Where To Buy 2nd Battery For 2015 IZIP E3 Dash

[Cameron Newland]

I emailed my local IZIP dealer that I bought the bike from, Hollywood Electrics, and asked about buying a second battery charger for my 2015 IZIP E3 Dash, but they haven't replied to me yet, and it's been a few weeks. I emailed Currietech/IZIP about buying a new battery and they haven't replied, either, even though they promise 1-business-day response times to customer service inquiries. Strange.

IZIP/Currietech doesn't seem to sell e-bike batteries or battery chargers on their website, and their webstore, ( (Link Removed - No Longer Exists) ) isn't operational, which makes for a terrible experience for customers wanting to buy these items. I feel like Currie/IZIP ought to make the process of buying accessories and parts for their bikes simpler. They might generate more sales revenue for themselves and possibly for their dealers, to boot.

Does anyone know how I can get a new battery and battery charger for my 2015 IZIP E3 Dash without having having to go out of my way to do so?

 

[PowerMe]

Did you try calling your dealer rather than just send email?

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

I'll second that, ring them up. Got mine for about $700 down here in Encinitas, expect to pay about $35 for hazardous shipping fees. You'll love the range and can prevent deep discharging on shorter trips. I'm now on Bosch with 2 batteries. -S

 

[HumanitiesHaze]

I assume they come with the charger too?

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

Heck no, $145 for another charger (quoted some time ago). I passed & just swap charge usually by 10pm on days that have me out past sunset. -S

 

[HumanitiesHaze]

WTF! So $700 for battery +$35 + $145 for a charger?!?! = $880!?!?!
Christ I thought it'd be $500.

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

BTW - Currie no longer sells Bosch batteries for the Haibike line, instead steering dealers to deal with Bosch directly - this results in a $920 retail price for the consumer. I've probably said this a half a dozen times up here, negotiate your 2nd battery at cost plus shipping when you buy the bike. There is plenty of margin on your original purchase. -S

 

[Cameron Newland]

Did you try calling your dealer rather than just send email?

Calling the dealer isn't such a hot idea (in my case, at least).

Allow me to explain. The first time I called the dealer I bought my bike from (Hollywood Electrics), they ended up charging me more than $3,000 over the phone for a 2015 IZIP E3 Dash even though I had never once authorized them to do so. It was my understanding on our phone call that I was calling them about setting up a time to demo a bike. If anything, I assumed that they were holding on to my credit card for a deposit or some kind of temporary/reversible authorization. When I came in to demo the bike, it was exactly what I wanted, and the man explained that I had apparently already paid for the bike even though I had never once authorized them to charge me for it. That could have been a very strange experience for everyone involved had I ended up not liking the bike. I assume that they did this because Hollywood Electrics does not keep 2015 E3 Dashes in stock or as demos, so they only pre-order bikes for people who are certain they're buying one.

Anyways, it's not safe for me to call my local IZIP dealer since they have strange and confusing billing practices, and that's why I'm only willing to buy via ecommerce, or at least set up a sale over email, where I would have a paper trail, and I would know what's what.

BTW, this isn't a condemnation of Hollywood Electrics. I'm happy to support the local e-bike industry, and I'm glad that they're serving the area. I'm not suggesting that anyone avoid doing business with them, but rather just trying to explain why I'm not calling them on the phone to inquire about accessories.

 

[Cameron Newland]

I'll second that, ring them up. Got mine for about $700 down here in Encinitas, expect to pay about $35 for hazardous shipping fees. You'll love the range and can prevent deep discharging on shorter trips. I'm now on Bosch with 2 batteries. -S

That's a pretty ridiculous price for a battery. Wow!

The 13 18650 battery cells in these 54.6V e-bike batteries cost less than $130, and the battery housing and BMS shouldn't cost more than $50 each. What a crazy retail markup!

Perhaps someone should make a business out of building OEM-spec batteries for e-bikes and sell them for 25%-off retail.

 

[Shea N Encinitas]

Perhaps someone should make a business out of building OEM-spec batteries for e-bikes and sell them for 25%-off retail.

That is already in play in Germany. Also hope to see it happen here in Cali. -S

 

[Trevor Hayes]

I bought my 2nd battery directly from Currie without any difficulty. Also I see chargers on eBay for $10-$20 that say they are compatible. I don't know if there's any risk to the batteries in using cheap chargers.

 

[Cameron Newland]

I bought my 2nd battery directly from Currie without any difficulty. Also I see chargers on eBay for $10-$20 that say they are compatible. I don't know if there's any risk to the batteries in using cheap chargers.

