9Ah battery for Giant Twists

[lemi]

Someone told me that Giant were bringing out a 9Ah battery for their Twist range, in place of the current 6.5Ah one. Does anyone know whether this is available yet, where I might get one and how it it costs?

 

[paul]

They are currently avail as a spare part only ie new Giant Electric Bikes dont come with them (yet?). They are avail through the same places that sell the bikes for an RRP of £250 (but you should be able to get one for £225 or less if you shop around/haggle).

 

[lemi]

Thanks for that. Do you know whether a new charger is needed for the 9Ah battery?

 

[paul]

Well given that a new 6.5 Ah battery takes about 4 Hrs to charge from a minimum charge (near empty) state using the Panasonic charger, and the "rapid charge" time for this cell is shown as 1.2 Hrs at 6.5 Amps, the Panasonic charger is clearly giving it "more liesurely" treatment (for longer life). Given that the new cells reccomended rapid charge time is twice that of the lower capacity cell but is still 2.4 Hrs (assuming these are the cells that are actuially being used), then the time value would still be within the range of the charger. As the charger is an intelligent unit however, the charging current varies during the charge cycle so whether that 4.5 Amp max limit is exceeded at any point I'm unsure about. I assume the charger will cope properly but will be emailing Giant to pose this question (just to be sure). I'll let you know the response.

 

[paul]

The response has come back that no charger modification/changes are reqd. The claim was made that it will simply take longer to charge the pack.