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No, I haven’t bought an ebike.
My company is moving to new offices, and trying to encourage people not to drive, but the new site is a bit middle-of-nowhere unless you drive, so the environment group are looking at ways to support cycle commuting.
At present, there are no bike charging facilities, but it’s on the list of things to be looked at.
If you were commuting on an ebike, what would you want in terms of charging options, and are there any safety precautions we should consider, over and above those needed for electric cars…?
The general bike facilities are supposed to be pretty good, with secure storage, showers, drying lockers etc, and the cycle to work scheme includes ebikes, so the question is whether there is anything that is specifically needed for ebike charging.
You typically need a bike specific charger, there are no open standards.
So basically a 13A socket and somewhere secure to store your expensive charger when not in use.
Would need to be sheltered as chargers won't like getting wet either...
I think the only safety precaution is making sure people are charging proper UK compliant e-bikes with the right chargers and batteries, as they’re far far far less likely to catch fire when charging.
My bigger concern as a cyclist would be the security of the storage space.
Also, as above the chargers are bike specific and not cheap - so I can’t see many people keeping a charger at work. It would be a very long commute that requires charging for both legs, so it’s easier to charge at home.
I think your fire officer would be getting a bit twitchy as people can buy a rubbish, so therefore do you only get to charge your bike is its from a recognised brand, and then who decides whats on that list ? Currently there is no one making cars that are a bit dodgy, plenty of e bikes are.
How do you make it secure for someone to charge their ebike given that many you cant take the battery out? + good ebikes (ie ones that wont blow up ) are very expensive bits, what security are you going to have in place.
I'd add that you should probably raise to them that as EV charging has exploded [pardon the pun] in the last X years, so to will electric motorcycles. They again largely should be purely 13a chargers but your facilities team probably won't have thought to make provision for those and it'll be cheaper to do that now than later!
They'll also have the same needs as ebikes such as cover and potentially security (as although notionally the expensive bit i.e. the charger is "locked" in that the connector goes in under the locked seat, it wouldn't take alot to prise that open).
Have a look at green motors London for the wide range available if there's anyone who's needs aren't met by an ebike. I have the Lexmoto LX06 and love it
we are not allowed to charge ebikes at work. Largely due to the recent bad press.
given you can get a couple of hours riding from a charge at least for most ebikes charging at home is easy. and more than an hours commute by bike is tough i`d imagine!
Re the issue of 'dodgy' chargers. Would a PAT test identify those likely to cause a fire risk. Then have a ruling that only chargers passed PAT test can be used. Where I work anything plugged in needs PAT testing regardless of if its company or personal.
Is there a qualified electrician on site who could (maybe with some basic knowledge of e-bikes) check and then grant access to the charging points.
@owenh. It's a bigger issue than that, and I only know as I looked at bodging a backup charger for my electric moped. 🙂 It would have passed a PAT test but would have be wholley inappropriate for the Li-Ion battery as the chargers are very complex things designed specifically to manage the charging of a specific device. I thought that something with the same wattage/ampage would suffice.
I'm not sure there's a way around it as there is always a risk that someone is using the wrong charger for a legitimate UK ebike/emotorbike etc. With cars the risk isn't there as they appear to use the same charging standards such that the facility provides the charger/accountability.
Currently there is no one making cars that are a bit dodgy
Tesla have some oddities going on with software and engineering of things installed where they don't show
There’s a bank of 6 dual bike racks at work, with 12 plug sockets next to them. I assume they are for e-bikes, but not see anyone using them yet, or any restrictions on what can be plugged in…
I think the number of commuters who would need to charge their ebike at work can probably be counted on the fingers of one foot. A solution looking for a problem. Focus on proper storage and showers etc.
My employer is considering charging lockers for ebike batteries - lockers for fire prevention of course, rather than having people use random, untested chargers in an office (and of course variable quality lipo batteries).
Would a PAT test identify those likely to cause a fire risk.
Nope!
All that does is test that the charger is properly earthed etc
What causes the fire is charging cells above their max voltage and / or poorly constructed cells / batteries.
The smarts should be in the battery itself, they should have a protection circuit which monitors the voltage of the cells and cuts off the charging when it's full.
Eg this is a Dyson battery I stripped earlier, the circuit board on top of the cells manages charge / discharge so you can't over discharge the cells or over charge them. It has connections to every cell, so it not only can tell the overall battery charge state, but the state of every cell as well. The Dyson charger brick is just a dumb DC power supply, which has no idea what it's charging.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52685697787_42e83dd8c7_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52685697787_42e83dd8c7_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ogDYpM ]Dyson V8 battery pack internals[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
IS the company prepared to buy the chargers? If the purchase of ebikes is on the cycle-to-work scheme, which has a limited range of dealers, couldn't they specify a choice of bikes and have the chargers for those?
Probably a bit too complicated, but the only way to get around the fire risk and the other issues mentioned.
Been a definite increase in ebikes in my site's bike shed since they upped the Cycle Scheme amount, not heard of anyone requesting to charge their bikes there yet.
We're a bit out of the way too.
I commute via ebike. I don't really have any need to charge at work, even with a smallish 250wh battery I'm good for at least 8 miles each way, on full power constantly.
My main concern is the safety of the bike, as it's so expensive! If we had a locked shed I'd be happier.
I recently came across this setup in a village near Glasgow. I had never seen anything like it before with a range of leads for different ebike batteries. While I don't own an ebike I thought it was quite forward thinking for a small village!
https://www.drymen.org/ebikecharging
given you can get a couple of hours riding from a charge at least for most ebikes charging at home is easy
making it the corporately preferred option that the risks undertaken charging potentially dodgy bikes are undertaken in the employee’s home while they and their family are sleeping
workplaces are far far safer places than our homes in terms of their design, specification and management.
I think if green travel is being encouraged and there are risks , and steps to be taken to manage and mitigate those risks, then providing charging facilities at work in an environment that is managed and spec’d so that it is safe if anything were to go wrong is a better kind of ‘encouragement’ to an out of sight out of mind policy of moving that risk and responsibility onto the employee and their family and neighbours. People can charge their bike at home if they want but if it’s a work initiative then the first and best option should be to be able to charge at work.
I recently came across this setup in a village near Glasgow. I had never seen anything like it before with a range of leads for different ebike batteries. While I don’t own an ebike I thought it was quite forward thinking for a small village!
Saw that when I was staying across the road, but didn't really pay much attention to it. Great idea
Even without the charger that bike tool and pump stand would be worth installing at a company trying to encourage cycling to work
We've got a mix, seen one person charge theirs on a windowsill next to their desk (bit anxious about range I guess, as not exactly a long commute) and a cargo bike in the basement bike shed just locked up and plugged into a convenient 13a socket.
My bigger concern as a cyclist would be the security of the storage space.
+1
Provide secure lockers, forget about charging (potential H&S concern anyway).
Lockers obviously available for leg-powered bikes as well.