What is the right battery for me? Should I get a 52-volt battery and bear the increased price in order to get better performance?!
Or there is no difference between the 48-volt battery and the 52-volt battery.
I know that all these questions you may have asked yourself while trying to make a decision to choose the right battery for you
The two most popular types of batteries currently in the world of electric bikes are 48 volts and 52 volts.
That’s why We have decided to publish this post to help you choose the right battery.
What is a 48 V battery & 52 V battery?
The 48-volt and 52-volt battery is a group of lithium cells connected in series.
The average power of one cell is 3.6 volts (it can be more than this with a maximum of 4.2 volts)
Based on this, the 48-volt battery consists of 13 lithium cells connected in series (48/3.6).
The 52-volt battery consists of 14 lithium cells connected in series (52 / 3.6).
Based on this, it is clear from the previous explanation that there is one cell rubbing between the 48-volt battery and the 52-volt battery.
You may say that the difference is not that big, or that the two batteries are considered to be very similar
In fact, it is not entirely so
In order to clarify this matter, we will need to go into a little bit about what is happening inside each of the two batteries in order to know what the real differences are.
What happened inside the 48v & 52V batteries?
When you fully charge your bike battery, all the cells are at their highest voltage, but as soon as you turn it on and start riding electric bikes, the charge level starts to go down, and not only that but also the amount of voltage pulled from the battery.
Meaning that when the battery is charged to 100%, the output voltage level will be 48 volts.
But when the battery reaches a charge level of 20% or less, the output voltage level does not exceed 39 volts, and the reason for this is that the battery has a system called the BMS, and this system monitors the voltage pulled from all the cells and shuts down the battery when the danger limit is reached
When the cell voltage starts to reach 3 voltage or less, it reduces the voltage output in order to preserve the battery cells.
As for the 52 battery, it will output 52 volts when it is 100% charged. And when it reaches a charge rate of 20% or less, it will output 42 volts.
Since getting a high speed from the motor requires an increased volt, this means that the 52nd battery will give you a higher speed even at low charge levels.
What is the real performance increase rate you should expect?
After we know what happens inside both the 48 and 52-volt batteries.
Let’s explain what is the percentage increase in the performance of your electric bike if you decide to buy a 52-volt battery
When we speak in numbers, the expected increase in performance is equivalent to about 7.5%, which is equivalent to approximately 100 watt-hours.
This increase in performance can be exploited to increase the speed of the electric bike or to increase the range if you are going to ride your electric bike at the same speed
Note: The previous ratio was calculated based on the following.
The amount of increase of one cell is equivalent to about 7.5% (1/13)
Is it worth it to upgrade to a 52v e-bike battery?
From the previous parts in this post, I think that it turns out that the 52-volt battery is better than the 48-volt battery in terms of increased speed and performance, but in order for the matter to be more realistic, you should take a look at some of the points that you should take into account when upgrading from a 48-volt battery to a battery 52 volts.
Or, more precisely, Is it worth it to upgrade to a 52v e-bike battery?
1- Price.
As we mentioned in this post, the expected increase in performance is about 7.5%, but does this mean that you will pay the same percentage as an increase in the price?!
The answer is no, you will pay more. Most sellers of electric bike batteries add a percentage of the price ranging from 10% to 20% to get a 52-volt battery.
2-Charger.
If you are going to buy a 52-volt battery without a charger, you should buy a charger that fits the battery
As the capacity of the 48-volt battery charger is 54.6 volts.
As for the charging capacity that the 52-volt battery will need, it is 58.8 volts.
This will add extra cost
It is always preferable to check the 52-volt battery that comes with its charger to avoid additional costs.
3-Repairing cost.
One of the points that you should take into account is the cost of repairing the battery in case it needs maintenance
The reason for the increase in the maintenance price is not only due to the presence of an additional cell inside the 52-volt battery, but
because the internal battery management system BMS has a higher capacity, which will increase the cost of maintenance in case you
need to change.
In general, when taking into account the increased performance of the electric bike compared to the previous points, I think that the upgrade to 52 volts is worth it
Because even the increase in the price of the battery or charger is paid once, on the other hand, electric bike batteries can last a very long time without the need for maintenance.
48V VS 52V Ebike battery (Real Test)
While preparing for this post, I was looking for an illustrative example in a realistic way that compares the two batteries in terms of speed and other conditions that may affect the performance of the ebike.
I found this cool test
You can watch it, it’s a one-minute video.
Now that we have compared the two batteries and learned a lot of information about them in the next sections, we will answer the most common questions on this subject.
Is 52 battery pull less current & run cooler?
It is known that the electric current produces heat, and since the 52-volt battery will produce higher volts with the same amount of amps, this means that it will draw less electric current and therefore will operate at a cooler temperature, which enhances its performance.
The answer here is NO. this does not happen realistically, because the withdrawal of electrical current from the battery depends on the controller, which draws amperes, not volts, and this means that if you have a 15-ampere controller, for example, it will draw 15 amperes from the battery.
Which one is best for Conversion kits 48v or 52v?
This question depends entirely on the type of converting kit that you intend to use, but if you are using the Bafang, we recommend 48 volts because it does not give any errors on this type of kit.
As for the 52 volts, it has some errors with this group, the most famous of which is the error 30, which is the error responsible for the communication
Can you put a 52-volt battery on a 48-volt ebike?
Yes, a 52-volt battery can be placed as long as the controller supports the number of amps in the battery and you also have the appropriate charger for the battery
Conclusion.
The 52-volt battery is better than the 48-volt battery because it increases the speed and performance of the electric bike by about 7.5% or nearly 100 watt-hours.
When upgrading from 48 volts to 52, you must make sure that the controller will support the battery amp.
If you intend to install the Convergence Kit Bafang, it is preferable that the battery be 48 volts
