On the web, there’s lots of information about the care and feeding of current generation lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries (like this or this), but I’m going to boil all this information down into a few digestible points:
- Invest in a better charger than the one that came with your battery. My favorite (and affordable) charger is the Luna Charger 48V Advanced 300W Ebike Charger for $100, or this one, the 48v 3amp Luna Mini Charger. The Luna allows you to adjust the charging rate and percent charge, both of which are important to the longevity of your battery. You might need to purchase or build an adapter for your battery. The Luna comes with an XT60 connecter, which is not what most batteries use a charging port interface.
- DON’T charge your battery to 100% and let it sit for a long period of time unused!
- DON’T leave your e-bike battery out in the cold (or hot)! It likes ‘room-temperature’ like you do, for storage AND charging.
- DON’T use fast-charging unless absolutely necessary! Charging at 2 amps is better for your battery, but will take longer. Patience – your doing a good thing for your battery.
- Using the Luna charger, DO charge your battery to 80% (at 2 amps) four times, then to 100% for the fifth charge cycle. This assumes you’re running your battery down to about 20% before each charge. Charging to 80% will increase your battery life considerably (in case you’re interested). Then a periodic 100% charge will ‘re-balance’ the cells to ensure you have maximum charge across all cells. The only thing to note when charging to 80%, is this will reduce your expected range a bit. My experience with the Joyisi 14ah battery is I get about 45 miles on a charge at 80% and 60-65 miles at 100%.
Bottom line: Treat your battery well and it will repay your kindness with improved longevity and range. Just something to think about…