Scrambler - upgraded battery?

[heytchap]

I'm having a tough time deciding whether I want the upgraded battery or not.

The stock battery is 52v/13, estimated for ~30miles; while the upgraded is 52v/19, hopefully affording me 50ish miles of pure throttle without pedaling.
Having the extra range sounds awesome and the current price is $500 vs $1100 at normal retail pricing; naturally, the severely reduced price is really getting my attention and the final countdown is all but here, further driving my interest and desire.

In this forum's opinion, is the upgraded battery worth it or is the stock configuration good enough?

 

[heytchap]

hahah. Yeah. Fair reply.

My financial situation is fine and I can afford the battery without issue. I just dont know if it's worth the cost and if I'm actually going to get enough value out of it to make it worth it.

Having the extra range is nice, I wont have to worry with "range anxiety" but as it stands now, 30mi from stock is pretty decent.

 

[rich c]

That thing looks like it would be a bitch to pedal, go with the big battery!

 

[Chris Hammond]

Buy the biggest battery you can afford. You will never regret extra range available, but you will definitely regret running out of power mid ride.
The bigger battery also gives you the option of charging to 80% more often when you don't need all the range. This will greatly increase battery life, which makes the overall cost even lower as you won't have to replace it as soon.

 

[E-Wheels]

What do you mean? Is it bad to charge the battery all the way up to full?

Buy the biggest battery you can afford, as ideally (arguably) you want to be operating lithium batteries within a charged range of 20-80%
Have a read of the below extracts from Grin Technolgies http://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/battery-kits.html

The Case for Extra Capacity
Say you have a 12km trip to work and back, so to do the full 24km round trip you'll need 240 watt-hours. A 36V 8Ah batery at 288 watt-hours should be a perfect choice no?
The answer is that, unless you are seriously budget or weight constrained, this would probably be a bad battery investment. It might fit the bill initially for your commuting needs, but then it doesn't really leave any reserve if you need to run some errands on the way home, or forget to charge it up one night etc. Even worse, as the battery ages over time the capacity drops. After a year your 8Ah battery is now only 7Ah, it's only barely able to do your daily commute, and the next year when it is just 6Ah you now need to carry the charger with you and top it up at work every day.
Most people find that once they have an ebike, they use it for all kinds of applications and trips outide of just commuting, and the ability to go 50+ km on a charge opens up possibilities that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Plus, as the battery ages and declines in capacity, it still has more than enough range for your key commuting needs. Imagine if instead of getting an 8Ah pack, you purchased a 15Ah battery. Even if after 4-5 years it has lost 30% of its original capacity, that's still over 10Ah and leaves plenty of reserve for your 24km commute.
Furthermore, if you have more capacity than required, then you also have the opportunity to do partial charging of the battery with a Satiator or similar device, so that instead of charging the pack to 100% to squeeze out every km, your standard charge is set to a lower 80 or 90% level. This can have a pronounced effect increasing both the cycle life and calendar life of a lithium battery by several fold.
And a final point is that a larger battery has a lower per cell stress during discharge, since the current is shared among more parallel cells. Cells that are cycled at high discharge curents (>1-2C) also exhibit lower cycle life than those cycled at low currents

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Part of the deal with a larger battery -- an important part to me -- is that the voltage will drop more slowly if the battery has greater capacity. This can translate to longer distances as others have said. It also means better performance. I'm glad I got the (no longer available) 17.4 Ah battery for my CCS. It is quite zippy and responsive at higher volts, adequate and still fun to ride in the mid-range, and somewhat sluggish at the lower voltages. The bigger the battery, the longer the higher and mid-volt ranges will last. So even if your longest ride is only 10 miles, why not enjoy the best the bike has to offer the whole way?

 

[Chris Hammond]

Part of the deal with a larger battery -- an important part to me -- is that the voltage will drop more slowly if the battery has greater capacity. This can translate to longer distances as others have said. It also means better performance. I'm glad I got the (no longer available) 17.4 Ah battery for my CCS. It is quite zippy and responsive at higher volts, adequate and still fun to ride in the mid-range, and somewhat sluggish at the lower voltages. The bigger the battery, the longer the higher and mid-volt ranges will last. So even if your longest ride is only 10 miles, why not enjoy the best the bike has to offer the whole way?

