Non-removable Battery

[StuartKuz]

Those of you that can't remove your battery, what effect are you seeing during the winter- on range, longevity, ...?

One of my criteria for picking my first ebike has been that it have a removable battery. This to make the bike light enough to transport on a trunk rack with a 40ish pound weight limit. Also to allow Colorado winter storage and charging to be indoors, rather than storing in a cold garage with the temperature affects on the battery range and life. The electric snowblower strongly recommends storing batteries indoors at room temperature. Yeah, there are plenty of brands to choose from, but the Orbea Urrun with a fixed battery, otherwise seems like it would be a great fit when is available. https://www.orbea.com/us-en/ebikes/mountain/urrun/

 

[tomjasz]

Charge at appropriate temperatures and manage the battery as you should with ALL ebike batteries and the fact that it's non-removable will have no effect on range and longevity.

 

[StuartKuz]

Thanks for the input.

I haven't seen any specs on 'appropriate temperatures' for charging- please send ranges or a link. Do you charge in a cold garage, or bring a bike indoors to charge and warm up before a ride?

 

[tomjasz]

Google is your friend.
charging temperatures for an ebike battery

 

[indianajo]

There are many LiIon battery care threads on the maintenance forum: https://electricbikereview.com/forums/forum/maintenance/
In general, never charge a LiIon battery at or below freezing. I've found capacity is about 1/2 when ridden at 40 deg F.
My battery case is designed by me to be difficult to take off. Takes me 25 minutes with 2 7/16" wrenches, a nail puller, and a pair of slip joint pliers, to get it off. As there have been two times when non-critical nuts & bolts were loosened on the battery case when I was parked shopping, I count that difficulty as a theft deterrent. I take the battery case off the bike when freezing occurs, usually mid-November. I put it back on in late April or early May when freezing is over. During the winter it lives in my garage under a heating pad. When the weather is freezing, the heating pad is turned on. This has preserved my battery for 4 years so far. The bike motor helps me commute to my summer camp, and I don't go there in the winter. The trailer out there is too drafty and high winds >25 mph in various directions are frequent in the winter. 50 mph wind yesterday.
I bring the dewalt tool Liion batteries usually in the garage inside in the winter. The LiIon batteries in the Garmin radar detector & display seem to have to no damage from leaving them on the bike in the garage. I charge those indoors. The dewalt batteries & the bike battery I charge outdoors in mild weather.

 

[PedalUma]

I am just glad that in three weeks the days will be getting longer. I personally wouldn't want a bike with a non-removable battery. I like to do quick swaps between batteries and between bikes. I currently have five bikes that all use the same standard connector and generic mount, a standard 90mm water bottle cage. One bike is coming in on Friday and one going out on Saturday. So, I will still have five with the same standard. When a battery has been used for a while I will sell it cheap as a backup battery to someone using the same standard.

 

[6zfshdb]

As mentioned above, storing a battery in sub freezing temperatures should not affect performance. Charging under those conditions however can be harmful and in some cases dangerous.

There are weatherproof bike enclosures on the market such as these:

https://www.theparkcatalog.com/bike-storage?gclid=Cj0KCQiAvqGcBhCJARIsAFQ5ke4k4FengGm22drjoetmqz0wZ-3xIEW3_-h3UF_GxWMARcfwoXE-BI0aAsJvEALw_wcB

They are quite pricey though and don't deal with sub freezing weather.

If you have any DIY skills and a dry, secure, location, you can make your own. Buy a couple of sheets of 4' x 8', 1" thick rigid Styrofoam insulation and a tube of construction adhesive rated for Styrofoam. Make a simple open sided Styrofoam box that just fits over the bike. Find an old lamp and and use a 25 watt incandescent bulb. Put it in the box with the battery charger. Don't use anything larger than a 25 watt bulb or it could get too warm inside.

Another neat trick for charging & storing removeable batteries is to put them in an old refrigerator with a 25 watt lamp inside. A hasp lock can be installed on the door for security if necessary.

 

[StuartKuz]

Thanks for the good confirmation about Li batteries and cold weather. My snow blower batteries live indoors, the Bolt battery has no choise but to live in the garage, but plugged in, gets heated before driving when temps are low, <25F in the garage.

Yet there are fabs making non-removeable batteries. Orbea comes most to mind, and they have tons of shops in Scandinavia, for example, selling their ebikes in a 'chilly' climate. I see the advantage of discouraging theft, but here in Colorado, it can easily be too cold to ride for months for this wimp. The Urrun is otherwise the closest I've seen to meet my needs, but needing to baby it with an electric blanket doesn't sense. Am I missing something?

 

[sc00ter]

I pull my yard equipment batteries when it gets close to freezing or below OR when it gets really hot outside. Same when I had my ebike. I have a electric kick scooter now and the battery is sealed in the deck. I don't have space to pull it inside the house when it gets cold, or hot in the summer, so we'll see how long it last. But this is what I found, your range will get cut to a tad over half if the battery is really cold from sitting outside. I've also found extreme heat will cause a temporary "shut down" of power delivery, kinda like a random short. I rode my old Rad Runner ebike year round but always pulled the battery when at home or at work, so my range wasn't as affected because the battery was stored in comfortable conditions.

I like the heating pad idea but I know I'll forget to do it. I might try wrapping the deck with something this winter. Zip a old jacket around it or something. It's supposed to be a cold winter this year and my garage is just a tin shell.

 

[ruffruff]

In terms of actual range in cold weather, I see about a 25-30% drop in range in cold weather.

 

[Gordon71]

There are EBikes with non removable batteries? That makes no sense at all. When the battery wears out the whole bike goes in the trash?

 

[sc00ter]

I think, just like my kick scooter, "sealed" can be removed but it's a big pain in the booty. I figure that by the time my kick scooter battery dies I'll be ready for an upgrade. But it is a inconvenience that its sealed in the deck, or in a frame.

 

[tomjasz]

There are EBikes with non removable batteries? That makes no sense at all. When the battery wears out the whole bike goes in the trash?

Non removable, but not unrepairable. Just not convenient or very user friendly. Not necessarily as bad as it seems on face. Stealthy road bikes with batteries in the down tube aren’t very user friendly but also not to difficult for someone up to speed.