Views: 118 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2022-05-26 Origin: Site
With rising gas prices, more and more people choose to buy an ebike. It's a good choice for both exercise and life expenses. Compared to buying a car, the fee of an electric bike is relatively less. The fee includes the purchase of the bike, the cost of charging it, and other parts replacement
cost. Today, we will talk about the cost to charge an ebike.
Lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in ebike batteries, which are gaining popularity due to their light weight, high energy density and recharge ability. Lithium-ion batteries power the lives of millions of people each day, so how does it work?
A battery is made up of an anode, cathode, separator, electrolyte, and two current collectors (positive and negative). The anode and cathode store the lithium. The electrolyte carries positively charged lithium ions from the anode to the cathode and vice versa through the separator. The movement of the lithium ions creates free electrons in the anode which creates a charge at the positive current collector. The electrical current then flows from the current collector through a device being powered (cell phone, computer, etc.) to the negative current collector. The separator blocks the flow of electrons inside the battery.
While the battery is discharging and providing an electric current, the anode releases lithium ions to the cathode, generating a flow of electrons from one side to the other. When plugging in the device, the opposite happens: Lithium ions are released by the cathode and received by the anode.
The two most common concepts associated with batteries are energy density and power density. Energy density is measured in watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) and is the amount of energy the battery can store with respect to its mass. Power density is measured in watts per kilogram (W/kg) and is the amount of power that can be generated by the battery with respect to its mass. To draw a clearer picture, think of draining a pool. Energy density is similar to the size of the pool, while power density is comparable to draining the pool as quickly as possible.
To ensure an satisfactory level of energy and power density, ebikes made by Merry Gold come with high quality battery cells from well-known providers such as Samsung and LG. The high quality batteries used by Merry Gold are loved buy the vast number of customers.
Middle drive battery
HUB drive battery
Now, we know the principle of charging Lithium battery, easier to learn about the calculation formula. when you are calculating how it cost to charge an electric bike, there are other factors to consider. Electric bike batteries don’t last forever, and their replacement cost must be taken into calculation.
Before you learn the formula, let's take a look at the charging cost of batteries on the market. On average, it costs between 4-12 cents to charge an electric bike. This cost depends on your battery voltage, capacity, and local electric rates. Batteries with higher voltage and capacity will cost more to charge. There are some calculation formula about the battery cost.
To calculate the charging cost of your battery manually, you’ll need to know 3 pieces of information:
The voltage of the battery
The amp hour of the battery
Your local electrical rates
The voltage and amp hour rating should be on your battery. If it’s not listed for whatever reason, try looking it up online, in your manual, or contact the manufacturer. To find your local electrical rate, the easiest thing to do is check online for your local rate. If you can’t find it, try finding your local electric bill or contacting the power company.
Now, to calculate cost per charge:
Multiply the voltage (V) and amp hours (Ah) to get watt hours (Wh).
Example: 48V x 8.8Ah = 422.4Wh.
Divide the Wh (from step 1) by 1000 to get Kilowatt Hours.
Example: 422.4Wh / 1000 = 0.4224 KWh
Multiple the KWh (from step 2) by your local electric rate per KWh.
Example: 0.4224 KWh x $0.1284 (2019 USA avg) = $0.05423616 or roughly 5.4 cents.
While it cost pennies to fully charge your ebike, there is a hidden cost that is often overlooked. Electric bike batteries can only be charged so many cycles before they need to be replaced. If you calculate the cost of your battery into your charging cost, you’ll get a much different number.
How do you factor in battery cost? You’ll need two additional pieces of information:
The cost of your battery
The average battery lifespan in cycles
For a typical electric bike battery, let’s estimate the price of a new battery is $500 and lasts 800 cycles.
To factor in battery cost, take the cost of your battery and divide it by the number of cycles.
Example: $500 / 800 cycles = $0.625
Keep in mind, while this is a much higher number compared to the cost of charging your ebike, it all depends on the type of battery you have and how frequently you charge it. This cost could be spread out over the course of 5 years. Even taking this into account, the cost per mile is still incredibly low compared to other modes of transportation.
