If your electric bike battery dies, what happens to it?
There are two concerns regarding this topic. One is environmental related, while the other is personal. This article will give you insights into the methods to follow. They are the solutions for personal and environmental issues after an e-bike’s battery dies.
When the e-bike’s battery dies, the most disadvantaged category is the riders. If your battery dies while you are out riding your e-bike, the motor will stop working. But, there are pedals in your e-bike, just as in regular bicycles. So, you can use them. You can use the pedals even when you don’t have a problem with your battery. It will be a good exercise for riders.
Apart from that, a significant appreciation of e-bikes and their batteries is that they are eco-friendly. Undoubtedly, this is one of the reasons behind e-bikes’ popularity. This comprehension regarding an e-bike battery is partly correct. But not everyone talks of the impact these batteries can have on the environment after the battery dies. E-bike batteries still leave a question. That is related to the topic of long-term environmentally friendly solutions. Once a battery’s life ends, it will lie in rubbish at some point in the timeline.
Solutions for the Personal Problems Encountered by Riders
Is it possible to ride an Electric bike without a battery?
This solution is not something you are going to like so much. However, you can ride an e-bike without the power of the battery. There is an important thing to remember. Riding electric bikes without batteries doesn’t harm your e-bike or its motor. If you opt for riding the e-bike without its battery, ensure that the motor’s assistance is off. Or else, you need to swap to level 0 of the pedal assist. It paves the way for the riders to change gears. Now, you can ride the e-bike as same as an ordinary bicycle. Pedaling an e-bike is not as easy as riding an ordinary bicycle. The reason is there are additional electronic components in an e-bike’s system.
Is it more challenging to ride an electric bike when the battery goes off?
It is not only the electronic components that add an extra burden to an e-bike. The motor and the e-bike’s battery also add a few pounds to the e-bike. The average calculation of the weight of an ordinary bicycle is about 18 lbs. Conversely, an e-bike weighs approximately 50 lbs. That is why regular bicycles are easier to navigate without much effort. Indeed, if you are navigating a flat landscape on your e-bike, you won’t feel the extra burden of the electronic parts. But, you cannot avoid this burden when you ride on a hill or a steep place. You might have to put a considerable effort, and the ride might become slower.
How long can I save my E-bike battery’s charge?
Examining the computer’s display can be consistently vigilant on your battery level. If you see it going down, you can swap to a less powerful assist. The following factors might determine the durability of your e-bike’s battery percentage.
- Condition of the terrain
- Modes of assistance utilized
- Weight put on the e-bike
- Levels of wind
- Battery model
The majority of e-bike batteries have the potential to last in any place within the range of 15-100 miles. However, this depends on the riders’ riding modes and conditions as well as on the battery of your e-bike. Compact chargers are the chargers used to charge e-bikes. You can use one of them.
If an e-bike’s battery goes off completely, you must wait approximately six and a half hours to recharge the battery fully. It will be good to bring the bike’s battery inside after one ride and keep it within the 32-100 F temperature range.
To charge the battery, find an outlet and plug your compact charger into it. You can charge the e-bike while the battery is on and off the electric bike. You can check the computer’s display or the battery’s side to see if the battery is ultimately charged.
Frequency of Charging the battery of an E-bike
The issue at hand depends on the model of your battery. You can do many things to extend the lifetime of an e-bike’s battery. The common belief among e-bike riders is that they must charge the battery 100% after every ride. However, this is a wrong belief since that practice can kill the battery of an e-bike.
The type of battery that most electric bikes have is lithium. They depreciate with time. If you charge the e-bike’s battery to 100% and leave it for a long time without riding the bike, the depletion of the battery happens. If the winter season is coming, you may have plans to store the bike for an extended period. It is better not to charge the battery fully before you keep it away.
Don’t get me wrong. We are talking about charging your e-bike’s battery fully. If you store the bike for a more extended period, you may still need to charge it. But, don’t charge it to 100%. Instead, charge the battery to 30-60%. That level is more than enough to preserve the capacity of the bike’s battery.
If you need to keep your e-bike’s battery healthier, refrain from charging it completely. The same theory needs to comply with battery draining as well. Don’t wait till the battery reaches the level of 0%. It is ok if this happens rarely. But don’t let it often happen because this, too, has the potential to ruin your e-bike’s battery.
According to calculations, the average life span of an e-bike’s battery is 2-4 years. It is the riders’ responsibility to maintain the batteries properly. You need to charge them according to the prescribed ways.
Environmental Concerns After An e-bike’s Battery Dies
The Process of Recycling an E-bike Battery
The program of recycling e-batteries comes forward with Call2Recycle, a well-established and reputed organization. In 2021, they partnered with PeopleForBikes so those wholesalers can act as the sites for collecting e-bikes for recycling. Consequently, the consumers can hand the dead batteries over to these dealers once the battery is no longer consumable. Then, the dead batteries won’t end up in landfills threatening the environment.
However, this method has limitations. The burden goes to the wholesalers. The reason is the dealers must ensure they have sufficient means to store the discarded batteries safely. Most importantly, a fire-resistant cabinet is necessary. The price of such a cabinet is $1000 or perhaps more than that. That is a considerable amount. As an organization, Call2Recycle can’t provide dealers with these cabinets. But, the organization distributes other equipment for the shop’s safety.
