Will your e-bike still function in 10 years?

[Vailen]

I bought my Stealth Bomber in 2013 for $9995 shipped. It has about 24,000 miles on it now. A good bike will last forever as long as you can find replacement parts. View attachment 10710

Nice bike! When I first looked at the photo, I asked myself whether that was a street legal e-bike or a strictly offroad dirt bike. That rear suspension must make your rides much more comfortable.

 

[ElHegpah]

It requires no knowledge of electronics whatsoever. If you can put batteries in a flashlight, and tighten a nut, you can build a battery.

There are other kits, but this one is the best engineered I have seen.

 

[pagheca]

it's interesting indeed, but I did not understand how to get this DIY battery connected to the bycicle, to the socket, etc. Maybe I missed something there?

I would be interested but the problem for me is not how to make a DIY battery (I could do that pretty easily as soon as I have the... batteries) but connecting it to the motor without severing wires etc. and loosing the warranty. Maybe you can explain us?

 

[Django]

I wonder if I will function in 10 years. A ten year old eBike concerns me less.

 

[biknut]

Nice bike! When I first looked at the photo, I asked myself whether that was a street legal e-bike or a strictly offroad dirt bike. That rear suspension must make your rides much more comfortable.

It came from the factory limited to 750w, and 20 mph top speed. Like a lot of eBikes, it was easy to reprogram the controller.

 

[Hoggdoc]

Hello everyone. I have been studying e-bikes for a month now. I have a question I am hoping to discuss with current or future e-bike owners. Has anyone wondered whether their investment in an e-bike will still be viable after 10 years? In other words, will the motor and battery you purchased as part of the bike still be available long after the bike you purchased has been discontinued?

I held onto my last MTB for 27 years. Although it was outdated, I could still ride, and replacement bike parts are widely available. This availability also applies to e-bikes. Parts like cranks, cassettes, grips, handlebars, front suspension, etc., are all easy to find. However, 2 components on an e-bike may not be available in the distant future: the motor and the battery.

Batteries that are mounted inside the frame of any manufacturer’s bike is proprietary. Therefore, after the bike is discontinued, how long can you depend on the manufacturer to continue making the specific battery you need to mount inside the frame? I have confirmed that some manufacturers already stopped making the in-frame battery for multiple models in their line of e-bikes that have been discontinued. Once they deplete their stock of batteries, those owners will not be able to replace their battery once it fails, and batteries have a finite lifespan.

Motors that require specially designed bike frames for mounting, like the Bafang M620, is even more problematic. What happens when the M620 is discontinued, and parts become hard to find? Unless you are really good at using an engineering CAD program, designing the replacement parts yourself, and e-mail the files to a machine shop that will make them for you (which will not be cheap), then the very expensive e-bike you purchased long ago has become completely useless. Remember that these bike frames do not have traditional bottom brackets where you can mount cranks and pedals. Rather, when you remove the motor, you essentially have a giant hole, and no other motor could be mounted in its place.

The DIY community has an advantage: they convert their analog bikes into e-bikes. The battery is mounted outside the frame. If the motor or battery fails, they find parts and repair their motors as needed and the battery is much more easily replaced. Many of these motors, like the Bafang BBSHD or the CYC X1 Pro, can be connected to any battery as long as the watts/volts/amps specifications are compatible. These motors fit inside a standard bottom bracket found in any analog bike. But most people who purchase e-bikes do not go this route. Rather, they just buy a complete e-bike with an integrated motor and battery.

If you buy a cheaper e-bike, let’s say between $1,000 and $2,000, then your investment may seem more reasonable. But multiply that by purchasing another e-bike for your spouse and children, then the thought of going through this again just because of a motor or battery failure after 5 or 10 years seems ridiculous. (Buying a new e-bike for your child because they have grown up and are now into mountain biking vs casual riding is reasonable.) Even worse, for people who want to invest in a more advanced e-bike that costs more than $4,000, and your motor and/or battery needs replacing but none are available after 10 years, then the initial investment you made becomes much more problematic. Unless I win Powerball, I would not want to spend another $4,000 a decade later.

My question is: has anyone in this community ever consider this? Have you ever thought about the cost of replacing your entire e-bike after a decade due the company not supporting the motor and/or battery since the model you bought has been discontinued? How do you feel about this new limitation that essentially did not exist when we purchased analog bikes? I am very interested in hearing your opinions.

Before I bought my Himiway All Terrain in early 2020 I thought long and hard also did hours of research. I chose the bike I did because of it's design and many off the self components like battery, motor, controller and display. My thinking all these items would be easy to source should I need to in the future.

