How to charge e-bike battery without charger

There is a bit of a revolution going on. Now I see that people have started taking riding bikes very seriously, but it’s not regular bikes; it’s e-bikes. I ride e-bikes because not only do they save fuel, but they also add more benefits like health, convenience, and portability. They are eco-friendly, too. On top of that, I am also able to travel with my e-bikes to almost all places where other vehicles won’t allow me to travel. Personally, I like the class 1 e-bike because I don’t want to rely upon throttle assist. Apart from this, class 1 e-bikes are allowed on most of the bike trails.

In my area, I am noticing that those not concerned about the health benefits of electric bikes are also using them for regular commuting or to go to work. The reason, I think, may be because it saves fuel and they can save money.

Why Battery is the most important part of any e-bike:

Before proceeding, I want to explain the basic working mechanism of electric bikes so that you can clearly see that your e-bike is highly dependent on your battery.

• In E-bikes, there is a power motor installed which provides torque which further helps you to ride faster and farther in comparison to traditional bicycles with much less effort.
•  The motors installed in your e-bikes need power which comes from the battery. And the battery needs to be charged without charging. Your e-bike will not be able to generate torque and you won’t be able to get a longer distance.

But have you asked yourself what happens if you don’t have a charger with you what will you do? Is it even possible to charge your e-bike battery without carrying a charger?

• Well, the answer is yes! There are a few methods by which you can charge your e-bikes, which I will cover in this article. Depending upon your specific situation some of the methods can be convenient to you some may not. We have tried to pull down the best advice and right information from the e-bikes manufacturing companies.

PLEASE NOTE:

• It is always a good and important way to use your e-bike charger kit to charge your e-bike battery for safe charging. Always try to follow the guidelines provided to you by your e-bike manufacturer. In case you are facing any issues with your charger you must contact your e-bike dealer. Safety should always be the top priority when dealing with electric equipment.
• One bonus tip I would like to share with you all is, please remember that using throttle assist most of the time will eventually reduce the life of your battery and affect your range, so try to use pedal assist most of the time.

Alternative options available for charging the e-bike battery without a charger:

In my case, whenever I go for a longer trip, I need something lightweight and also portable because I do not like to add extra burden. So I started searching for the alternative options available apart from the charger. And after a lot of searching, I found out that there is an alternative option available in the market. Below are the listed alternative options other than your e-bike charger.

1. Charging with the help of Power film Solar Panel:

• After a very long process of researching, I came to know about portable solar panels which are very easy to carry if you are planning for a long trip.
• I purchased it for approx $221.26 having a power of 160 watts. These were in blue-black coloured thin film with amorphous silicon technology. I was pretty surprised with these products because I was even able to charge my e-bike in low light conditions or partially shaded conditions.
• It took me around 4 hours to fully charge my e-bike battery in good lighting conditions.
• One advantage I would like to add is that these are great in tough build quality, so you need not worry on that part. Apart from that I was able to fold it, scrunch it and was able to keep them in my travel bag or into the panniers.
• I was only disappointed with these products because they take up large areas in comparison to mono-crystalline solar panels but they are not foldable and portable.

Please Note:

•  You must purchase a boost controller because you need 700 W hours to charge your battery because power film solar panels produce less wattage.

2. Charging your e-bike via Power bank:

I learned about compatible portable battery packs or power banks because my friend owned a Tenway City commuter e-bike that supports power banks. Tenway manufactures a 180wh power bank under the accessories section, which helps generate extra power and extend range.

I borrowed my friend’s e-bike for a week because I had a plan to travel a long distance and spend some leisure time. My experience with the power bank was that it helped me travel long distances. I was confident that even if the battery backup ran out, I had an extra power bank with which I could charge and return to my home. I find it a very convenient option to charge e-bike batteries if your battery drains out of charge.

Another good alternative that I found other riders were using at the time when I was traveling was that they were carrying the same extra battery pack that was company-fitted on their e-bike. And having a discussion with other riders, they told me that it would be inefficient to use a battery pack to charge a different battery pack because there is always an energy loss when there is the transfer of energy, and you don’t want to compromise with the energy especially when you are out for a longer run.

So I would highly recommend carrying an extra fully charged battery pack so that you can easily swap them when one runs out or you can just wire them in parallel to extend battery life.

Please Note:

• While buying a power bank, please keep in mind that it must have a USB port feature so that you can easily connect the USB port to the battery adapter and charge it fully.
• The disadvantage that I faced was I would not be able to fully charge my e-bike battery.

3. EV Charging Station:

 As the sales of e-bikes are increasing day by day, e-bike companies need to build charging stations for their customers because that also adds up extra good values in after-sales service, the infrastructure for the same is increasing a lot.

After getting my brand new e-bike there was a big question in my mind about the availability of EV stations in my area. After I got confirmation from my e-bike dealer then I became curious to know what is the process to get it charged at EV stations.

Let me share the whole process; it’s very simple :

1. You need to have a J-Connector and a charger with 240v potential, which you can get very easily online.
2. Now install the application Chargepoint. After installation, go to the settings and tap only J connector EV stations in the filter option. This will only show all the EV stations supporting the J-Connector for charging on your phone map.
3. After that just commute to that J connector location showing on your phone map and plug in your J connector with the EV station J connector.
4.  You need to protect your battery, so we use a charger to hook the plug into your e-bike.
5. That’s all you need to do. It’s pretty simple.

4. Charging via Regenerative Braking System(RBS):

However, the e-bike that I owned doesn’t have the feature of a Regenerative braking system because it is a direct-drive motor. One of the major drawbacks of a direct drive motor is that it is heavier than a mid-drive motor, which reduces the actual distance.

• A regenerative braking system is a mechanism by which an electric vehicle battery is recharged by recapturing the energy of the vehicle when brakes are applied.
• The biggest challenge with a direct-drive motor is when your e-bike battery drains out. After that, you need to pedal to reach your home because pedaling is hard. After all, you are moving against the resistance of the motor.
• You can’t use a mid-drive motor to recapture the energy; rather, you should look for a direct-drive motor.
• In the case of a mid-drive motor, because these are freewheel equipped with gears and you are not driving the hub motor, they can’t regenerate electricity, so they are placed on your rear wheel.
• To include RBS features on your e-bike, you need to have a gearless direct-drive motor.
• The last thing is that you need a regenerative controller that has a regenerative option. This controller is different from others. All controllers can’t perform regenerative functions.

I hope this article helped you a lot and solved your problem. If not, leave me a comment below, and I will try to help you fix more issues or provide you with any type of e-bike-related information. Thank you so much for your trust and time; please remember ebikeleague and come back again for any difficulty you face with your electric bike.

WITH LOVE,

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