Ebike battery replacement

Whole new area this one. Ebike batteries, in this case a Spec Levo. Are they rebuildable and if so is the an established company that will make something that won’t burn the world down? Don’t need one yet but am contemplating buying such a bike from a mate and I assume that the batteries won’t last as long as the rest of the bike.

2018 0r 19 bike. Range extender added at 600 quid from new, new motor spring 23 then almost immediately replaced with a new bike in a deal not to be missed. Mechanically spot on. More bike than I’ll ever need (but then so is my Scandal)  but it is a cheap way to get something to ride with the wife on her ebike . Worth £1500 ish?

Rebuilds seem to cost nearly the price of a new one.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sebikes/permalink/3832287197028642/?

Hopefully a link to a reference to liofit.

I was looking for a battery builder a while ago,there are quite a lot about but as I understand it, the big boys, tend to build in “proprietariness”, into the batteries but I found liofit, after seeing your post I rechecked and found what appears to be good news on arsebook.

Akku Übersicht

The batteries are probably the most reliable part of the system. They will lose capacity over time but the Specialized app will give you an idea of the battery health and the nunber of charge cycles etc.

If I was buying a second hand ebike, I’d look more at what a new motor would cost before I thought about battery replacement. The motor is more likely to fail than the battery.

Even if the battery was in poor health, you’d still be able to ride it, just with reduced range as the capacity drops off. When the motor fails, it’s dead until you replace it.

What you’re looking at may be quite old now but that’s a lot of bike (and fun) for £1500. Unless the app reports the battery is knackered, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Even if it did fail, you’d probably make most of the money back if you broke the bike for parts.

I opened up a 2017 Levo battery a while back to drain some water out and re-seal the thing. It’s basically a shedload of laptop lithium ion cells soldered together plus a bespoke circuit board and connector housed in Specialized’s bespoke casing which is sealed with a rubber gasket along the longitudinal join plus o-ring-type seals for individual screws . In my case, draining and drying the battery revived it, but as long as the circuit-board is working, I can’t see any reason why a competent specialist shouldn’t simply replace all the individual cells to give you, effectively, a new battery.

Whether there’s a sufficient market to make that a worthwhile commercial exercise is another thing, but given that new Specialized batteries for the latest models retail for north of £1k there’s obviously potential. I suspect the real issue here is whether, after two or three years of use, people consider it worth spending a big wad of cash on replacing/refurbishing a battery, without which the rest of the bike is more or less useless. Used versions of the 2017 bike I have go for around £2k, so I suspect that spending, say, £700 on a new battery plus whatever else on the bike needs sorting – potentially the motor for similar dosh – and ending up with a (theoretically) outmoded albeit fully functional bike as a result has limited appeal unless you’re prioritising sustainability.

 I assume that the batteries won’t last as long as the rest of the bike.

Depending on how it’s been used / maintained, the battery could potentially last longer than a lot of it, notably the motor. The Specialized app will tell you how many recharge cycles it’s had and give you a ‘battery health’ score, which I think is basically how it’s capacity compares to new spec. Ideally it’ll have been stored with charge level around 70% for optimum battery health apparently. But basically it depends.

Some of the earlier ones leaked into the battery from around the control panel on the side, but that won’t apply to 2018/19 models I think. If I were you I’d have a look at the battery health, number of charge cycles on the Specialized app along with overall mileage and see how things look with that.

Bear in mind that the motors are rebuildable with upgraded seals at a reasonable cost by the guys at ebike motor centre: https://www.ebikemotorcentre.com I used them to overhaul and upgrade my motor – actual seals instead of nothing, heavy duty bearings etc, and they were great. Have a listen to the motor for graunchings, knockings, rumblings etc. The Brose motor is generally pretty quiet, so if it’s knocking, screeching etc, it’s a bit of a red flag and you’re maybe looking at £200 – £300 r so to fix it. Once done, it should be better than new given that Brose sealing wasn’t great back then.

Very much not an expert, but that’s my personal experience. I really hope older emtbs aren’t going to simply become something that gets thrown away / broken down so people can buy yet another one and repeat. It feels like electric cars on a smaller scale 🙁

The bike you mention sounds like mine. A 2019 Gen 2 with a 2023 warranty replacement motor. My original battery still has 100% health and functions just fine. I got 45km and ~1500m climbing from it at BPW (self-uplifting). I bought a spare on ebay for ~£300ish that had 11 charge cycles for big days out. The main issue being that the levo battery isn’t conducive to fitting in a back pack.

If I saw a similar bike in small I’d get one for my missus.

The motor is more likely to fail than the battery.

I’ve an SL – had 2 replacement motors, 1 replacement battery and 1 replacement extender.

My Levo is 5 years old now, still on the original battery and showing 98% health in the Spesh app, Spesh gen2 batteries do tend to last

2nd hand and even new batteries will be around for quite a while as the same battery is used from the 2019 Levo to the current one

Motors do break and can cost £800 to replace when out of warranty but they also can be repaired

Just had mine sorted by Performance Bearings, they fitted a new belt, replaced the bearings, sonic cleaned everything, added more layers of sealing, all for £283 inc return postage

That’s all its needed in 5 years of ownership, if it lasts another 2 years then ill be happy

Cheers, happy with the motor as I know when it was replaced. Somewhat surprised with mileage as stated although that fits in with the owners figures. The wife hard tail gives 70ish miles  ridden on full power virtually all the time although thinking about it it may have bigger battery. I’ll have a good look tomorrow, Cheers all.

“The wife hard tail gives 70ish miles ridden on full power virtually all the time although thinking about it it may have bigger battery.”

Distance is a terrible measure of battery energy capacity. The height climbed and the weight of the rider matters far more.

I haven’t checked my Levo’s battery health in a while but it’s not bad at all considering its age and usage. At the moment I’m having to ride it on my commute without a battery because they’ve been banned in our work building!