So far I haven't had to, but have upgraded the brake calipers with cable/hydro units that work very well and a new shifter to replace the terrible one that came with the bike.

 

[Hoggdoc]

I bought my Stealth Bomber in 2013 for $9995 shipped. It has about 24,000 miles on it now. A good bike will last forever as long as you can find replacement parts. View attachment 10710

That's not an ebike it's a electric motorcycle.

 

[Vailen]

Before I bought my Himiway All Terrain in early 2020 I thought long and hard also did hours of research.

I took a very hard look at Himiway's Softail Electric Mountain Bike Cobra Pro. Their line of offroad bikes look really good! What holds me back is the built-in Bafang M620. Unless I change my mind about buying a frame that's designed for that motor, I am going with a standard analog bike and upgrade so I can choose any motor or upgrade the motor at any time.

Still...it's so incredibly tempting.

 

[Vailen]

It requires no knowledge of electronics whatsoever.

Really? I had no idea. Although I will eventually buy a UL certified battery, I am going to look at this more closely.

 

[Vailen]

Take a look at the N.E.S.E. kits

I did not find the cells on their web site, only the casing, connectors, and everything else you need to house the cells. Do you purchase the individual, rechargeable cells directly from manufacturers like Samsung or LG?

 

[Hoggdoc]

Yeah I was reading that in New York they banned all ebikes that are not UL Listed. Due to increased fire hazards.

Seems the people in charge of running NYC get crazier by the minute. Out of over 8 million people and who knows how many ebikes, how many fires can be attributed to ebike over what period of time. We seem to never hear those numbers.

I took a very hard look at Himiway's Softail Electric Mountain Bike Cobra Pro. Their line of offroad bikes look really good! What holds me back is the built-in Bafang M620. Unless I change my mind about buying a frame that's designed for that motor, I am going with a standard analog bike and upgrade so I can choose any motor or upgrade the motor at any time.

Still...it's so incredibly tempting.

i’ve seen that modeling person here in Southern California. The build looks really good. Seems like a good value for sure. There have been some really extensive testing done on YouTube a year or so ago when it first came out. The only thing I don’t like about that buffing motor is that they’ve change the way it gets communicated with and you can no longer get a relatively inexpensive programming cable and make a lot of adjustments to it. However, I’m not sure that you would need to come with the test show.

 

[biknut]

That's not an ebike it's a electric motorcycle.

It is faster than my first motorcycle, a honda s90, but it only weighs half as much.

 

[EFMAX]

Hello everyone. I have been studying e-bikes for a month now. I have a question I am hoping to discuss with current or future e-bike owners. Has anyone wondered whether their investment in an e-bike will still be viable after 10 years? In other words, will the motor and battery you purchased as part of the bike still be available long after the bike you purchased has been discontinued?

I held onto my last MTB for 27 years. Although it was outdated, I could still ride, and replacement bike parts are widely available. This availability also applies to e-bikes. Parts like cranks, cassettes, grips, handlebars, front suspension, etc., are all easy to find. However, 2 components on an e-bike may not be available in the distant future: the motor and the battery.

Batteries that are mounted inside the frame of any manufacturer’s bike is proprietary. Therefore, after the bike is discontinued, how long can you depend on the manufacturer to continue making the specific battery you need to mount inside the frame? I have confirmed that some manufacturers already stopped making the in-frame battery for multiple models in their line of e-bikes that have been discontinued. Once they deplete their stock of batteries, those owners will not be able to replace their battery once it fails, and batteries have a finite lifespan.

Motors that require specially designed bike frames for mounting, like the Bafang M620, is even more problematic. What happens when the M620 is discontinued, and parts become hard to find? Unless you are really good at using an engineering CAD program, designing the replacement parts yourself, and e-mail the files to a machine shop that will make them for you (which will not be cheap), then the very expensive e-bike you purchased long ago has become completely useless. Remember that these bike frames do not have traditional bottom brackets where you can mount cranks and pedals. Rather, when you remove the motor, you essentially have a giant hole, and no other motor could be mounted in its place.

The DIY community has an advantage: they convert their analog bikes into e-bikes. The battery is mounted outside the frame. If the motor or battery fails, they find parts and repair their motors as needed and the battery is much more easily replaced. Many of these motors, like the Bafang BBSHD or the CYC X1 Pro, can be connected to any battery as long as the watts/volts/amps specifications are compatible. These motors fit inside a standard bottom bracket found in any analog bike. But most people who purchase e-bikes do not go this route. Rather, they just buy a complete e-bike with an integrated motor and battery.

