Ebikes and the Crux of Charging on the Go. Charging Station? Charger? Two Batteries?

Being on the road with an ebike is a lot of fun. If only you didn’t have to worry about the battery every now and then. How far can I go with the current charge? Where is the best place to recharge it? Nowadays, there are many different answers to these questions. It usually depends on where you are, what the purpose of your ride is and how far away your destination is. We present the most common charging options.

1. Find a charging station via app
2. Charging the ebike battery at a petrol station
3. Charging the ebike battery with a charger
4. Alternative second battery
5. Special case: Bosch with DualBattery
6. Range extender: small solution for on the go
7. Larger batteries, minor worries
8. More uniformity thanks to Charge2Bike?
9. Recuperation: ride and charge at the same time

1. Find a charging station via app

The only place more convenient than a well-maintained charging station for charging your ebike is probably at home. No charger, just a suitable charging cable or adapter – that’s all you need. These charging stations can be found in tourist regions as well as in urban areas at central locations such as train stations, bus stations, shopping centres and some public facilities. In areas where many people spend their holidays, restaurants, hotels or museums are the places to go. The charging stations have been set up by a wide variety of providers. To be on the safe side, it is therefore advisable to keep the charging cable for your ebike handy. You cannot rely on the cable and connection socket of the charging station being compatible with your bike’s ebike system.

Using popular internet services such as Google Maps, you can display charging stations on your smartphone. Special apps are even more convenient. However, these usually have a serious disadvantage. They only show you the charging stations that have been actively registered in the app. In most cases, there are several more charging stations outside of these apps. Using several apps increases the chances of finding one nearby. Here are three exemplary apps:

E-Station

• Initiator: Jan Kassner
• Use: free, additional functions available for a fee
• Charging stations listed: currently approx. 12,000
• Special feature: users can independently register charging stations that have not yet been listed
• Operating systems: iOS, Android

Bike Energy

• Initiator: MEGAtimer GmbH – bike-energy
• Use: free
• Charging stations listed: currently approx. 10,000, mainly in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France
• Special feature: special charging cable required, available to rent and purchase from the Bike Energy shop
• Operating systems: iOS, Android

Lade.Station

• Initiator: Internetstores.com
• Use: discontinued
• Charging stations listed: none, previously mainly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Special feature: disappeared from the usual app stores with the insolvency of operator Internetstores.com at the beginning of 2024
• Operating systems: iOS, Android

As an alternative to the apps mentioned above, you can use apps to display charging stations for electric cars. These often allow you to filter the search results by ‘earthed socket’. However, in addition to the charging cable, you will also need the charger at these charging stations.

2. Charging the ebike battery at a petrol station

Depending on where you are, you are more likely to find a petrol station than a charging station for your battery using an app. If you ask politely for permission to charge your battery, you will rarely be refused. And if you order something to drink or eat while you wait, you might even get the electricity for free. Of course, this only works if you have again your charger and charging cable with you.

3. Charging the ebike battery with a charger

Despite charging stations, the topic of chargers quickly comes up when discussing charging ebikes on the go. Carrying one with you allows you to react flexibly to different situations. Until recently, there were several categories of chargers:

• Fast charger = charger for particularly fast charging
• Travel charger = lighter, less powerful charger for on the go
• Standard charger = charger for everyday use

Today, the situation is much clearer. For many ebike systems from Bosch, Shimano, Mahle, Fazua, TQ, Brose, Pinion and others, only one or at most two chargers are now available. Their charging current is often between two and four amps. The previous variety had very practical reasons. Very few people were willing to carry a device such as the Bosch fast charger for older versions of Performance Line and Bosch Active Line on their tours, which weighs one kilogram. Thanks to continuous development, this wide range is no longer necessary. Chargers now weigh several grams less than they did five or ten years ago. This basically makes a special travel charger superfluous.

Weight of selected current chargers:

• Amflow 12A charger for DJI Avinox – approx. 950 g
• Bosch 2A charger for Smart System – 525 g
• Bosch 4A charger for Smart System – 700 g
• Fazua Ride 60 3A charger – approx. 800 g
• Orbea RS Smart Charger Gen2 2A-4A charger – 550 g
• Sram Eagle Powertrain 4A charger – approx. 750 g
• TQ 4A charger – approx. 700 g

Whether you prefer to have a charger with you when you’re on the go probably depends on the ratio between effort and benefit. To better assess this, answer the following questions:

• How much extra weight does the charger add?
• How easy is it to store when riding?
• What is the charging capacity of the device?
• How quickly can it charge 50 per cent, 80 per cent or 100 per cent of the ebike battery?

Fast charging technology for ebikes

Amflow has brought new momentum to this debate with its charger for the DJI Avinox. It rightly bears the name ‘fast charger’. This type of charger is by no means new. A wide variety of electrically powered devices, from smartphones to electric cars, use some form of fast charging technology. It is now gradually finding its way into the field of ebike chargers.

Amflow, for example, uses a GaN fast charging connection. GaN stand for gallium nitride, a crystalline semiconductor material. It is increasingly found in power supplies and chargers, where it is replacing silicon. Gallium nitride conducts electricity very well and can withstand high temperatures, which increases the service life of the device in question. In practice, this means that an Amflow charger is only slightly larger and around 250 grams heavier than a Bosch 4A charger for the Smart System. At the same time, it charges an 800 watt-hour battery around three times faster than its Bosch counterpart.

4. Alternative second battery

Admittedly, the DJI charger is incredibly fast. However, you can be even faster by simply swapping the original battery for a second battery when you are on the go. Depending on how you remove the battery, this may take two minutes, and then you can keep riding.

