How to recharge the electric bike
Recharging the battery of your electric bike is an operation within everyone's reach. It's as easy as charging other devices, such as cell phones and computers.
Most batteries are recharged with an electrical outlet (220 V) using a special charger. To ensure efficient charging and not negatively affect the battery, we recommend using a compatible charger.
In any case, we recommend connecting the charger connector to the battery before plugging it into the electrical outlet. Once the recharging cycle is finished, it will be necessary to proceed in the reverse order, then disconnect the charger from the electrical outlet and then from the battery. This will prevent short circuits or other major damage that could affect battery life.
To take care of the electric bike battery, it is also preferable to place the battery in a dry place at temperature between 5 and 20°C, always avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun or excessive cold.
When to recharge the electric bike
It is always a good idea to keep the charge level of the e-bike battery under control, in order to avoid unpleasant problems during your bike ride. In general, there are three times when a full charge is recommended:
- after each exit
- following a long period of inactivity
- in case of deep discharge
Furthermore, we recommend that you wait a few minutes after using the electric bicycle, before recharging the battery. In this way, you will allow the battery to cool down before connecting it to the power supply for recharging and this will avoid exposing the battery to excessive heat.
How much does it cost to recharge an electric bike at home
The cost of charging your electric bike depends on a few factors, including:
- battery capacity
- recharge frequency
- electricity price that varies according to the supplier
To be able to make an estimate of how much a full charge of your electric bike costs, we need to make some reflections. First, you need to make a simple conversion to go from Wh (quantity used to measure battery capacity) to kWh (quantity used by electricity suppliers).
A kilowatt-hour is equal to 1,000 watt-hours. It is therefore sufficient to divide the Wh by 1000: therefore 250 Wh will correspond to 0.25 kWh, 400 Wh will be 0.4 kWh and so on. Then simply multiply the battery capacity by the price at which your energy supplier sells you one kWh of electricity.
Assuming an energy cost of 0.36 euros/kWh, equal to the ARERA price valid for the third quarter of 2022, and an e-bike with a 250Wh battery (i.e. 0.250 kWh), full charging will only cost 9 euro cents!
How long does an electric bike battery last
The battery life of your electric bike can vary based on multiple factors:
- frequency of use
- riding style
- weight of the user of the vehicle
- number of stops and restarts
- road layout
- battery capacity
Usually, the battery capacity of an e-bike is between between 250 Wh and 700 Wh. As a rule, the less capacious ones are mounted on city bicycles, in fact city e-bikes use batteries that do not exceed 400 Wh.
As a rule, an electric bike has a decent range: with a 500 Wh battery it is around 70 to 120 kilometres. If, on the other hand, we take into consideration a 500 Wh battery, the range is reduced between 50 and 80 kilometres.
However, we need to take these data in an extremely general way, since there are many variables that affect battery life.
The most common and widespread battery currently is the lithium one, which ensures the best performance and a higher number of recharge cycles. This type of battery has a capacity ranging from 250 to 500 Wh per kilogram and can easily support 1000 full charge cycles before needing replacement.
How long does it take to recharge the electric bike
As for the recharge times, they usually range from 2 to 8 hours depending on the type of battery.
