Comment by aeharding
4 years ago
> From what I can tell they use a cargo trailer for gear as well as extra batteries.
This is the main reason if you might ever buy multiple ebikes in your household, buy a drivetrain brand that has generic, swappable batteries that can work on all your ebikes. Buying batteries is expensive (~$1,000 for Bosch).
For example, some ebikes don't have swappable batteries (either they're integrated or are a no-name brand).
The Bosch Powerpack, on the other hand, is ubiquitous and swappable. If I'm going on a long trip, I steal the battery from my other ebike and bring it along (I have a Surly Big Easy cargo bike and a Trek Verve+ 2. My SO also has a Verve+ 2).
Another benefit on buying ebikes with the same powertrain manufacturer is the battery lock can be keyed alike. It simplifies a lot.
(Oh, one last thing! If you go with Bosch, you can get the battery locks keyed alike to Abus U locks.)
If you can charge your batteries up to 60% when you store them for a longer time rather than 100%, then charge to 100% just before you need them. That will keep them around that much longer. Better still if you can avoid discharging them below 15% soc.
Makes sense for seasonal and recreational riders. We both ride year round though almost daily for transportation.
As for discharging below 15%, Bosch's firmware is pretty smart about this. It keeps a reserve that's used for powering lights for a few hours after the assist cuts off.
Yes, that's at 5% state-of-charge, which is a bit low. If you charge up to 100% and discharge to that cut-off point you will get 300 to 400 cycles out of your battery. If you go from 80% state-of-charge down to 20% then you can get thousands of cycles out of your batteries. That's one of the reasons I designed that pack as large as it is: to stay within the 80-to-20 range on a 100 km trip.
5 replies →
Oof, $1500 per kWh.
I keep hearing about lithium ion batteries getting so cheap per kWh; when is that going to make it into reasonable-quality products?