This is so absolutely true. I love to ride at speed. As I have become more comfortable and familiar with my CCS, I find myself customizing my charge profile for my next expected ride in order to maintain higher battery voltages. Finding that balance between the 80% charging goal and the performance I am going to be happy with for my whole ride.
Today was a great reminder of just how important extra capacity can be. I routinely check windfinder.com during my workday to see what my ride home will be like. Today forecasted 15+ mph headwinds for my entire 30 miles. This prompted my to increase my charge to ~92%. My usual 500 Wh of power use was blown away with a record for me of 695 Wh. I rode in S mode most of the ride with power pegged at ~20A and ~1000W. Gusts slowed me down into the upper teens at times. Having that extra capacity is a benefit that can't really be appreciated until you have it.

 

[Armchair]

I'm having a tough time deciding whether I want the upgraded battery or not.

The stock battery is 52v/13, estimated for ~30miles; while the upgraded is 52v/19, hopefully affording me 50ish miles of pure throttle without pedaling.
Having the extra range sounds awesome and the current price is $500 vs $1100 at normal retail pricing; naturally, the severely reduced price is really getting my attention and the final countdown is all but here, further driving my interest and desire.

In this forum's opinion, is the upgraded battery worth it or is the stock configuration good enough?

Just an FYI, if you get the upgraded battery you don't get the 13ah one so it really isn't $500 if you consider the retail cost of the 13ah one is roughly $600 alone. You are just paying for the difference in battery costs. It would be another story if you got both batteries.

The way I look at it the 19ah retails for $1200 so you are only saving $100. So take the "deal" temptation out of it and see if it fits your use case.

For me I'm passing on it as it adds 50% to the cost of the bike and I plan on mostly using this bike for short cruises around town. Probably 15 - 20 miles at most.

Edit: They charge $600 for the 48v 13ah so the 52v one with the scrambler might even retail for more.

 

[CodyDog]

Bigger is better!

 

[heytchap]

I wound up buying the battery. I considered the hyper scrambler upgrade for $1300 but the difference of a 1000w motor vs 750, air vs coil suspension, and a battery didnt come out to $1300 for me.

 

[Rooster]

I'm having a tough time deciding whether I want the upgraded battery or not.

The stock battery is 52v/13, estimated for ~30miles; while the upgraded is 52v/19, hopefully affording me 50ish miles of pure throttle without pedaling.
Having the extra range sounds awesome and the current price is $500 vs $1100 at normal retail pricing; naturally, the severely reduced price is really getting my attention and the final countdown is all but here, further driving my interest and desire.

In this forum's opinion, is the upgraded battery worth it or is the stock configuration good enough?

I think I would get it with the 13ah and get an extra 13ah battery if it only costs about $100 more than getting it with the 19ah j.s. it's more ah's at 26. Of course that wouldn't fix the voltage drop but it would give you more range. Depends on the price difference between the two.

 

[Rooster]

I think I would get it with the 13ah and get an extra 13ah battery if it only costs about $100 more than getting it with the 19ah j.s. it's more ah's at 26. Of course that wouldn't fix the voltage drop but it would give you more range. Depends on the price difference between the two.

Yeah I just checked it out and if they want $500 for the upgrade to the 19ah that can't be right cause you can get the 13ah battery for $599 . Personally I would rather have 2 batteries. Ah the 13ah is 48v, never mind, rather have the 52v. My bad, I'm just babbling on ?.

 

[heytchap]

I think I would get it with the 13ah and get an extra 13ah battery if it only costs about $100 more than getting it with the 19ah j.s. it's more ah's at 26. Of course that wouldn't fix the voltage drop but it would give you more range. Depends on the price difference between the two.

The 52/19 battery is $1199 at full retail but only $499 now. I didnt want to buy it but I basically had to.

 

[Armchair]

The 52/19 battery is $1199 at full retail but only $499 now. I didnt want to buy it but I basically had to.

As pointed out above it's not $500 since you are giving up a $600+ battery in the trade off. They offer the same battery upgrade options on their retail site. The bike coming with a 13ah 52v battery @ $1000 is a killer deal. After that all the upgrade options they offer are pretty standard in line with their regular pricing.

Edit: I see where the confusion is coming in. On the Indogo page they show
52V / 19Ah Battery Upgrade: $499, USD $1,199 (58% Off)

But that is simply not true. It is a mistake at the least and deceptive advertising at the worst. At retail they charge $1200 for the battery alone, NOT the upgrade. For example if you bought the battery, at $1200, on their site you would get an additional battery to your bike, not one in exchange for the other.

 

[heytchap]

I realize it's not $500 and that i'm losing the original battery.

My point was 2 fold: 1, I dont need 2 batteries if 1 has significantly more capacity; 2, I dont want to spend $1200 on a battery down the line.

 

[Armchair]

Gotcha. Personally I'm waiting on the torque sensor upgrade. They hinted that they were looking into options on how to add it.