As electric bike sales are increasing by the year, owning an electric bike is becoming a norm. However, one may question especially when it comes to owning an electric bike when winter comes around. What will happen to your electric bike if it is really cold outside? Can freezing temperatures destroy your electric bike’s motor and battery? This may happen especially when the electric components on an electric bike are susceptible to damage from water and moisture. If your battery and motor are not properly cared for in cold weather, they can shorten their lives or even be permanently damaged. If you would like to prolong your electric bike’s life, follow the following guidelines and you can protect your bike.
Firstly, you would need to understand how cold is too cold for an electric bike. Subzero temperatures (-17°C) are not ideal for riding your electric bike. You would also need to be aware that temperatures below 0° Celcius are too cold to store your e-bike in. Battery life and performance will be negatively impacted by freezing temperatures. This is because lithium-ion electric bike batteries are super sensitive to extreme high temperatures and low temperatures hence affecting the performance of Lithium-ion batteries substaintainly.
When riding in the below freezing temperature, the capacity of the electric bike battery can decrease between 30 to 40% in range. You might want to have a battery backup plan if you are going to ride long distances during cold weather.
If you ride the bike, it will help to keep the battery warmer making it unlikely to freeze. However, if you keep your electric bike out in the cold, there is a potential for the battery to freeze and cause serious impact to the battery life such as possibly damage it beyond repair. Despite these quite different results, it’s probably a bad idea to store your battery in very cold temperatures (or to leave your electric bike outside in the winter).
However if there is a need to keep the electric bike in the cold, here are some ways of keeping your bike battery protected from the cold. Firstly, to use a battery thermal cover that can be wrapped around the battery like a jacket. Amazon or eBay carries a range of covers for various batteries. To protect the battery even better, wrap the battery with chemical heat packs inside the thermal battery cover and this would protect the heat from escaping.
Ensure that the battery is stored inside where temperatures are comfortable for you to ensure that the electric bike battery is in good health. Before using your electric bike, charge your battery indoors for the best results. Also, do charge the battery often as at low temperature, the battery will lose full charge quickly.
