How Long Does It Take to Charge an Electric Bike?
You were out riding your electric bike when darn, the battery dies. You pedal the bike the rest of the way home and then begin recharging the battery. Precisely how long is this going to take?
While it varies based on charger amperage, the average waiting time to charge an electric bike battery is anywhere from three and a half to six hours. That’s assuming you drained your battery nearly fully or completely fully.
In today’s guide, I’ll talk a lot more about e-bike batteries, including the types of batteries, how long you’ll spend to recharge yours, and if there’s any way to make the batteries last longer. Even if you’re not new to e-bikes, I’m sure there’s still something you can learn ahead, so keep reading!
How Long Will You Wait to Charge an Electric Bike Battery?
In an age of instant gratification, no one likes waiting.
Sometimes though, it’s an unfortunate part of life, like when you’re stuck in the DMV line, you’re waiting for your favorite band to take the stage, or you’re charging your electric bike battery.
Assuming you’ve depleted your battery almost entirely and that the battery is a lithium ion type, then at the very least, you’ll wait three and a half hours for the battery to recharge to 100 percent.
At most, you’ll be stuck on the sidelines for six hours.
No, that’s not fun. Your e-bike will be on standby for that time unless you don’t mind riding it sans battery.
Then you could always pedal around town. At that point, your riding experience is no different than cycling on a traditional bicycle. You have no battery, so that means no power.
The Types of Electric Bike Batteries
Since the type of battery that your e-bike is equipped with determines what your battery recharge time will look like, I wanted to take this section to go over the various types of e-bike batteries.
Lithium-Ion Polymer Batteries
The first type of batteries your electric bike might include are lithium-ion polymer or LiPo batteries.
LiPo batteries feature a polymer electrolyte and lithium-ion technology. Unlike other types of batteries, these don’t use liquid electrolytes.
The discharge rate of LiPo batteries is pretty good, as is their price point.
The discharge rate makes LiPo batteries capable of providing more power in not a lot of time.
An average LiPo battery for electric bikes might have 4.2 volts of power for each cell when the battery is charged to 100 percent.
Lithium Cobalt Batteries
Next is lithium cobalt or LCo batteries.
As one of the types of lithium-based batteries, LCo batteries are known for their long-lasting power.
That power is low specific power despite the battery’s high specific energy.
Although not suited for high-load applications, LCo batteries are reliable and light enough to be a suitable choice for e-bike batteries.
Lithium Ion Manganese Oxide Batteries
Lithium ion manganese oxide or LiMg204 batteries might be a bit of a mouthful, but they’re an option you might see in some e-bikes, nevertheless.
The batteries feature a manganese dioxide cathode and a lithium-ion cell. These are newer types of lithium batteries.
That said, the range of LiMg204 batteries is quite exceptional, as is their durability. Lithium ion manganese oxide batteries are designed to outlast other types of lithium batteries, after all.
Lithium-Ion Batteries
A much more common type of lithium battery is lithium-ion or Li-ion batteries.
These rechargeable batteries can reduce lithium ions in reverse, allowing the battery to hold onto energy.
Most electric vehicles use Li-ion batteries, as do the bulk of today’s consumer electronics, so it’s no surprise to see these batteries in electric bikes as well.
Built for low-power, high-capacity applications, Li-ion batteries have a moderate weight for their surprisingly large size.
Nickel-Metal Hydride Batteries
Moving away from lithium batteries now, nickel-metal hydride or NiMh batteries might power your e-bike.
NiMh batteries are rechargeable, and they give juice to your electric bike through a chemical reaction.
Both negative and positive electrodes rely on nickel oxide hydroxide, but with a key difference.
The negative electrode also has a hydrogen-absorbing alloy rather than the traditional cadmium.
Admittedly, NiMh batteries are one of the more expensive on the market, but they last quite long.
Compared to lithium batteries though, nickel-based batteries do not have nearly the same kind of lifespan.
Nickel-Cadmium Batteries
Another type of nickel-based battery for your consideration is nickel-cadmium or NiCd batteries.
The electrodes in this rechargeable battery are metallic cadmium and nickel oxide hydroxide. This increases the capacity of a NiCD battery.
However, these batteries have a lot of downsides. The self-discharge rates are high, as a NiCD battery can lose 70 percent of its charge after a 24-hour period of inactivity.
They’re expensive, their electricity density is very low, and recycling cadmium is a challenge.
That’s mostly due to how cadmium is considered a contaminant, so no recycling centers will want to take it.
Lead-Acid Batteries
The last type of e-bike battery we’ll look at is the lead-acid battery.
Dating back to 1859, this rechargeable battery predates all the others by quite a significant margin.
Lead-acid batteries are quite heavy and don’t have a very high power output either.
The Factors That Determine How Long It Takes to Charge an Electric Bike Battery
So what kind of factors are at play that influence whether your e-bike battery will be ready to go in three and a half hours or almost twice that? Let’s go over them now.