If you buy a cheaper e-bike, let’s say between $1,000 and $2,000, then your investment may seem more reasonable. But multiply that by purchasing another e-bike for your spouse and children, then the thought of going through this again just because of a motor or battery failure after 5 or 10 years seems ridiculous. (Buying a new e-bike for your child because they have grown up and are now into mountain biking vs casual riding is reasonable.) Even worse, for people who want to invest in a more advanced e-bike that costs more than $4,000, and your motor and/or battery needs replacing but none are available after 10 years, then the initial investment you made becomes much more problematic. Unless I win Powerball, I would not want to spend another $4,000 a decade later.

My question is: has anyone in this community ever consider this? Have you ever thought about the cost of replacing your entire e-bike after a decade due the company not supporting the motor and/or battery since the model you bought has been discontinued? How do you feel about this new limitation that essentially did not exist when we purchased analog bikes? I am very interested in hearing your opinions.

For me, Bafang M510 and BT F03 battery, I chose to buy spare replacement units. So I have another M510 & a BT F04 sitting in the wings. My aim from inception was to treat each with care and consideration of the facts as I currently know them. I am not into only charging your battery to x% etc. cos to me I have seen no hard evidence that it makes any sense.. I only use the chargers that come with my batteries, and I always charge to 100% and never let the gauge go down below 10%. What many people fail to understand about only charging to 85% is the electrical process chargers go through when charging your battery for the last 10% or so - you may notice that a good charger working with a good BMS will have the green light come only when the charge is 100%.. so on your display it will read 100% but the charger will continue its special charging for maybe another 20-30mins before it indicates the charge is complete.. this is for me is necessary for the wellbeing of any Lithium battery - cars do it, mobile phones do it so why not bikes.. With my motors, I have stripped them down from inception, seriously regreased with some quality grease before first using them, put decent waterproof gaskets back on and keep additionally, a spare controller. My thinking is more for breakdowns than what ifs in 5-10 years as this current bike needs to outlive me as I simply cannot afford to buy and build another one like it.

 

[ElHegpah]

To answer a couple questions about the N.E.S.E. kit, you buy the individual cells from a vendor, not the factory.

The battery does not connect to the motor, it connects to the controller. Usually either Anderson or XT60 or XT90 connectors, depends on what the controller has and what you want. I like the Andersons myself, but that's because I analyzed the design in some detail which most will not bother to do. Really does not make much difference, and the XT series is available with anti-spark construction, which can be important in higher voltage batteries.

 

[pagheca]

I would bet that within a few years, if precise laws on the matter do not intervene, it will become a norm to "print" batteries in the frame, to save something like 425 g of weight, like today's cell phones or laptops. And when the battery dies you throw everything away....

On the other hand, I'll say something unpopular here, but I don't agree with suggesting or proceeding to fiddle with the controls to remove the speed limit of the ebike. I am talking about Europe here, as I do not know the specifics of the legislation in other countries. I may sound like a senile old fart (I probably am...) but behind this limitation is the fact that ebikes can be ridden without a driver's license, an insurance, etc. A bicycle thrown at 50 km/h (30 mph) in a densely populated city by any one person, perhaps a minor, is a risk to the person riding it and to others. So a decision would have to be made: either those who wish to do so get a license and buy a vehicle designed for that, paying mandatory insurance as if it were a moped, or they stay within the limits (and push hard on the pedals!).

When I was a boy, it was normal in Italy to modify one's "cinquantino" (mopeds such as the Piaggio Vespa, that could be driven by 14 years old - 50cc, 1.5 hp, 50 kmh max) so that they reached 90-100 kmh, but the brakes and frame remained the same, and the number of people killed because of this levity is not counted. Going from 25 to 50 is not the same... however, neither an ebike frames, tires and brakes are the same.

I personally would be in favor of letting ebikes be what they are: a pedal-assisted vehicle that allows people to move freely while doing some exercise. If you're looking for something else you'll buy something else.

 

[hugh]

I currently own 3 ebikes. One of which, my fatbike now has been running great for 8 1/2 years. It gets used summer and winter although when the temp drops below minus 20C I leave it in the heated garage. Full disclosure, it does not see everyday use, these days more like once or twice a week. It has a Bafang BBSHD motor installed by myself those 8 1/2 years ago and is now on it's second battery, the first is still in use on another bike though. Since I'm now 70 the question of will the bike last 20 or 30 years is irrelevant. I just enjoy the time now. Another of my motors, the BBSO2 has a few thousand km's on it and is going to be added to a another recumbent trike under construction in the garage, this one will have a partial body for weather protection and because I've found streamlining greatly increases range. This by reducing the amount of power needed for propulsion.

