Excellent article.
the e-bike industry has remained stuck in a sprawling mess of incompatible barrel plugs, XLR jacks, Rosenberger magnets, proprietary magnetic ports, and other one-off connectors that no two companies seem to agree on
Brussels needs to step in.
That is a crazy fact. As the article highlights USB-C can do 240W!
Even though I think it would be better, unless they are forced by laws it’s simply cheaper and simpler to have a standard DC barrel and PSU than support USB C and risk having unhappy customers because they’re not using a proper 240w cable or charger.
I think everything should just go to 3 pin XLR. Durable, future proof, only plugs in one way, repairable. It also doesn’t seem to get clapped out from use.
Why is it a benefit that it only plugs in one way??
It’s keyed, so you can feel it even when not looking at it. But it’s also large enough that you can find the plug easily (eg, in a dark garage)
My Levo has the Rosenberg magnet. I like it a lot. Never have issues.
Ueah … Why is it such a cluster fuck…looking at my Giant.
No one takes ebikes seriously i guess. Then we have e-motorbikes and escooters all as fucked up.
Escooters and ebikes can surley standardise
USB as a backup but maybe not as “the standard” ? Being anbe to deliver 750-1000w is a convienent thing
I suppose with USB-C, you could flip it around and use the bike battery as a giant power bank you can plug your laptop or whatever into?
Some e-bikes already have USB outputs. Maybe not laptop-capable yet, though.
Yeah mine does, but it’s a USB-A. Not sure of its max output, but it’s rather limited compared to what USB-C could theoretically give you.
I can do that with one of my lawnmower batteries. It doesn’t charge via USB C, but it does have a USB port and can function as a battery bank.
Many do. Mine doesn’t and I’m pissed about that because using GPS for hours really drains mobile batteries. I even considered hotwiring a USB port onto my bike battery but thought better of it and bought a powerbank instead. Very dumb and irritating situation.
I’m so annoyed that I cannot use my 625Wh Bosch battery as a power bank for festivals. But it’s proprietary (both hardware and software) and Bosch doesn’t sell an adapter for that (because they hate money or something)
I’m surprised any exist, to be honest. I thought e-bikes would charge at 500 - 1000 W.
That’s a bit of an insane power draw. Most draw under 300W I’m pretty sure. The capacity of the batteries isn’t that big, mine is 500Wh
I just checked my charger (a Bosch one that is widely used in Germany) and that one delivers 4A at 36V, so 144W.
Ah okay sorry, I way overestimated their size. At work we use big batteries around 5000Wh, so I guess I should have cut down my expectation more. Makes sense actually when I think about the weight of the rack mounted ones.
Not sure why it matters? It’s not like there are a bunch of general-purpose e-bike charging stations out there?
You can get adapters for J1772 EVSE chargers. And charge a eBike through that way.
It depends where you are. I think the Netherlands has a lot of ‘ecotap’ charging points. In the UK, e-bike chargers are proposed for travel hubs. At the moment, most seem to be simple mains sockets, but it’d be nice not to need to carry a charger around.
I expect if more bikes charged via USB-C more people would be trying to charge them via phone chargers and wondering why they or slow.
And would these e-bike chargers be able to safely charge a phone which needs less power? Because people would try that, too.
The magic of PD is yes, the big charger could safely charge the device that needs less power.
You’re right about slow charging from a tiny charger to the bike though. Some people surely wouldn’t think that part through.
Though maybe the bike could detect the slow charging case and put a message on the screen.
Partial discharge? Is it something active about usb that lets the thing being charged dictate the power? Like they’re in digital communication via usb? Or just physics?
Power delivery. If both the charger and device implement it according to the spec they indeed negotiate the voltage and amperage they will deliver. However not all chargers (properly) implement the spec
So is it generally more expensive brand name ones do stick to the spec, or not as simple as that? I’ve been often using my 65W laptop supply to charge my phone, earbuds, whatever. But it’s not OEM, so now I’m wondering…
It depends. Nintendo for example notoriously doesn’t follow the spec, and some budget laptop oem chargers don’t support all the voltages either
Both bikes are far from perfect though. Rivian decided to make a decoupled generator drive, where inefficient pedaling is meant for just simplified speed control, but is primarily for its very large cargo “van” replacement. Ampera has non removable battery.
I agree that this is an ideal connector including having multiple bidirectional ports that turn ebike batteries into minimalist power stations compatible with other power stations, and can get powerful aftermarket chargers for multiple batteries. You already want at least 1 extra battery to have one fully charged for any normal day. More that serve emergency power requirements, or to bring along for very long trips (though 2 with fast charging can work fine), is big extra ebike convenience.
I expect that it should only be a matter of time before the ICs used for USB C charging in laptops will make their way into the cost-optimized ebike market. In the domain of market scaling, I’ve written before that Apple can’t add massive image sensors to the iPhone until such technology reaches suitable scale, which they almost certainly are working on.
So too would ebike manufacturers and chipmakers be following the productization of high-end USB C powered laptops, since entry-level buyers might not want to pay (yet) the premium for USB C charging, while a business or high-end buyer would value the unified connector as a benefit. The “return to office” trend also means that businesses are outfitting desks with single-cable docks, which almost always use USB C to charge and for data. The demand clearly exists for higher end machines.
From there, chipmakers of power management controllers (PMCs) would be able to scale up their manufacturing, as well as introduce all-in-one chips that manage the charging and health of li-ion batteries, and maybe even include a microcontroller and other system-on-chip features.
These PMCs need to prove their worth in the market, before manufacturers of ebikes will consider committing to them for their future models. After all, no manufacturer wants to bet the farm on an unknown, unless they themselves are the ones developing that technology (ie Apple). But once we reach the point that these chips are everywhere and have sufficient features to comfortably charge an ebike, then the flood would begin.
Consumer demand for “USB C on everything” is already present, and it only takes a few manufacturers to start offering it at low/no cost premium, which would then instigate a race towards becoming a de facto standard feature.
I grant you that it’s a bit weird to think of USB C charging as some sort of cutting edge technology that follows an early-adopter pace of acceleration, but charging circuitry isn’t exactly easy to build. Just look at how Gallium Nitride (GaN) chargers still command a premium, because they’re smaller and more efficient than conventional silicon-based chargers.
