00:00Looking after your battery should be one of your main priorities because it does have the ability
00:10to degrade over time but to what extent can be determined by how you treat it. So here are my
00:15top tips to ensure that it lasts for as long as possible. First up, if you've got a lithium-ion
00:20battery, which most e-bikes do, then don't allow your battery to get all the way to zero. You do
00:25have what's called a BMS or battery management system. Now that's there to ensure that the
00:30battery never actually gets to zero and it will cut the charge off to make sure that there's a
00:34little bit of residual power in there. Should you ever actually get to zero, then the cells will
00:40never recharge again and it will be absolutely toast. So the best practice is to ensure you never
00:45let your battery get near that level and to charge it regularly. A question that often comes up is,
00:51will I damage my battery if I charge it up to 100%? Well, no you won't, but you may get fewer
00:56charge cycles. Now a charge cycle is a full discharge and recharge. A normal e-bike battery
01:02would be expected to get between 800 to 1000 charge cycles. If you charge to 100% all the time,
01:09then you may be looking towards the lower side of that bracket. If however you charge to 90%,
01:15you could be looking towards the higher side of that bracket. The trade-off is though that you might be
01:20left with slightly less range to use when you're out riding. The good thing is though that the BMS
01:24will ensure that when you get to 100%, it will cut off the charge and protect the battery. So it is
01:29very hard to do long-term damage. Balancing a battery is some pretty nerdy e-bike knowledge, but bear with
01:35me here. As we already know, the BMS will protect the battery so that the level won't get so low that
01:41it damages itself. And it will also mean that when we get to 100%, it will also cut off the charge.
01:48However, if you don't charge the battery to 100% on occasion, then it won't have a chance to balance
01:52itself. And this means that the overall range of the battery will slowly decrease over time. So if you
01:59do want to maximize the number of charge cycles you get by charging to 90%, do ensure that on occasion
02:04you charge to 100% to allow the battery to balance itself so that you ensure that you maintain the
02:10amount of range that the battery is capable of delivering. This may mean that you have to closely
02:15monitor the battery level whilst charging, which for some may just not be practical at all.
02:20Come winter time, when perhaps you've stayed with the pony, but you want to ensure that you're
02:24still looking after it properly, there are a couple of things you can do to make sure it doesn't damage
02:28itself. So if you're planning on leaving your bike stationary for anywhere up to a month, it's
02:33absolutely fine to leave at 100%. If you're going to be storing it full over a month and longer, then I'd
02:38recommend leaving it at 70% and also dismounting the battery from the bike and leaving it at an
02:44ambient room temperature. Some manufacturers recommend charging every six months to ensure
02:50good battery health if you're really putting it into some long-term storage. It should go without
02:55saying, but definitely don't leave it without any battery at all. Like I've previously mentioned,
02:59if the battery then dips below that safe level, it will be completely toast and it will not charge up
03:04again. So do not store it close to empty. Continuing along the vein of storage, if you're
03:11able to leave your bike or just the battery at an ambient room temperature, then this is definitely
03:15a really good thing to do. If a battery is left out in the cold, then it will lose its charge and the
03:20range would also drop considerably. If you regularly ride in freezing conditions, then I would recommend
03:25investing in an insulating thermal jacket to keep the battery at an optimal operating temperature.
03:31You can find a link to one of these down in the description down below. So there we have it.
03:35Those are my top tips for looking after your electric bike and hopefully making it last for as long as
03:40possible. Ultimately, a battery is an exhaustible item and over time it will degrade. So if your range
03:46has dropped so far below what it was when you got it from you, it may be that it needs replacement.
03:51With my tips though, you can make sure that it will last for as long as possible. If you have any of your
03:56own tips that you think are worthwhile sharing, then drop them down in the comments. If you enjoyed
04:00the video, drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I will see you again very soon.
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