Winterizing your ebike

[pff7]

The best thing to do is keep your battery inside when not using it, and make sure you use the bike or at least discharge and recharge the battery once a month. I get a ton of customers who dont ride in the winter and loose battery capacity because they left their bike uncharged in a cold garage for 6 months. With the controller muake sure the area it is in is sealed. I even heard of one guy putting a sandwich bag over the controller.

LipoPo batteries shouldn't lose capacity permanently left in the cold properly charged to a storage voltage of 3.8 volts per cell, on the contrary I understood the cold should extend their lifespan. Yes a cold battery has less capacity temporarily as long as it's cold that I understand unless your customers posssibly left their batteries hooked up to the BMS and/or controller causing a battery drain? I'm also assuming le4waving batteries warm up before charging and letting batteries warm up inside before discharging/riding in cold weather.

 

[montyp]

Here's my winterized commuter bike. I don't ride on salty roads if I don't have to. I also have bar mitts on it now. The picture was taken before it started snowing. In the summer I move the Bafang motor over to a cyclocross commuter.

I take my lipos (10S 12 Ah) indoor when I don't ride. I have ridden in colder than -20°C temps several times without problems, but the range is almost halved.

Tahustvedt - I'm curious where your batteries from and specifically what type they are. I ride very frequently below -20C and have only seen about a 20% drop in range (Ping LiFePO4, 36Vx15 Ah).

Also I have a question about the bar mitts - I have avoided them because there are certain snow and ice conditions were the studded tires will slip and then I fall. I like to have my hands free to roll with the fall. Have you had any issues with falling and not being able to get your hands out of the bar mitts?

Cool to see more people out in the winter - awesome and keep going!!!

 

[tahustvedt]

Here's my winterized commuter bike. I don't ride on salty roads if I don't have to. I also have bar mitts on it now. The picture was taken before it started snowing. In the summer I move the Bafang motor over to a cyclocross commuter.

I take my lipos (10S 12 Ah) indoor when I don't ride. I have ridden in colder than -20°C temps several times without problems, but the range is almost halved.

Tahustvedt - I'm curious where your batteries from and specifically what type they are. I ride very frequently below -20C and have only seen about a 20% drop in range (Ping LiFePO4, 36Vx15 Ah).

Also I have a question about the bar mitts - I have avoided them because there are certain snow and ice conditions were the studded tires will slip and then I fall. I like to have my hands free to roll with the fall. Have you had any issues with falling and not being able to get your hands out of the bar mitts?

Cool to see more people out in the winter - awesome and keep going!!!

My batteries are lipos. I guess part of the reason lipos drop a lot with cold is their super low resistance, so they don't heat up at these relatively low loads.

I was also worried about difficulties with putting my hands in and out, but it's nonot a problem at all as long as they are mounted so that they don't swing down from their own weight, but I haven't fallen with them that I can remember. I slip in and out almost as easily as without them. I don't have to look at them to do it.

 

[speedmd]

A few local riders have used standard drill points from the inside out with great results this winter on solid ice sufaces. They cover the heads with gorilla tape and they have all stayed put.

 

[middriveebike]

Would these special tires damage the road? Or make the ride more bumpy?

 

[montyp]

With studded tires there is some vibration, but it is not bumpy.

There is not really damage to the road. Roads are mostly damaged by the movement of the ground under the road under the weight of a car or other under service shifting events (frost, water, vibration).

 

[The Stig]

Yeah there is no way a bicycle, or even a small motorcycle would do damage to a road with its tires.

 

[Badger2]

Eventually H. sapiens will think outside the box and enclose both motor and battery, if not simply to thwart the deadly salt. Heat pads an insulation can completely enclose a front hub motor and battery mounted above it. GrinTech associate's recumbent solar used resistance heat pads, and more prototypes of these should be experimented with. Badger2's EG 500W will simply spin on a cold Wisconsin morning when getting going is a priority. When the battery was in its second year of use, it would quit around 0 degrees F.