What Happens When An Ebike Battery Dies? Explained


Riding with Pedal after ebike battery dies

Is your electric bike battery dead or maybe it’s near the end of the maximum number of charges?

So you want to know what will happen when your electric bike battery dies?

As a general rule, when the electric bike battery dies, you will be able to ride the bike using the pedal only and at one speed without shifting between speeds and the motor will not work as there is no electricity coming out from the battery to the motor.

 What happened inside the ebike battery when the battery dies?

In any lithium ebike battery, chemical reactions occur between the negative anode and the positive cathode.

The entire lithium-ion is transferred from the anode to the cathode in order to start discharging the charge and obtaining the required voltage.

But when the battery begins to die, this means that the anode column and cathode are no longer working properly, and this will lead to a decrease in the transfer of lithium between them, which will make the voltage produced by the battery is lower than the normal, and therefore will reduce the general capacity of the battery.

What Happens When An Ebike Battery Dies?

After we’ve explained what happens inside the battery when it’s about to die, let’s find out what you should expect when your electric bike battery starts to die.

Check out our recommended ebike battery on Amazon from here

1. It Will Never Stop Suddenly

We all expect that when it is time to change the battery that the battery will suddenly run out while riding but this usually,  does not happen until the battery is completely discharged, but if the bike battery is old, it will not ends suddenly.

What happens is that the capacity of the battery will gradually decrease.

For example, if a single charge of the battery is enough to ride a distance of 30 km, it will give you 20 km, and this is one of the best indicators that can tell you that the battery needs to be changed

”You can read this post about how to check the bike battery through 5 tests that you can do at home from Here”

2. More Efforts during  Riding

The weight of an electric bike is much heavier than a regular bike, so when your electric bike battery dies, you will need to put a lot of effort into riding as you will have to move all the weight of the electric bike along with your weight which will need to put more efforts so you can move the ebike.

3. Riding on Terrain will be much more difficult.

Riding an electric bike in the terrain without a battery or with a dead battery is really difficult because, in addition to the effort spent in riding the ebike itself, you will need a double effort in order to be able to cross difficult terrain while riding, because the terrain and uneven groundwork to impede the movement of the bike, which explain why we don’t feel this difficulty when riding an ebike while relying on the motor.

4. The wind levels will be a considerable factor.

When you ride your electric bike in very windy weather, you may be prone to one of the following two cases.

In the first case if you are riding your ebike in the same direction as the wind and here you will be lucky because the wind will increase the thrust of the ebike, which will help you reduce the effort while riding.

In the second case if you are riding in the opposite direction of the wind, which is the opposite of the previous case, so you will need to make more effort while riding because the wind will push your ebike in its direction.

5. Riding On One Speed Only

Depending on the design of your ebike, you can ride the bike without a battery, but on one speed, such as the Warthog HD750 – 750 watt Hub Motor, which enables you to ride the bike without a motor, but only at one speed.

But there are also some models that may enable you to use different driving speeds up to 5 speeds, such as the Warthog 1000 MD model

Check out our recommended ebike battery on Amazon from here

6. Your Ebike Motor Design will make a difference.

When you ride your bike without a battery or with a dead battery, every component of the ebike can reduce or increase the effort spent while riding.

For example, the hub motor is in the rear wheel of an electric bike, which requires more effort to ride the bike and push it forward.

As for the mid-drive motor, it is in the middle of the bike, which reduces the effort spent to move the electric bike.

7. Burning More Calories

Old Women riding Ebike

While riding an electric bike without a battery, as we mentioned, you make more effort, which certainly requires you to burn a lot of calories,

which may be good for your health, but on the contrary, it can be dangerous if you are elderly, so it is preferable not to ride your ebike without a battery if you are elderly due to the great effort made while riding a bike with a dead battery.

Why Do Ebike Batteries Die?

There are a lot of reasons for the failure or death of the ebike battery very quickly and in the below post

   “Why Do Ebike Batteries Fail? (Explained)”,

we have explained in detail the reasons that can cause the death of the electric bike battery quickly.

To summarize, the reasons for the failure of the electric bike battery.

Inappropriate shipping method
Using a poor quality charger
The BMS of the battery may have a problem
The imbalance between the use of the pedal and the motor while riding
Store the battery in an inappropriate place

How to take care of the ebike Battery?

You can take care of the battery and extend its life by maintaining an appropriate level of charge in the battery, especially when storing and also charging it with a suitable charger and not riding in very hot or very cold weather.

You can see this post for the best ways to conserve an electric bike battery  HERE

Tips You Can Do If Your Ebike Dies While Riding.

If your ebike batteries die while riding you can use the below tips that will help you continue your riding trip.

Keep a spare battery with you

One of the best things you may consider while a long ride is to have a spare ebike battery with you that will help you a lot and will save a lot of effort & troubles you may face.

Ask for the nearest place you can charge your ebike in.

usually, all the places that were designed for ebike riding have a place to charge your ebike and it’s not expensive.

Ask if someone has a spare battery

If you are riding an electric bike with a group of friends, you can ask them if someone has an extra battery, but the important thing here is that if you find that nice person who is willing to share his battery with you, make sure that the battery voltage is equal to or less than your original battery in order to ensure that your bike controller will provide Electricity needed.

Check out our recommended ebike battery on Amazon from here

Conclusion

As a general rule, when your electric ebike battery dies, you can use the pedal to drive, but in some ebikes, you will drive at one speed without shifting between speeds as well.

If you ride your bike on terrain, it will require more effort.

The direction of the wind will be an important factor, as it may lead to an increase or decrease in the speed of the bicycle, depending on the direction of the bicycle.

The weight of the electric bike is much heavier than the weight of a regular bike, which increases the effort spent while riding your ebike.

The type of motor will also affect the ease or difficulty of riding a bike without a battery.

On the other hand, you will burn more calories while riding an electric bike without a battery, but if you are an elderly person, you should be careful.

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