Hey Trevor,

Could you post a link to one of these 48V battery chargers? The cheapest ones I've found are selling for $35-$55 shipped.

 

[Trevor Hayes]

Hey Trevor,

Could you post a link to one of these 48V battery chargers? The cheapest ones I've found are selling for $35-$55 shipped.

The cheapest ones are 24V but they say they are compatible so I figured that meant they just charged more slowly in the same way that plugging my Leaf into the 120V outlet charges it much more slowly than the 220V option. Is that wrong?

$40 is still much cheaper than $150 in any case.

 

[Cameron Newland]

The cheapest ones are 24V but they say they are compatible so I figured that meant they just charged more slowly in the same way that plugging my Leaf into the 120V outlet charges it much more slowly than the 220V option. Is that wrong?

$40 is still much cheaper than $150 in any case.

Ahh okay, thanks for the info re: the chargers.

24V chargers will not work with 48V batteries (not even for slow trickle-charging), and neither will 36V chargers. In fact, not all 48V chargers will work with all 48V battery systems because you need to make sure that the battery management system is set up to charge up to a certain cutoff voltage, and these max charge/cutoff voltages will vary depending on the battery configuration on your e-bike. For instance, if your battery is made up of 13 4.2V 18650 Lithium-Ion cells like mine is, then your BMS needs to charge until the battery pack reaches 54.6V (4.2V X 13 cells), whereas if you have a Lithium Polymer or Lithium Manganese pack, the charge cutoff voltage may be higher or lower than 54.6V. If you were to use a 48V charger that isn't an exact match with your battery's max/cutoff voltage, then you could be charging your battery's pack or cells to a higher voltage than it is designed to be charged to, which would negatively impact range, the useful life of the battery, and in a worst-case scenario could even result in a runaway state in which a self-sustaining chemical reaction in the battery begins to heat the battery's contents until it melts or explodes, and this could result in damage to your bike, to your home, and could even result in a house fire. Be careful out there when dealing with chargers, e-bikers!

If you were to use one of those cheap multi-voltage 24V/36V/48V chargers that are designed to charge Sealed Lead-Acid (SLA) batteries, their 48v charging mode only charges batteries up to 44V, and on my battery pack, 44V is only 56% of a full charge, so I'd only be able to use the bottom half of the battery pack's energy and my range would be severely limited. And that's *if* the SLA charger even manages to charge my e-bike battery in the first place – the BMS might not even allow charging to occur if the input amperage or voltage is outside of a certain prescribed range/set of parameters.

 

[Ecommuter]

....So as of date, the best advice on purchasing a second battery is through Currie for 735.00 (including hazardous shipping fees)???
That roughly the cost of an decent entry level bike. If anyone else out there has a link for some business out Germany or Chinese building OEM-spec batteries for e-bikes, please pass along. Thanks!

 

[J.R.]

....So as of date, the best advice on purchasing a second battery is through Currie for 735.00 (including hazardous shipping fees)???
That roughly the cost of an decent entry level bike. If anyone else out there has a link for some business out Germany or Chinese building OEM-spec batteries for e-bikes, please pass along. Thanks!

Spare batteries for proprietary systems or mounts are notoriously expensive for all brands that use them. When your battery is shot there are other options, RPE.

 

[PowerMe]

For that other option, how would that work? For instance on my bike, the EVO Street, the battery pack is encased in a custom downtube design. For those who would like a 2nd battery to extend their range I don't know how something like this RPE company could work for that when the design of the battery container is a big part of the package, not only the individual cells inside.

Thoughts?

 

[J.R.]

RPE only works at present if your battery is shot, kaput. A spare? Needs OEM, for now anyway

 

[Cameron Newland]

Just an update: I spoke with Steve at the IZIP Store in Santa Monica last week, and he quoted me $600 for a new battery for my 2015 IZIP E3 Dash (shipping was not included, but there would be no charge for that as it would be for in-store pickup). I'm not sure why I've been seeing reports of people paying for $700 for batteries (perhaps they're including taxes and rounding up, or perhaps the prices have since gone down?), but I just wanted to report that I was quoted $600, which, though expensive, isn't ridiculously expensive relative to the price of the bike.

 

[gadgetguy]

When my battery fails I have been looking at changing to an Allcell SE-4814. It will require some rewiring but the battery capacity is 14.5 ah vrs the 8 ah of the Izip battery. It mounts in the same location on the frame. See the attached data sheet for further information.