The disadvantage of this solution is, understandably, the extra weight while riding. After all, a battery weighs more than a charger. However, no one says you have to use the same battery you remove from your ebike. Bosch, for example, offers an adapter for some of its intube batteries. With this adapter, you can swap a PowerTube 750 for a PowerTube 500, which is around 1.3 kilograms lighter. Or you can replace a PowerTube 750 with a PowerTube 625. Or a PowerTube 625 with a PowerTube 500.

Until you switch, the second battery can be stored in your panniers. A good bike backpack will do the trick as well. A space-saving frame bag can also prove extremely practical. It hangs directly on the top tube, so you have the second battery handy when you’re on the go and don’t lose valuable storage space in your backpack or panniers.

5. Special case: Bosch with DualBattery

If you want to use two batteries, it makes sense to mount them in or on the frame from the outset. Anyone who rides an ebike powered by Bosch can theoretically use the Bosch DualBattery option. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, Bosch DualBattery allows two batteries to be used simultaneously, doubling the range or even increasing it even further. An intube battery is often combined with a frame battery or a luggage rack battery. The ebike system alternates between the two batteries, discharging them as gently as possible. However, not every ebike is approved by the respective manufacturer for use with Bosch DualBattery. In addition, certain Bosch Smart System batteries can only be used in combination with the Bosch PowerMore 250 range extender.

Anyone who has used DualBattery once will in many cases not want to go back to the single battery version. The increased range opens up unforeseen freedoms and makes the fear of suddenly running out of electric assistance a thing of the past. Especially since it is still possible to ride the ebike with just the main battery at any time.

6. Range extender: small solution for on the go

Virtually every self-respecting manufacturer of electric drives now has a range extender in its range. Basically, this is a modified form of the DualBattery variant. However, the second battery has been deliberately designed with a lower capacity. This means that less additional range can be generated. On the other hand, the battery shrinks to a size similar to a conventional water bottle and can therefore be added to the ebike system and frame with little effort. In the end, between a third and even half of the original range can be added, depending on the drive and the size of the standard battery. Similar to the DualBattery, a range extender can be used, but does not have to be.

7. Larger batteries, minor worries

Thanks to continuously increasing battery capacities, more sophisticated battery management systems and more modern battery cells, charging your ebike on the go has fortunately become less of an issue. Capacities of 800 watt hours and more are no longer a rarity. This is especially true when we take a look at speed pedelecs. Batteries from Swiss manufacturers Opium and Stromer achieve capacities of more than 1,500 watt hours. In addition, other types of battery cells are being used. The long-used 18650 cells are now widely considered to be fully developed. Many system providers and battery manufacturers are currently working with 21700 cells.

8. More uniformity thanks to Charge2Bike?

Despite more durable battery solutions and the simultaneous use of two batteries, charging ebikes on the go will remain an issue in the future. Currently, almost every system manufacturer uses its own charging connector. This is not only met with incomprehension by many ebike riders, but also makes it difficult to establish a uniform and therefore easily accessible charging infrastructure. Initiatives such as the CHAdeMO consortium aim to remedy this situation. The idea is that if charging options for ebikes are based on standardised cables and connectors, everyone can leave their private charger at home without worrying.

CHAdeMO’s approach to charging ebikes is called Charge2Bike. This charging solution, designed as a cross-manufacturer industry standard, is supported by international bicycle and ebike manufacturers and the German Bicycle Industry Association (ZIV). The aim is to convert it into an international ISO or IEC standard after its final publication.

Charge2Bike from CHAdeMO will enable a maximum charging voltage of 60 volts in future. This would be suitable for batteries with a maximum nominal voltage of 50.4 volts. As a result, a maximum charging current of 20 amps could be generated. If you compare this to the charging currents of today’s chargers, you can see what an enormous step forward this would be. However, the system must first be certified and the appropriate charging infrastructure must be developed. Claus Fleischer, Managing Director of Bosch eBike Systems, believes this is possible in the foreseeable future. In September 2024, he said: ‘We are convinced that in five years’ time, ebikes with ABS, eShift, the eBike Flow app and an infrastructure with Charge2Bike will be standard in rental services.’ Let’s see what becomes of this prediction.

9. Recuperation: ride and charge at the same time

Charging your ebike on the go would be completely unnecessary if the battery could recharge itself while riding. Some ebike drives, such as those from Cixi or Opium, make this possible. The principle behind this is called recuperation. It ensures that a moving ebike recovers some of the energy generated during riding. This energy is then fed back into the battery. Depending on the system, this happens when pedalling, braking or riding in neutral, for example during a descent. This can significantly extend the range. According to the French manufacturer Cixi, the current version of its PERS drive already achieves energy gains of up to 20 percent.

Other manufacturers such as Anod and Pi-Pop combine recuperation with supercapacitors and dispense with a battery, either partially or completely. These approaches are far from exhausted. It is quite conceivable that in the medium term we will see ebikes in certain niches that hardly ever need to be plugged in. However, the battery and the question of the most ingenious solution for charging on the go will certainly remain with us for a few more years.

Products mentioned in the article

Pictures: Bergamont Fahrrad Vertrieb GmbH; bike-energy; Biketec GmbH; CHAdeMO Association; Cixi; Elektrofahrrad24; Focus Bikes; Giant Deutschland GmbH; KTM Fahrrad GmbH; Mahle Smartbike Systems; Orbea S. Coop. N.I.F.; RTi Sports GmbH; SRAM Deutschland GmbH; TQ-Systems GmbH; Trek Bicycle Corporation; Winora-Staiger GmbH