Cycleway town
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Milton Keynes, England
Posts: 1,402
Bikes: 2.6kw GT LTS e-tandem, 250w Voodoo, 250w solar recumbent trike, 3-speed shopper, Merlin ol/skl mtb, 80cc Ellswick
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 569 Post(s)
You don't drain an e-bike battery, it's lithium, you only use a fraction of it. And then it says it's flat. It's not flat, it's lying.
See, a 48v battery charges to around 54v, and you use it down to about 42v. There it switches off. The battery level shows empty. That's how it went back to the hire shop.
It does this to protect itself. It's perfectly safe.
I can adjust mine. If i want range, i can adjust it to go down to 40v, but doing so is bad for the battery. Instead i have it set to 45v, for long term health. I still never run out as i have regen and a 30ah pack, it lasts a few days sometimes (i'll be out all day today).
The point is, if the hire shop are being fickle about you affecting the battery's health, then the 'Hire Bike' should be set-up to run out at a safe voltage! Of course it's flat! You're not spending hire time charging a battery! Tell them to get lost. They should have batteries on charge in the shop all the time, so they can send out fully charged bikes and accept flat ones back in.