How to Charge an Electric Bike
How to Charge an Electric Bike
You’re thinking about buying an electric bike. But before you can hit the open road, you need to know how to charge an electric bike battery. Here’s a quick guide on how to charge an electric bike.
You will need to plug it in
People often think that electric bikes will charge themselves as you ride along. Sadly this technology isn’t available yet so you will need to plug it in. A standard home, or work, mains socket is all you need as your electric bike will come with a charger.
A lot of electric bikes give you the option to remove the battery for charging. This is super handy if you keep your bike in the garage but want to charge it in the house, or are travelling. A lot of Trek electric bikes use the RIB system (Removable Integrated Battery) and other manufacturers have similar systems.
Be aware though that there are some bikes out there where you can’t easily remove the battery. These are often the new generation of lightweight electric bikes such as the Trek FX+ or the Orbea Rise. With these models you will need to get the bike to within a couple of feet of a wall socket (or run an extension cable) to charge. So have a think about how that will work in your house.
Range extenders
A lot of the new generation lightweight electric bikes like the Orbea Rise or Specialized Turbo SL models can take a range extender battery. This is a small battery which is shaped like a water bottle and sits in the bottle cage attached to the frame. If you are planning a longer ride you can plug the range extender in to give you some extra miles. Due to their small size range extender batteries are really easy to charge at a convenient plug socket.
How long do electric bikes take to charge?
This depends on the size of battery you have. Bosch is one of the most common electric bike systems on the market. They quote the following approximate times using their standard charger:
- 2.5 hours for a 300 WH battery
- 3.5 hours for a 400 WH battery
- 4.5 hours for a 500 WH battery
- 4.9 hours for a 625 WH battery
Bosch also make a fast charger which can get a battery to a 50% charge in just over an hour. For charging from empty Bosch give these approximate times using the fast charger:
- 2.5 hours for a 300 WH battery
- 2.5 hours for a 400 WH battery
- 3 hours for a 500 WH battery
- 3.7 hours for a 625 WH battery
Are electric bikes expensive to charge?
With energy prices rising so rapidly at the moment it is difficult to give an exact cost. However, the most commonly quoted figure is that an average electric bike will cost between 5p and 10p to charge from empty, depending on the battery size. When you consider that most electric bikes can do 60 to 100 miles on a full charge that makes them pretty cost effective when compared to petrol cars, buses or trains.