 

[leehop71]

Hello everyone. I have been studying e-bikes for a month now. I have a question I am hoping to discuss with current or future e-bike owners. Has anyone wondered whether their investment in an e-bike will still be viable after 10 years? In other words, will the motor and battery you purchased as part of the bike still be available long after the bike you purchased has been discontinued?

I held onto my last MTB for 27 years. Although it was outdated, I could still ride, and replacement bike parts are widely available. This availability also applies to e-bikes. Parts like cranks, cassettes, grips, handlebars, front suspension, etc., are all easy to find. However, 2 components on an e-bike may not be available in the distant future: the motor and the battery.

Batteries that are mounted inside the frame of any manufacturer’s bike is proprietary. Therefore, after the bike is discontinued, how long can you depend on the manufacturer to continue making the specific battery you need to mount inside the frame? I have confirmed that some manufacturers already stopped making the in-frame battery for multiple models in their line of e-bikes that have been discontinued. Once they deplete their stock of batteries, those owners will not be able to replace their battery once it fails, and batteries have a finite lifespan.

Motors that require specially designed bike frames for mounting, like the Bafang M620, is even more problematic. What happens when the M620 is discontinued, and parts become hard to find? Unless you are really good at using an engineering CAD program, designing the replacement parts yourself, and e-mail the files to a machine shop that will make them for you (which will not be cheap), then the very expensive e-bike you purchased long ago has become completely useless. Remember that these bike frames do not have traditional bottom brackets where you can mount cranks and pedals. Rather, when you remove the motor, you essentially have a giant hole, and no other motor could be mounted in its place.

The DIY community has an advantage: they convert their analog bikes into e-bikes. The battery is mounted outside the frame. If the motor or battery fails, they find parts and repair their motors as needed and the battery is much more easily replaced. Many of these motors, like the Bafang BBSHD or the CYC X1 Pro, can be connected to any battery as long as the watts/volts/amps specifications are compatible. These motors fit inside a standard bottom bracket found in any analog bike. But most people who purchase e-bikes do not go this route. Rather, they just buy a complete e-bike with an integrated motor and battery.

If you buy a cheaper e-bike, let’s say between $1,000 and $2,000, then your investment may seem more reasonable. But multiply that by purchasing another e-bike for your spouse and children, then the thought of going through this again just because of a motor or battery failure after 5 or 10 years seems ridiculous. (Buying a new e-bike for your child because they have grown up and are now into mountain biking vs casual riding is reasonable.) Even worse, for people who want to invest in a more advanced e-bike that costs more than $4,000, and your motor and/or battery needs replacing but none are available after 10 years, then the initial investment you made becomes much more problematic. Unless I win Powerball, I would not want to spend another $4,000 a decade later.

My question is: has anyone in this community ever consider this? Have you ever thought about the cost of replacing your entire e-bike after a decade due the company not supporting the motor and/or battery since the model you bought has been discontinued? How do you feel about this new limitation that essentially did not exist when we purchased analog bikes? I am very interested in hearing your opinions.

I’ll be 70 on October 3rd, and I may not be functioning 10 years from now!!

 

[Hoggdoc]

Yeah I was reading that in New York they banned all ebikes that are not UL Listed. Due to increased fire hazards.

Seems the people in charge of running NYC get crazier by the minute. Out of over 8 million people and who knows how many ebikes, how many fires can be attributed to ebike over what period of time. We seem to never hear those numbers.

 

[DieselTech]

Seems the people in charge of running NYC get crazier by the minute. Out of over 8 million people and who knows how many ebikes, how many fires can be attributed to ebike over what period of time. We seem to never hear those numbers.

Yeah I would like to see the number of people that caused their own ebike fires. It wasnt a bike problem, but user error. I would not make it in New York, they barely let you carry much of a pocket knife. All kinds of messed up laws. I would be locked up in Rikers!!!

 

[DieselTech]

Seems the people in charge of running NYC get crazier by the minute. Out of over 8 million people and who knows how many ebikes, how many fires can be attributed to ebike over what period of time. We seem to never hear those numbers.

Yeah I've got to witness a li-ion battery fire 1st hand once. In my house on top of that, but I was lucky enough to save the house. The $3000 R/C monster truck did not survive. It was a FN crazy fire.