Wish I had kept it. I think it was a Donato Cartoon from a few decades ago but it showed 4 really huge Cops in full riot gear and batons facing a mob of protesters and their Supervisor standing behind the 4 saying:

Don't use your batons to beat the protesters unless they attack you.

The supervisor slaps a sign on the cops back reading: Kick Me

Interesting... so you guyz carry a charger with you eh? I do this also. But it's only been a 24V 2A charger the size of a deck of cards. Small enough power-wise they have no cooling fans/noise. But even with a smaller-ish 240Wh pack the 48W charger has never meant a "fast" charge... Most of the time (charging while working or sleeping) the slow charge rate hasn't mattered, but for opportunity charging it's always meant a long lazy meal/timeout/etc with the Globe & Mail etc... I imagine the stock chargers that come with Velotecs and other scooter-style ebikes are quite large and heavy and still not that "fast" given the larger pack sizes.
LoCk

LoCk, I take my Veloteq charger and an extension cord with me on longer commutes. Most of the time I don't bring it with me, as I'm carrying other things, or will be -- in the case of shopping.

The charger isn't that big or bulky, fits perfectly in the rear cargo trunk, or even in my knapsack. Ironically, what takes the most space is the extension cord (one of those outdoor 100 footer cables you might use if you had an electric lawnmower.)

Despite discussions on this forum, I still haven't been brave enough to just plug into any outlet I find wherever I go. When I take my charger and extension cord, I'm usually going to work or a friend's place, because my friends and colleagues are accepting of this and open to my use of the available power sources.

Charge time isn't any faster on the road than when I charge it at home, still takes at least three hours for the charge indicator to turn green, and that's only when I've been riding for about 30-45-mins. Takes several hours to charge if I've been on the bike longer.

It would be awesome if there was a rapid quick charger for these things. I use Energizer's rechargeable NIMH batteries in all my remote controls, and even my cordless mouse and keyboard at home. They only take on average about 15-minutes to achieve a full charge in the recharger. But then again, these are AAA, and AA sized batteries, quite a size difference to the car-sized battery pack found on my ebike.

Interesting thing, as I type this, I went and fetched an unopened package, so I could get the specs. On the front of the packaging, it says they only last 150 charges -- yet that number doesn't concern me or the millions who do buy these I'm guessing. However, everyone here is concerned with the limit of 300 to 400 charge cycles for an ebike battery.

Again, their is quite the price difference -- a four-pack of the AA batteries is considerably cheaper than one scooter-style ebike battery.

Still, you don't hear many people complain about the 150 charge cycles on these rechargeable batteries, they just accept it and replace the batteries as needed.

As ebikers, we probably have to accept the limitations of the technology, and just purchase new battery packs when our older ones have exceeded their charge cycle life.

Despite discussions on this forum, I still haven't been brave enough to just plug into any outlet I find wherever I go. When I take my charger and extension cord, I'm usually going to work or a friend's place, because my friends and colleagues are accepting of this and open to my use of the available power sources.

I wonder if you are any braver perhaps plugging in a laptop in a coffee shop?

It would be awesome if there was a rapid quick charger for these things. I use Energizer's rechargeable NIMH batteries in all my remote controls, and even my cordless mouse and keyboard at home. They only take on average about 15-minutes to achieve a full charge in the recharger. But then again, these are AAA, and AA sized batteries, quite a size difference to the car-sized battery pack found on my ebike.

Plus NiMH cells ya can't "fast charge" more than 1C rate...

The LiFePO4 cells I have OTOH are spec'ed to accept 5C... so in theory I could recharge my 480Wh pack from completely empty to full in 12 minutes... if I had a 50A charger. This would be a fairly large/heavy charger and would max out the capacity of the standard 120V 20A circuit... and it's just not good EV etiquette to be popping yer hosts circuit breakers

If I wanted to carry around 14lbs of charger I could recharge from 0 to 100% at 25A in about 24 minutes which would be pretty cool. Where I want to get to is to pack swap and be able to "recharge" in under sixty seconds

I believe most SLA specs call for a limit of C/5 or 20% so the folks here with 20Ah packs are probably limited to 4A. Joshua will point out they can be charged at higher rates, but the tradeoff is battery life.

As ebikers, we probably have to accept the limitations of the technology, and just purchase new battery packs when our older ones have exceeded their charge cycle life.

The Mitsubishi i-Miev Li-ion pack is designed to yield as many as 10,000 cycles before dropping to 80% of original capacity. And the battery must be good for 150,000 miles and 10 years to meet California standards... so the tech is "out there"! At 300 cycles a year that'd be... 33 YEARS! Yay!

Just gotta wait for this tech to trickle down to us

LoCk

After getting stuck a couple of times and either pushing the bike back or after this happened deciding it was easier to walk back home, get my regular bike and hump the battery back on my bike in a knapsack so I could charge it; I decided it would be better to have a "plan". So I put a log together and mapped out distances and charging stations along the way. This worked much better. I leave home on a full charge, "top up" at my destination and along the way I feather the throttle to conserve power. I very rarely run out now and if I do I can almost coast the rest of the way.

If your bike is a scooter, then forget all the calculations. Just go for one more battery. It doesn't have to be new or expensive. Even second hand restored battery will add a lot to your mileage justifying the money and extra weight guaranteed.

Maybe call this the fear of getting struck... by DC...
Just that as one moves from 48VDC to 60VDC you are moving to the upper limits of watt is considered "safe" for DC voltage and the human body (the heart, mostly.)

One example, where at 60VDC the European Computer Manufacturers Association makes the distinction between "Ordinary Persons" and "Skilled Persons":
http://www.ecma-inter...

Most of us are familiar with AC as 120VAC household voltages but DC is a bit different. With AC current passes through nul 120 times per second. "Nul" being the point where paralyzed muscles have a chance to let go of "stuff"... With DC there are no "nuls"... yer body is part of the electrical circuit and yer muscles are paralyzed in this process. EVerything depends on how this energy is travelling through your body. Between two fingers is not so bad. Through your chest can be lethal. Other than 120VAC I have only experienced 24VDC and already at this point with uncontrolled amps unleashed metal (battery terminals etc) are melted...

Play safe
LocK