Buying an electric bike is a significant investment, so we are here to provide tips on the care and maintenance of your electric bike's battery to increase the longevity of your electric bike.
Take a moment to review the below tips to increase your electric bike battery's life, but please remember to always follow the instructions in your owner's manual and reach out to an authorized electric bike dealer or your bike's manufacturer if you have questions or are unsure of how to care for your eBike.
How To Prolong the Life of Your Electric Bike's Battery:
1. Use the correct charger for your electric bike's battery.
Review the owner's manual and fully charge the battery before your first ride. Use the correct charger for the battery. When you first receive the bike/battery, plug in the charger to the battery and fully charge it.
Charge it for the full time recommended by the manual. Usually about 4-8 hours. The light on the battery charger will turn from red to green once the battery is fully charged. Then do a test run with the fully charged battery on your ebike.
If you have an Ecotric battery: Upon first receiving your battery and bike, fully drain your battery by riding your bike, charge it for 12 hours, fully drain your battery again by riding your bike, charge it for 12 hours, then repeat once more for a total of 3 times (fully draining battery and then charging for 12 hours). After “activating” your battery, only recharge it for a max of 4-6 hours each time.
2. Do not charge your battery if your battery is very hot or very cold.
After finishing a ride on your eBike, wait until it warms or cools off to room temperature, at least 30-60 minutes before recharging.
After riding your eBike, bring your battery inside your home and wait until it warms or cools off to room temperature. After a ride, always wait at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before charging it.
Charging your battery when it is very hot or cold could harm your battery and decrease its lifespan.
3. Only charge your battery to 80% - 90% fully charged if you are not planning to ride your eBike right away.
Try NOT to charge your battery to 100% unless you plan to use it soon after it reaches a full charge.
It’s best to only charge it to 80%-90% full charge if you’re not planning to ride your electric bike right away.
How can you tell it’s at 80%? Just stop charging the battery when it reaches its final stage of charging (for example, if your battery has 5 power states/levels, stop charging it when the 4th power level indicator lights up).
4. Use a smart charger so that your battery charges slowly.
Try to use a low amperage charger (2-3 amps) versus a high amperage charger. A battery’s lifespan can be prolonged if it is charged slowly.
There are also smart chargers that allow you to select between slow or fast charging, that way you can only do a fast charge of the battery if you are in a rush.
5. Try not to regularly fully discharge your battery to 0%. Partial discharge of the battery is best.
If you take short rides, it is better to recharge it after a few short rides, instead of after each ride, so that your battery does not remain at or near 100% fully charged for extended periods.
So, if you take a short ride and you still have a considerable amount of battery power left for tomorrow’s short ride, wait to recharge it until after tomorrow’s short ride.
It is okay if you fully discharge your battery during a ride, but it will help increase your battery's lifespan if you aren’t always fully discharging the battery either.
6. Keep your battery charged between 30% - 80% year round.
This means during the months that you do not use your electric bike, or during extended storage periods, charge the battery to 80% but make sure it maintains a charge between at least 30% - 60% while in storage.
You will also need to recharge the battery to 80% every 30 – 60 days during extended storage periods for optimum battery performance. Fully charged or empty isn’t ideal for storage.
7. We recommend using an emery cloth to clean the battery contacts of oxidation and corrosion.
We recommend using an emery cloth to clean the battery contacts of oxidation and corrosion which can impede the battery’s ability to power the motor.
Check the contacts or terminals and clean as needed. Note that batteries must not be cleaned with direct water contact.
8. Avoid leaving your eBike battery out in extreme hot or cold temperatures.
Avoid leaving your eBike/battery out in downpours or riding in downpours, or storing it in areas that are high humidity / salt-air environments.
Do not leave the battery in an area that can reach very high or low temperatures, even a garage’s temperatures can fluctuate past the recommended temperature range of 45-68ºF.
When stored, batteries should not be stored at temperatures above 80ºF, nor should they be left in blazing sunshine – much the same as any battery. Ideally, store your battery in a cool, dry place at 45-68ºF.