Calculating the cost per mile/kilometer is a little trickier since your range will vary. So, when doing this calculating, you probably want to take your average range or use the lowest range to calculate worse case scenario.
For this, you’ll need:
Your average range per charge
Your charge cost (calculated above)
To calculate cost per mile/kilometer, take the range and divide it by the charging cost.
Example: $0.054 / 20 miles = $0.0027 or 0.27 cents per mile.
Want to know the miles per cent? Take 1 mile and divide it by the cost per mile
Example: 1 mile / 0.27 cents = 3.7 miles per cent
Now we know that charging is an ebike is virtually free. Let’s look at some of the bestsellers of Merry Gold, and start saving some serious gas money.
Model | Picture | Motor Power | Battery |
MOKA |
| 36V 350W-500w | Li-ion 36V 10.4AH |
MG03 |
| 36V 350W-500w | Li-ion 36V 10.4AH |
Hawk-F |
| 48V 350W | 48V 10.4Ah |
Hawk-M |
| 48V 350W | 48V 10.4Ah |
Through calculation, the longer the battery life, the lower the cost. Therefore, we need to maintain our batteries and ensure our riding safety.
In view of the amount of energy stored in lithium ion batteries and the nature of their chemistry, etc., it is necessary to ensure that the batteries are charged in the appropriate manner and with the appropriate charger and equipment. Lithium ion battery chargers or battery packs include various mechanisms to prevent damage and danger. Often these mechanisms are provided within the battery pack, which may then be used with a simple charger.
The mechanism required by the lithium ion battery for charge and discharge include:
The charge current must limited for li-ion batteries. Typically the maximum value is 0.8C, but lower values are more usually set to give some margin. Some faster charging may be possible for some batteries.
Even for batteries or cells that can withstand higher current charges, there is an impact on the lifetime. If it is possible to keep the charge rate down and not use fast charging, this will improve the useful life of the cell.
The li-ion battery charge temperature should be monitored. The cell or battery must not be charged when the temperature is lower than 0°C or greater than 45°C.
Lithium ion cells and batteries perform best when operating around room temperature, so charging between the temperature limits mentioned give the best charging and also extends battery life as well.
Discharge current protection is required to prevent damage or explosion as a result of short circuits. There will be a limit for the particular battery pack and this should not be exceeded. In view of the huge amounts of power stored, exceeding the limits can result in fire or even an impressive explosion.
Normally battery packs have charge / discharge management circuitry to ensure that the current capability is not exceeded, but it is always best not to over-stress them.
Different types of Li-ion battery technology are able to provide different capabilities - as a result the actual type of lithium ion battery technology to select will depend upon the application and the current / discharge capability needed.
Charge over-voltage protection is required to prevent a voltage that is too high being applied across the battery terminals. if the charge voltage is allowed to rise too high then damage can be caused.
The over-charge protection circuitry is required to stop the Li-ion charging process when voltage per cell rises above 4.30 volts. It is extremely important not to overcharge the lithium in battery. The battery management system must provide protection against over charging.
Reverse polarity protection: Li-ion battery reverse polarity protection is needed to make sure the battery is not charged in the wrong direction as this could lead to serious damage or even explosion.
Over-discharge protection is required to prevent the battery voltage falling below about 2.3 Volts dependent upon the manufacturer.
Over-temperature protection is often incorporated to prevent the battery operating if the temperature rises too high. Temperatures above 100°C can cause irreparable damage.
When using a lithium ion battery, it is imperative that the manufacturers charger is used because different elements of protection may be used in the charger and battery pack dependent upon the design.
Riding your ebike is one of the cheapest modes of transportation, even cheaper than mopeds. If you’re worried about charging cost though, you shouldn’t be. There are many other important cost factors to consider such as tires and inner tubes. Compared to buying a car, the fee of an electric bike is relatively less.