Call2Recycle
Until Call2Recycle came forward as a well-organized entity, the consumers of e-bikes did not know where to put the dead e-bike batteries. And many were not aware that these batteries are recyclable. This gradual program has become an eye-opener for consumers to question the so-called healthy environmental quality of e-bikes. This program is not in an advanced layer yet. Hence, many wholesalers are still adapting to this method.
While Call2Recycle is carrying out its operation, GoodTurn Cycles also has started an initiative to distribute an alternative solution. Accordingly, the customers can exchange their used battery for a Hi-C battery. They can use the suitable components again or put the rest for recycling.
Call2Recycles is the first ever program that started recycling e-bike batteries within this industry. The organization provides training for the dealers who need to make their shops collection sites. The guiding process covers areas like safe storage and proper transportation. Moreover, it covers identifying possibly dangerous e-bike batteries prone to catch fire.
The ingredients recovered during the recycling process of the batteries are invested in manufacturing new products. The average life span of an e-bike’s battery is 2-7 years. However, it does not matter how long an e-bike battery lasts. The reason is that environmental issues will continue to grow as the demand for e-bikes increases.
Repairability of an E-bike Battery
You can repair the majority of electric bike batteries. However, repairing e-bike batteries is not safe if you do this consistently. Moreover, it can cause the warranty of the battery to invalidate. It is a drawback. The reason is mending the batteries of e-bikes can assist you in lessening e-waste. And it helps in expanding the functional life of an e-bike battery. And, repairing a battery is more convenient for your pocket than replacing it entirely.
Do you want to know what happens in the e-bike battery recycling process? It generally includes replacing spoilt or depreciated cells in the battery’s casing. And also, it can simply include replacing switches even when the battery cells work without any glitch.
Moreover, some batteries aren’t repairable easily. They are relatively difficult to take through the recycling process. Remarkably, the batteries of lower quality require extra effort to repair. Most of the time, they are not recyclable at all. If the battery’s case isn’t detachable easily, it can be a substantial challenge. Without removing the case, it is not accessible the battery cells. Consequently, the battery might go useless.
Repairing Right
With the issue of disposing of e-bike batteries, another problem emerged. It is a pronounced topic in the realm of bikes. That is the Repairing Right. However, this isn’t an entirely novel concept. It was there in the territory of technology, especially in computers and telephones. Consumers are strictly requesting the manufacturers make the products they put on the market repairable.
Most importantly, they reiterate their right they should have to repair the things they purchase. That is not something circumscribed to e-bikes. The right applies to other bicycles as well. But it is more critical when it comes to e-bike batteries. However, some manufacturers are strictly against this topic of repairability. They bring forward the issues of quality and concerns related to safety. We cannot discard their arguments either because they are valid. However, those concerns have remedies if proper training and collaborations are available.
Quality- Safety Correlations
Every e-bike battery does not have similar qualities. Indeed, batteries of lower quality have more dangerous elements. The raw materials, & other components for e-bike manufacturing, come from manufacturers in Asia. as mentioned earlier, Cobalt is a cardinal component in E-bike battery manufacturing. And Cobalt comes inevitably through a mining process. Consequently, it damages the environment. Some manufacturers pay attention to this problem and are more responsible and accountable to society.
Among other things, cobalt is one of the essential ingredients used to make an e-bike’s battery. As you all know, we cannot find cobalt unless we mine the earth. There are two main questions hovering over the concerns related to e-bike batteries. The first is whether these batteries are repairable, and the second is whether they are recyclable. However, the answer to these questions is “cannot exactly say since it depends.” However, we can expect an optimistic solution for this. The reason is new trends are emerging in the e-bike industry. Those trends offer well-planned disposal processes for e-bike consumers. The consumers’ local bike dealers might help the consumers in this regard.
Even though manufacturers make e-bike batteries recyclable and repairable, the batteries still are a threat to the environment. The reason is that consumers dispose of lithium-ion batteries in landfills. These batteries emit poisonous chemicals. These chemicals are powerful enough to deteriorate the land and water. Now, the viable solutions have been recycling and repairing e-bike batteries.
Battery Standards
As Claudia Wasko, the GM of Bosch eBike Systems of Americas, says, the safety of an e-bike battery lies in the quality of several other things. Cell and manufacturing process quality, quality of control measures, and remarkably the quality of BMS (the Battery Management System) fall under that list of qualities. Wasko adds that using the latest and most advanced technology for cells paves the way to produce safer e-bike batteries.
Some might question the availability of standards to govern the safety of the batteries. One of the most prominent standards is UL 2849. UL, a company that promotes and outlines these guidelines related to safety, has a direct collaboration with e-bike systems.
Final Words
When an e-bike’s battery dies, there are two concerns. One is the functionality of the e-bike without a battery. The other is where to dispose of the battery. The latter is essentially an environmental issue.
Having an idea to get rid of the trouble of battery draining is essential for riders. Indeed, it is not easy to ride an e-bike without a battery, but it is still possible. Practicing accurate charging methods can also help to protect your battery in an emergency. Charging it up to 100% level is not suitable for your battery. Waiting for the battery level to reach 0% is not good either.
Environmental concerns are as important as your concerns. Most e-bike batteries contain lithium. Therefore, the disposal of batteries, once they die, needs careful supervision. Companies are finding ways to recycle and repair batteries as technology develops daily. Yet, the environmental threat doesn’t completely disappear. However, methods found so far would be of great help. They can help at least to reduce the threat these batteries have created.
