Electric Burgman?

[Maxi Burger]

Not at all educated on this, is it OK to regularly partially charge an electric bike/car?

[riders in the storm]

With the type of (Lithium) batteries usually found in most of the current EV cars the recommendation is that you generally charge to 80% and run down to as low as 20%, but beyond these figures is perfectly ok for say a longer journey.......

However anecdotal info on some of the EV websites is that there is little perceptible degradation even if these recommendations are not followed.......

[MrGrumpy]

Well, Lithium batteries do seem a bit tricky. If you charge them too full rather than partially then that can upset them, or if you often charge them when they are only slightly discharged, this can ruin them entirely. Total pain in the **** IMHO.

[Data]

Not at all educated on this, is it OK to regularly partially charge an electric bike/car?

Yes it is Mark, but you must from time to time calibrate the battery to the car or bike by fully charging it from 20% to 100%. On some vehicles there is a button in the software of the car that you will then need to press once the car is at 100% charge. This tells the car the battery is definitely full. It will then display the full range the car can go on that charge. On other vehicles all that is required to calibrate the battery is to fully charge the battery from time to time, and then switch the vehicle on. The full range will then be displayed.

Recently I watched in dismay as a well known (and usually very good) video blogger on YouTube (Petrol Ped) berated a car (a Ford Mustang Mach-E) for only giving 230 miles of it's claimed 330 mile range on a full charge. It was obviously a press car and had been around the block a bit with lots of no doubt short and long charges. This plays havoc with the range the car displays and results in short ranges. If he had inspected the software correctly he would have noticed the button to recalibrate the battery to the car which would have solved the issue. But like most road testers he probably didn't have the time to do that and therefore like so many of these roadtesters gave a very false impression of the range and usefulness of the vehicle. I found shouting at the screen trying to tell him did no good!!

However, Petrolped is a good bloke and he added an addendum towards the end of the video to say he had found the calibration button (he didn't know about that sort of thing) and after charging and pressing that button the car delived it's full 330 odd mile range without issue.

There's a lesson there for many many EV road testers who might learn a thing or two and think differently about certain cars if they knew this!

[Data]

Well, Lithium batteries do seem a bit tricky. If you charge them too full rather than partially then that can upset them, or if you often charge them when they are only slightly discharged, this can ruin them entirely. Total pain in the **** IMHO.

Not true Grumpy. Lithium Ion EV batteries don't degrade in the same way as your phone or push bike battery. The cars manage their batteries for maximum life and performance. They simply don't degrade as you might expect even if you are not the sort of chap to look after it. They just last!

[Data]

The importance of " fast charging" may also be over stated by many people including the media and manufacturers. I have a Skoda Enyaq EV which I either charge overnight on Economy 7 or at work on the EV charger there. I plug it in when I arrive at work and it is fully charged by lunchtime. I don't actually care how long it takes to charge from the often quoted 20% to 80% as I'm either in bed or in work....!

As yet I haven't been on a journey longer than the 200+ mile range of my car so the speed of the charge has been irrelevant to me. I appreciate if I want to go and see granny at the other end of the country this could be an issue, but it hasn't yet....

Bikes with smaller batteries might be glad of fast charging but then it shouldn't take too long to bring a bike from 20% to 80% if it does need a charge whilst out on a ride.....

By the time I've had a pee and drunk my coffee it should be ready.....!

Really it is just price holding me back from an electric bike.....

Totally True Mr riders in the storm. One of our family E-Niros went to Northern Scotland last year without issue. Plenty of chargers most of the way on the main routes and even in Scotland. Managed to charge with FREE fast charges most of the time. Had to look ahead to make sure of where the chargers in Scotland were but it wasn't a problem.

[Maxi Burger]

From what little I've heard about car batteries, people were worried that the would degrade and need a costly replacement - but in practice this just hasn't been the case. Most people must know where that button is and how to press it correctly.

Data: I think there's a typo in your last reply, the words free and Scotland were used.

[Data]

Oh dear! You're right Mark!

You are also right about the way batteries last. Plenty of 14 yr old Nissan Leaf EV's running around often with well in excess of 100,000 miles on the clock & batteries still giving from 88-90% of their original battery capacity. That's also remarkable as the Nissan leafs never had proper battery management like modern EV's do either.

[knight2]

It's a case of horses for courses, for the way I would use an electric scoot a quick charge rate would be essential, having to stop on a ride out after 150 miles for an hour for it to charge up would be a nonstarter.
I hear a lot about how well electric vehicles perform which makes me wonder if they should be putting smaller motors in them or the engine management systems should focus more on efficiency than high speeds and unnecessarily fast acceleration. The point of all this is to save the planet, apparently, so the less electricity they use the better.
I watched a video on converting cars to electric, the car in question was an old VW Beetle, the thing that struck me as strange is they left the gearbox in so you still change gear. I assume that this is more to do with cost than any advantage of the gears. This got me wondering if a small electric motor would work with a CVT drive on a scoot, probably not, but it's just the way my mind works .

[Data]

It's a case of horses for courses, for the way I would use an electric scoot a quick charge rate would be essential, having to stop on a ride out after 150 miles for an hour for it to charge up would be a nonstarter.
I hear a lot about how well electric vehicles perform which makes me wonder if they should be putting smaller motors in them or the engine management systems should focus more on efficiency than high speeds and unnecessarily fast acceleration. The point of all this is to save the planet, apparently, so the less electricity they use the better.
I watched a video on converting cars to electric, the car in question was an old VW Beetle, the thing that struck me as strange is they left the gearbox in so you still change gear. I assume that this is more to do with cost than any advantage of the gears. This got me wondering if a small electric motor would work with a CVT drive on a scoot, probably not, but it's just the way my mind works .

Currently there are some manufacturers developing EV multi-speed transmissions. These appear to be two or three speed automatic units. These may be suitable for some types of electric motors & some battery types but not all. The majority of EV motors require high revs to be really efficient. It may be these transmissions will be used for more specialist vehicles with very low gearing for efficiency. This may also apply to some EV bikes with small motors. Generally for long reliable life & efficiency you need powerful motors that rev high. Smaller motors with less power can suffer from heating up issues & shorter life cycles. The more powerful bigger motors currently in use run pretty much forever outlasting ice engines many times over.