Help with electrical upgrade for e bike charging

Colstroid

Member
Hi all,

I've got a simple 12V electrical setup in my T6, consisting of a 110AH leisure battery (under drivers seat) and ctek charger. It works fine for running my portable fridge, a few lights and pump.

However, I've just bought an electric mountain bike and would like to charge the bike battery whilst away in the van. I will need an inverter as it uses a 230V charger and potentially a second leisure battery.

The details are as follows

The bike battery is 36V ~ 16.7Ah 625Wh

The 230V charger output is 36V ~ 4A

Based on this I've a few questions

1. What size leisure battery do I require for a couple of days off grid with no solar or hook up and one full charge per day?

2. What size inverter do I need?

3. Is it better/cheaper/easier to buy a portable power station like a jackery?

4. If I add a solar panel what size would be best?

I've done some calculations and my results are below but would really appreciate your thoughts and advice.

Battery 120Ah minimum
Inverter 700W minimum

Thanks!
 
Some makes like Bosch do 12v charger which would be more efficient.
 
If you mean to get two full charges of your bike battery, from flat to full, I would say you need to swap your existing 110Ah for TWO 100Ah lithium batteries.

I guess one bike battery charge will zap about 60Ah from a 12V battery.
 
Hi all,
I've just bought an electric mountain bike and would like to charge the bike battery whilst away in the van.

1. What size leisure battery do I require for a couple of days off grid with no solar or hook up and one full charge per day?

Thanks!
Why not buy another e bike battery for the 2nd day of biking that can be charged at home?
May work out cheaper than new leisure batteries / solar / Jackery / inverter etc.
 
If you mean to get two full charges of your bike battery, from flat to full, I would say you need to swap your existing 110Ah for TWO 100Ah lithium batteries.

I guess one bike battery charge will zap about 60Ah from a 12V battery.
Yeah that seems to be the way to go. Roamer make a 230Ah Lithium that fits under the drivers seat, its £1080 and I'd still need the inverter + solar. Portable power station is around the same price point.
Why not buy another e bike battery for the 2nd day of biking that can be charged at home?
May work out cheaper than new leisure batteries / solar / Jackery / inverter etc.
New battery is around £700 and if I'm away longer than a couple of days I'm back to square one.

I think the best way to go is to buy a 1000Wh portable solar power station for about the same cost. The fact that its portable and can be used for all sorts of applications is a big advantage.

If anyone has a good e-bike charging setup I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for the feedback
 
Yeah that seems to be the way to go. Roamer make a 230Ah Lithium that fits under the drivers seat, its £1080 and I'd still need the inverter + solar. Portable power station is around the same price point.

New battery is around £700 and if I'm away longer than a couple of days I'm back to square one.

I think the best way to go is to buy a 1000Wh portable solar power station for about the same cost. The fact that its portable and can be used for all sorts of applications is a big advantage.

If anyone has a good e-bike charging setup I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for the feedback
I have a similar van setup to you but have a solar panel on the roof. I probably wouldn't need to be off-grid for more than a day or so I was planning to buy a Portable Power Supply with at least one full ebike battery charge in it, previously charged on the mains at home. That's the simple bit. Next, without going on a hook up, trickle charging the PPS using the 12V socket from the leisure battery. I don't know how that will affect the longevity of the battery nor how long it will take but I'm assuming the PPS will disconnect if the leisure battery voltage drops too low. That's the plan but I've still to carry it out. Obviously last resort is hookup or a nice pub...
 
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