Seeking Battery Life Info From Dedicated Commuters And Mileage Mavens

[reed scott]

Perhaps those who commute daily with their ebikes would have good information on just how much useable life there is in an ebike battery. Those who have to charge nearly every working day should know things we recreational riders might not. The information of course would be varied as different capacity and different brands of batteries would be referenced but still useful and informative I would hope. One thing I'm wondering about is at what point is a battery, though still taking a charge, just not getting the job done? That is, the battery no longer can get you there and back. Another thing is can any of you testify to the usefulness of stringent battery maintenance? That is, not fully charging to 100% and also not discharging excessively. Another thing that would be helpful is an explanation of your charging routine. I can see where if one is using two different batteries it might get complicated and if you had two bikes much more so.

Besides commuters there may be some who keep good records and though not commuting regularly ... do put a lot of miles on their bikes. Like Stefan and David Berry.

 

[reed scott]

Bump.

 

[ebikemom]

Perhaps those who commute daily with their ebikes would have good information on just how much useable life there is in an ebike battery. Those who have to charge nearly every working day should know things we recreational riders might not.

We have 3 year old ebikes, two which have a lot of commuting, and 4,000 and 6,000 miles on them. The batteries are all doing great! The commute is about 23.5 miles RT. I keep a charging cable in my office in case I forgot to charge fully when I got home. No problems, and lots of fun.

The bikes are:
Pedego City Commuter (6,000 miles and going strong)
Pedego Interceptor (4,000 miles and going strong).

That all said, I have not been commuting since late March 2019, because I have been working from home. So, my ebike now gets only 20 miles or so of riding per week. Looking forward to the pandemic ending so I can enjoy my beautiful commute again!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Reed,
I can only answer for Specialized batteries as I can measure their usage and wear precisely. I have been riding my Vado for last 14 months. The mileage on this e-bike is 5789 km (3597 mi). Now, I use two 604 Wh batteries which I rotate in the manner these are balanced on recharge cycles. I typically start with 100% charge on the battery that goes first into the bike frame and ride until it is discharged even down to 5%. The spare battery is typically discharged down to 20% on a long ride. Having said that...

Battery A has 55 charging cycles on it and is 99% healthy;
Battery B has 56 charging cycles done and is 97% healthy.

Specialized say 300 charging cycles would degrade the battery to 70% health. If so, my both batteries would be probably good for (300 / 55) * 14 months = 76 months or 6 years and 4 months. If I owned a single battery, the battery would be partly degraded after 3 years and some of very active riding.

One of the reason of investing in two batteries in the very beginning was to allow my Vado be ridden for many years without worries. I can bet earlier the motor would need to be replaced before the batteries die...

 

[6zfshdb]

I don't commute but I do put a lot of trail miles on my bikes. I have 3, 3 year old Pedego Platinum Interceptors. One has 3000 miles, the other two around 1000 miles.

I store the batteries in a heated garage at 40 to 70% charge. I charge to 100% just before a ride but don't leave them at 100% or below 20% for more than a day or so. I charge at 3 amps max. I have a rig I use to discharge my batteries and a recent bench test showed less than a 6% loss of capacity. It's hard to tell how much of this loss is due to age vs usage.

 

[reed scott]

Reed,
I can only answer for Specialized batteries as I can measure their usage and wear precisely. I have been riding my Vado for last 14 months. The mileage on this e-bike is 5789 km (3597 mi). Now, I use two 604 Wh batteries which I rotate in the manner these are balanced on recharge cycles. I typically start with 100% charge on the battery that goes first into the bike frame and ride until it is discharged even down to 5%. The spare battery is typically discharged down to 20% on a long ride. Having said that...

Battery A has 55 charging cycles on it and is 99% healthy;
Battery B has 56 charging cycles done and is 97% healthy.

Specialized say 300 charging cycles would degrade the battery to 70% health. If so, my both batteries would be probably good for (300 / 55) * 14 months = 76 months or 6 years and 4 months. If I owned a single battery, the battery would be partly degraded after 3 years and some of very active riding.

One of the reason of investing in two batteries in the very beginning was to allow my Vado be ridden for many years without worries. I can bet earlier the motor would need to be replaced before the batteries die...