Help re life of Electric Bike battery

[furndire]

Almost 2 years ago, we bought a pair of Electric Bikes. They have Lithium Batteries which had on the back of the booklet they have a warranty of 1yr, but 1000 charges. One of the batteries is fine, but the other one barely keeps a charge and drops out quite quickly - they are supposed to go from 4, 3 2 & finally one. Where I bought them from has been on to the importer, who says the battery is out of warranty & therefore they are not liable - a new battery is £300 + so not a cheap item to replace. I have just contacted the importer who again says out of warranty - but take it over & they will test them. My point is that I would have had to have charged the batteries approx 4 times every week since new - certainly have not (bear in mind the other bike one is still ok) - any thoughts on how to proceed with this if they do not want to replace.

[freakyleaky]

It is the responsibility of the retailer to honour any guarantee. Have a read of the SOGA guide HERE.

I have moved your thread to the retail forum where you will get the best help.

[MaxxPower]

Someone may have more information on this, but the problem with batteries is that they're a 'consumable item', so you may have to have a qualified engineer examine the battery to determine that the failure is indeed down to a manufacturing defect and not simple wear and tear. I'm no engineer, but I'm not sure that would be entirely easy to prove with a battery.

[dx100uk]

IMHO impossible to prove.

 

when the battery is charged or the bike not being used, have you left it on charge or disconnect once charged?

 

i'e have your ever just left the thing connected to the charger for weeks?

 

has the bike ever been left for a long period of time flat

and

is the use of the 2 bikes comparable

 

dx

[furndire]

Never been left flat or over charged.

 

The bikes have been used more or less the same

- we tend to use them more when travelling in camper.

 

We ran them both down, charged both again the other day,

went for bike ride & both going along fine down to 3 power, & the other just dropped straight down - no warning.

 

I tried the seller - although tried to be helpful, he just said he couldn't do anything, as they said out of warranty.

[dx100uk]

ok just asking as its my field of 35yrs.

 

ok the seller IS YOUR TARGET.

 

under SOGA.

 

warranty MEANS NOTHING

 

and is in ADDITION to your statutory rights under SOGA.

 

as a side note.

 

i have quite sucessfully replaced these supposed £300 batteries with much much cheaper ones [though of the same Ah]

with no issus.

its just fitting them in the 'box' that is sometims the issue

 

but i think you need to nail the SELLER first

 

dx

[furndire]

I thought that was what I was going to have to do.

 

Thats interesting re replacing batteries - have you got an address please - I know that we will have to replace them at some time in the future.

[dx100uk]

get you current issue sorted

then we'll have an exchange of ideas

 

all depends on the unit

if the batteries are in moulded block or not.

 

[many are laptop batteries!!]

 

dx

[furndire]

Got back to the seller & we have come to a compromise - a very nice guy - small company - its opened his eyes to the suppliers of Batribike or Fallowgate Limited.

 

I could have probably gone further with this via small claims etc, but honestly could not deal with the feelings of stress that came with it. (brought back reminders of stress from 5 years ago). I wish that things like this didn't affect me so much. I have to start to let things go even though they xxxx me off otherwise I start to shake & my blood pressure goes sky high.

 

They sell at shows in their own right as a trader - I just hope someone can nail them sometime re the warranty up to 1000 charges. After reading on They are certainly not helping their dealers.

 

Unfortunately the battery is a moulded block one, 36v so when my husbands goes, I think we will be stuck with buying from the same place. Hopefully not for a long while as they are quoting £350 for replacement.

Edited August 31, 2012 by furndire

[Bang!]

Are the innards of the battery a collection of '18650' cells, or is it more like a one piece car battery?

[furndire]

Don't know on that one - If I can work out what to do, I will put a photo up later or link to one. Doesn't look like a car battery though.

 

http://www.batribike.com/folding-electric-bikes/quartz/quartz-lcd this is the one