Battery Age
How long have you had your electric bike and the original set of batteries?
If the answer is more than a couple of years, then it’s not too terribly surprising that the batteries have begun to charge slower.
The older your e-bike batteries get and the more they’re recharged, the higher the rate of oxidation on the plates.
This in turn increases the battery’s internal resistance. At the same time, the internal voltage drop rate also increases, which means that the max charge current cannot be applied for as long.
Battery Type
The type of battery your electric bike uses is also integral in determining how long it will last.
As I covered in the section prior, certain types of electric bike batteries have a longer lifespan than others.
While you cannot necessarily help which kind of battery originally comes equipped with your e-bike, it’s your choice once you own the bike which type of battery it will use.
You can always take the bike to a mechanic and discuss a battery replacement to a different type.
Battery Power
Although a small factor overall, the power your battery has when you charge it does dictate its overall charge time.
That’s true of an electric bike battery as it is any other type of item that uses a battery.
For instance, if your battery is nearly dead or fully dead, then you will have to wait the max charge time for the battery to be ready to use again.
If your battery is only half-dead, then it takes half the time to recharge. A battery that’s lost a quarter of its power will recharge all the faster.
However, these charging scenarios naturally bring up the question of when you should charge your battery.
After all, overcharging a battery–or charging it too frequently–will cause it to wear down prematurely.
I would recommend charging your e-bike battery at least when it’s halfway depleted but not more frequently than that.
Charger Amperage
The type of charger you use for your electric bike is also very significant in determining its charging speed.
Not all chargers are usable for e-bike batteries across the board. The various types are categorized by voltage.
The voltage you need for your charger is commensurate with the voltage of your electric bike. The average voltage for most e-bikes is anywhere from 36 to 48 volts.
The voltage of a charger used on a 36-volt electric bike should have a max voltage of 42 volts. The voltage of a charger used on a 48-volt electric bike can have a higher max voltage of 54 volts.
Besides matching voltages, you must also ensure the connection point of the charger is compatible with your electric bike battery.
Some charger connection points are only single-pinned while others have up to three pins.
If the number of pins is too many or too few for your e-bike battery, then you need a different charger.
How Long Does an Electric Bike Battery Last?
Between all the time spent using and recharging and using and recharging an electric bike battery, how long can you expect the battery’s overall lifespan to be?
At the very least, an e-bike battery lasts for three years, but some have been known to go for as long as five years.
How to Make an Electric Bike Battery Last Longer
Would you like your e-bike battery to last longer? Ah, wouldn’t we all?
After all, a new electric bike battery can cost anywhere from $500 to $800, so you don’t want to replace yours any sooner than you have to.
Fortunately, you’re not totally without options. The following measures should help your electric bike battery last for as long as it can.
Charge Your Battery Before Using Your Electric Bike
You know how you’re supposed to charge a new smartphone before you even begin tinkering with the settings?
It’s no different with an electric bike battery.
Charge the battery to 100 percent. This first charge might require about three to six hours or could take between four and eight hours. Be patient!
Store the Battery Properly
Where you keep your e-bike battery when it’s not in use plays a major role in how long the battery will last.
Ideally, it’s best to remove the battery from the bike so you can keep it indoors.
The best temperature for an e-bike battery is between 45 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
The battery isn’t exposed to very high temperatures or very low temperatures either.
Avoiding these extremes is integral in preserving the battery cells so the battery keeps charging properly.
You also don’t want the cells to explode or pop, as then the battery could be permanently damaged.
Keep the battery away from any combustible and flammable materials, including liquids.
This way, in case your battery happens to trigger one of these items (which isn’t impossible but is exceedingly rare), you won’t cause a catastrophic fire.
The battery must be kept in a dry environment free of direct sunlight.
Place the battery away from any windows, as the sunlight can heat up the battery, causing any of the aforementioned issues.
Don’t Let the Battery Discharge Fully
Discharge is when your battery drains even if you aren’t using it.
It’s inevitable to some extent, but you should still carefully monitor the rate of discharge in your e-bike batteries to ensure it isn’t too much.
If the batteries ever discharge to zero percent, it’s not ideal obviously, but it’s also not the end of the world if it happens just that once.
The real risk lies in making a habit out of fully discharging your e-bike batteries.
Li-ion batteries especially suffer since they lack a charge memory. Thus, the more frequently they drop to zero percent, the harder it is for them to rebuild a sufficient charge.
So for every other type of electric bike battery, what’s the harm in frequent discharges to zero percent?
It’s stressful on the battery to drop that low and recharge that much.
You’re much better off allowing the batteries to discharge no lower than 50 percent and then charging them.
You’ll reduce the stress load and in turn help the batteries last longer.
Conclusion
Charging an electric bike is going to take hours; there’s no way around that.
If you want to ensure your e-bike battery lasts for as long as possible (around five years or more), be sure to properly store the battery, never let it discharge to zero percent, and only use a compatible charger!
