Storing E-Bike Through Winter?

[Bigal1463]

Harry, that was the same information that I got. I just had one winter pass me by. Like you, I was told to charge one a month, but I had left for Florida without taking the batteries with me. I took an unintentional chance and so far so good, but when I leave again for Florida, I may just leave them at 50%. I really do know though, there are different thoughts about it.
Perhaps we could get some of the experts to fill us in. Not everyone rides year round, even when we do ride, we don’t ride frequently. Some ride infrequently and some short rides and some longer rides. It’s unfortunate that we can’t get good guidelines, because the battery is the most expensive part of the bike.

 

[Bigal1463]

Oscar, I don’t even pretend to know what’s best, but from from now on after my next ride, I’m not going to charge until the night before the following ride. You are probably right. I do hope that i haven’t damaged any of the cells, as the batteries are quite costly. Any feedback from knowledgeable people would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Oscar56]

Some good reading from one of the xperts in the field:

E-Bike Battery Guide

 

[FlatSix911]

Oscar, I don’t even pretend to know what’s best, but from from now on after my next ride, I’m not going to charge until the night before the following ride. You are probably right. I do hope that i haven’t damaged any of the cells, as the batteries are quite costly. Any feedback from knowledgeable people would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here is an infographic... 9 easy to understand rules to extend the life of Lithium batteries.

 

[Bigal1463]

Thanks very much to both of you.

 

[AlanDB]

I will make 2 points. First, I like starting a ride with a full charge. This is especially critical for my wife's Evelo trike. Even though it has 2 batteries, the range is limited, she uses a lot of battery in the way she rides, and it would be a real dilemma if she ran out of assist out in the middle of nowhere. So I always make sure both of her batteries have a full charge when we start a ride. That is not a problem on my Gazelle with the Bosch system and the way I use assist. I can usually go for several of our typical rides (12 to 25 miles) on a single charge, so I only recharge the Bosch battery when it gets below 50%.

Second, I just don't have the patience to monitor the charging level to unplug the charger at 80%. I know there are devices you can get to do this automatically, but I guess it just isn't important enough to me to invest and bother with it.

Last fall, cold weather hit in early October and ended our riding season unexpectedly. I had all of my batteries fully charged ready for the next ride, so I ended up storing them (inside) all winter with a full charge. So far, I can not see any degradation in range resulting from that. In fact, the range on my Gazelle (Bosch system) seems to be better than it was last year (just based anecdotally on the "range" calculation shown on the Nyon display).

I guess if I shorten my battery life by fully charging, I will just have to replace the battery sooner rather than later. And chances are if I am still able to ride, I will be ready for a newer bike anyway! That's just my 2 cents. I do admire those of you who go through the effort to maximize your battery life. But for me ... convenience beats best practice.

 

[Bigal1463]

Alan, good luck and I hope your batteries last a long time. I’m going to change my way of thinking because batteries are very expensive. I don’t do a lot of riding, therefore, I hope I can get at least 5 years.

 

[FlatSix911]

I will make 2 points. First, I like starting a ride with a full charge. This is especially critical for my wife's Evelo trike. Even though it has 2 batteries, the range is limited, she uses a lot of battery in the way she rides, and it would be a real dilemma if she ran out of assist out in the middle of nowhere. So I always make sure both of her batteries have a full charge when we start a ride. That is not a problem on my Gazelle with the Bosch system and the way I use assist. I can usually go for several of our typical rides (12 to 25 miles) on a single charge, so I only recharge the Bosch battery when it gets below 50%.
Second, I just don't have the patience to monitor the charging level to unplug the charger at 80%. I know there are devices you can get to do this automatically, but I guess it just isn't important enough to me to invest and bother with it.
Last fall, cold weather hit in early October and ended our riding season unexpectedly. I had all of my batteries fully charged ready for the next ride, so I ended up storing them (inside) all winter with a full charge. So far, I can not see any degradation in range resulting from that. In fact, the range on my Gazelle (Bosch system) seems to be better than it was last year (just based anecdotally on the "range" calculation shown on the Nyon display).
I guess if I shorten my battery life by fully charging, I will just have to replace the battery sooner rather than later. And chances are if I am still able to ride, I will be ready for a newer bike anyway! That's just my 2 cents. I do admire those of you who go through the effort to maximize your battery life. But for me ... convenience beats best practice.

Get a simple plug-in electric timer and set it for 3 hours (80%) and then forget it... YMMV.

 

[Oscar56]

When I first got my bike I recorded the length of time I charged and the net increase in the % of battery charged. After 2 weeks I determined that for every 15 minutes of charge I increased the battery charge by 10%. Now I just use my phone as my timer.

I rarely need 100% battery charge. I found this an easy method to keep my battery between 80% and 20% charged.
YMMV.