Electric Bicycle under $300 at Costco

On Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 5:26:20 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 6 Oct 2020 14:37:26 -0700, sms
wrote:
On 10/6/2020 1:22 PM, AK wrote:

snip

Many of those cordless drills have batteries that can be rebuilt.

They contain 18650 LiIon batteries.

Andy


And of course for the name-brand Li-Ion battery powered tools, they use
a removable proprietary battery which is not outrageously expensive.
Even those packs can be rebuilt, though it's probably not worth the
trouble considering the cost of buying small quantities of high-quality
18650 cells.

The bottom line is that, for now, the eBike makers are using 18650 cells
inside whatever proprietary plastic enclosure they choose. You can buy
18650 cells and build or buy a simple spot welder to connect the cells
together. But a typical 13s4p 48V battery pack takes 52 18650 cells. At
$4 each for 3000mAH cells, you're already at $208 just for batteries,
and probably 8 hours of labor.
Well... maybe so and maybe no. Over the years I've read innumerable
complaints, on this site, about how to fix, what is in most cases, a
very simple mechanical device with, perhaps one or two moving parts.
and you expect those simple souls to bust open a battery pack and
unsolder and re solder a large number of battery cells? Successfully?
What has happened to you John? You used to go along with nutcakes telling you that the world is different than it is.

On 10/6/2020 5:26 PM, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 6 Oct 2020 14:37:26 -0700, sms
wrote:

On 10/6/2020 1:22 PM, AK wrote:

snip

Many of those cordless drills have batteries that can be rebuilt.

They contain 18650 LiIon batteries.

Andy


And of course for the name-brand Li-Ion battery powered tools, they use
a removable proprietary battery which is not outrageously expensive.
Even those packs can be rebuilt, though it's probably not worth the
trouble considering the cost of buying small quantities of high-quality
18650 cells.

The bottom line is that, for now, the eBike makers are using 18650 cells
inside whatever proprietary plastic enclosure they choose. You can buy
18650 cells and build or buy a simple spot welder to connect the cells
together. But a typical 13s4p 48V battery pack takes 52 18650 cells. At
$4 each for 3000mAH cells, you're already at $208 just for batteries,
and probably 8 hours of labor.

Well... maybe so and maybe no. Over the years I've read innumerable
complaints, on this site, about how to fix, what is in most cases, a
very simple mechanical device with, perhaps one or two moving parts.
and you expect those simple souls to bust open a battery pack and
unsolder and re solder a large number of battery cells? Successfully?

True, but there are already battery pack rebuilding services for eBike
battery packs https://ebikemarketplace.com/pages/rebuild.

On Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 8:29:52 AM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 10/6/2020 5:26 PM, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 6 Oct 2020 14:37:26 -0700, sms
wrote:

On 10/6/2020 1:22 PM, AK wrote:

snip

Many of those cordless drills have batteries that can be rebuilt.

They contain 18650 LiIon batteries.

Andy


And of course for the name-brand Li-Ion battery powered tools, they use
a removable proprietary battery which is not outrageously expensive.
Even those packs can be rebuilt, though it's probably not worth the
trouble considering the cost of buying small quantities of high-quality
18650 cells.

The bottom line is that, for now, the eBike makers are using 18650 cells
inside whatever proprietary plastic enclosure they choose. You can buy
18650 cells and build or buy a simple spot welder to connect the cells
together. But a typical 13s4p 48V battery pack takes 52 18650 cells. At
$4 each for 3000mAH cells, you're already at $208 just for batteries,
and probably 8 hours of labor.

Well... maybe so and maybe no. Over the years I've read innumerable
complaints, on this site, about how to fix, what is in most cases, a
very simple mechanical device with, perhaps one or two moving parts.
and you expect those simple souls to bust open a battery pack and
unsolder and re solder a large number of battery cells? Successfully?

True, but there are already battery pack rebuilding services for eBike
battery packs https://ebikemarketplace.com/pages/rebuild.

Which was my point, too. Where there is a need, there is usually someone to fill it. I don't count on any company supporting anything for a lifetime. The way to profitability is to not keep oodles of old inventory in a warehouse. You let third-parties do that, like the old Loose Screws guys. Like I said, I got a new motor for my 1950s Electrolux canister vacuum cleaner from India. I had to source a tiny plastic internal cable guide for a RS685 hydro lever from a shop in England. And then you get into products where OE or repro parts are expensive, and the product has moved on -- like my first generation Makita portable electric drill. Even on its best day, it didn't have as much torque or run time as a modern, lighter weight Li-on drill that sells at Costco for the price of a NOS NiMH (or whatever it was) battery.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Wed, 07 Oct 2020 07:26:09 +0700, John B. wrote:


Well... maybe so and maybe no. Over the years I've read innumerable
complaints, on this site, about how to fix, what is in most cases, a
very simple mechanical device with, perhaps one or two moving parts. and
you expect those simple souls to bust open a battery pack and unsolder
and re solder a large number of battery cells? Successfully?

Unfortunately, these days those "simple battery packs" are no longer
soldered, but spot welded with shorter tabs.

On 10/8/2020 3:55 PM, news18 wrote:
On Wed, 07 Oct 2020 07:26:09 +0700, John B. wrote:


Well... maybe so and maybe no. Over the years I've read innumerable
complaints, on this site, about how to fix, what is in most cases, a
very simple mechanical device with, perhaps one or two moving parts. and
you expect those simple souls to bust open a battery pack and unsolder
and re solder a large number of battery cells? Successfully?

Unfortunately, these days those "simple battery packs" are no longer
soldered, but spot welded with shorter tabs.


True. Fortunately, there are DIY and inexpensive spot welders
specifically for batteries.