Update.
rockabye said:
At around 1200km's travel they are starting to show signs of lost capacity which has started me looking for possible alternatives, depending on the price of replacement.
Not sure whether to continue with lithium in the long term despite their weight advantages. EV's and hybrid cars are being fitted with long life lithium but I'd say the low cost ebikes have an inferior spec. After about a years normal use I'd say these are going to be done.
After 4yrs 9mths and around 6000km my original ebike lithium battery still gives me daily trips of 10 - 12kms.
Originally the 7 cell 29V 10Ah battery would deliver around a 40km range however as discussed in my earlier post it had dropped to less than half that after 12 months of use. But I decided to persist with it, not least because a replacement was around $400.
More importantly I discovered interesting characteristics, both in how I used the ebike and how the lithium battery 'recovers' when rested. Usage aspects mainly relate to the fact that most of my trips are less than 10km. So the actual range of the depleted battery still manages to fit with my daily routines.
The other important outcome was that as I often have a lot of short runs of 3 - 6 km the battery seems to get a new lease of life after even a 30min stop while I'm at the library or shops. I had previously thought only the lead acids had a 'recovery' effect but my experience with a number of ebikes so far seems to indicate the lithiums also can benefit from time out.
At this stage I will probably upgrade the ebike to 36V (10 cell) at the 5 year point as it is still in excellent condition. Finally I can say the vast majority of the battery recharges have been through a standalone solar system.
All up the ebike has been an excellent performer and after now travelling around 12500km with several different ebikes in that time I can only recommend them.
Posted Wednesday 24 Sep 2014 @ 6:56:14 pm from IP
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