for my commute (under 5 miles) so even if the range dropped off I would be fine for quite a while. I usually charge it weekly just because it's convenient and around 25% or so. I'm not really sure how to verify the actual battery health but this is mainly anecdotal. The only thing i have done to try and help the battery is storing it inside during the coldest part of winter but otherwise just keep it in the garage. Overall, the battery is lasting much better than I anticipated and hopefully can get a few more years and if bike is still in good shape, will likely buy a replacement battery and give this bike to my son and get myself a new ebike!

 

[Art Deco]

Just curious how others are faring? If your bike reports it feel free to share your battery capacity, age and health, distance, cycles and your charging regime.

Manufacturer: Giant
Capacity: 500W
Age: 30 months
Health: 95%, but varies from 93 - 96%
Distance: 6400 km
Cycles: 88
Charging regime: generally 80-20 rule, with a top up to 100% every few cycles. I'm not convinced it's worth the effort.

Edit: thanks @DaveMatthews, added age to the list. And @Rome for the brand prompt.

Great resource guys. it would be nice to have other experienced riders add to this.

 

[Mike_V]

How do you measure battery health?

You measure battery pack health by focusing completely forever and and unflinchingly on the past.

 

[pmcdonald]

Without totally hijacking this thread: From what I can tell, it is no longer possible to check the health of Shimano batteries unless you purchase the pro hardware and application that an LBS would have. I think the capability was available in earlier versions of the eTube app, but it was eliminated in one of the updates-- I've hunted through the submenus and can't find squat. If there's some other way of checking, I would love to do this before I get into the fall riding season and try some rides at the edge of my range, though I'm not really that worried with only about 1,000 miles on the clock.

I'm mainly interested because the hills here are steep, I spend a lot of time in high boost with a low-powered motor, and I wonder if that's having any adverse impact on my range. I doubt it, but would be interesting to know. And of course, I always forget to ask at the LBS when I take the bike in!

If anyone knows the background on this, please fill me in. I could have missed something, or maybe the earlier "Battery Health" option was just a rumor, etc.

I have a Shimano battery in my emtb (8036). My 5003 controller doesn't do the Bluetooth thing but I can get a rough idea of health by comparing the current Eco range estimate with the estimate at purchase. I don't have charge cycles but it gives me something like the following:

Manufacturer: Shimano
Capacity: 630W
Age: 19 months
Health: 93%
Distance: 2200 km
Cycles:???
Charging regime: charge to 100% the day of rides.

Interesting this battery degradation matches my Giant after far less mileage and what would have to be significantly fewer charge cycles. There might be something to this 80/20 rule after all...

 

[pmcdonald]

You measure battery pack health by focusing completely forever and and unflinchingly on the past.

As in all attempts to divine what the future may hold, the past is usually a good reference point.