Our tips and facts

We work with Li-ion technology, short for lithium-ion, and use high-quality 18650 cells. The 18650 is a widely used battery cell, found in laptops and power banks as well as in e-bike batteries. Below are some tips for giving your battery a long life.

That does not mean you should throw the battery around. It means you should simply use it for what it was made for. We sometimes hear customers say they are extra careful with their 18650 battery and charge it as little as possible. That is false economy. A battery that lies unused for more than four months will start to self-discharge. In other words, it loses charge by itself. Nothing leaks out, but the charge drops. So keep it active by using it and charging it. We often see that a battery that has covered a lot of kilometres in a short time shows little wear.

Many of us grew up running a battery completely flat before charging it. A lot of people also want the battery at 100% before they take it off the charger. With Li-ion batteries neither is necessary any more. Unlike the old NiCd batteries, this technology has no memory effect. So just charge after use. Need the battery before it is fully charged? That is no problem either: take it off the charger and use it. The argument that you get through the maximum number of charge cycles faster this way does not hold, because what counts is complete charge cycles. Charging by 50% twice is one charge cycle.

We speak of deep discharge when a battery pack drops below a certain voltage. Below that voltage the pack can no longer deliver power, and its service life falls quickly. The original charger usually cannot fix a deep discharge. The electronics in the battery or in the charger block it, to prevent further damage and the risk of fire. A deeply discharged battery must not be charged too quickly. We do this very carefully, with our own power supply connected directly to the pack. Some batteries can still be brought back from a deep discharge and then last for several more years.

When you store a Li-ion battery, it is happiest at a temperature of around 20°C. The higher the temperature, the faster it self-discharges. At temperatures below 0°C you may notice that the capacity drops. If you store your battery somewhere warmer than 20°C, the self-discharge will gradually speed up. The important thing is never to charge your battery at a temperature below 0°C. That is very bad for your battery.

Treat your Li-ion batteries sensibly and you will get a long time out of them. The lifespan of a lithium battery is not endless, though. After a few hundred charge cycles (depending on the type) the capacity of an 18650 battery starts to drop. At some point the battery is simply worn out. It stands to reason that a battery used and charged every day for a year will be worn out sooner than one that is used every other week and charged once a month. Li-ion batteries are very pleasant to use, and with the right care they last a very long time. You can extend the life of the battery considerably by not charging it fully and not discharging it fully.

So by giving up some of the kilometres you could get out of one charge, you can extend the service life considerably. The battery lasts longer if you use it between, say, 20% and 80%. It is important, though, not to discharge your battery completely. If you are not riding long distances, we recommend keeping the battery between 30% and 70%.

Riding a bit further from home, or away on holiday? This link shows you where the nearest charging point in the Netherlands is.

Want to know whether your battery can be re-celled? Have a look in our webshop. Is your battery not listed? Then send us a request using our request form.