How to charge your e-bike

E-bikes are super-popular right now, taking the effort out of pedalling to work or giving you a quick battery-powered boost to help you go further for longer when you run out of steam. Here’s a quick guide designed to make sure you’re charging your e-bike in the correct way.

Get charging

IMPORTANT: only use the charger that has been provided with your e-bike, or a replacement that has come directly from the manufacturer. Using a cheap alternative or non-branded charger poses a potential risk to both yourself and the battery.

If you’ve just bought a new e-bike, you’ll need to give it a full charge before riding. Although it may be tempting to ride it straight away if it has a little bit of juice in the battery, it’s best to give it a full 24 hour charge before taking it out on the road. It won’t take this long every time (3 – 8 hours for a normal charge depending on your e-bike battery capacity), but you won’t run the risk of undercharging by giving it enough time attached to the socket.

How to look after your e-bike battery

Although you’ll be using your e-bike outside, we’d recommend charging it indoors. Water and electricity doesn’t mix well and you could end up reducing the power capacity of the battery by charging in the cold.

If you’re going to be using your e-bike regularly, we’d also recommend not letting the battery charge level go below 25%. It’s best to recharge within 24 hours rather than let the battery run totally flat. If you don’t maintain your e-bike’s charge level, you could end up affecting your e-bike warranty.

How to store you e-bike battery when not in use

Grab your bike pump and slightly inflate your inner tube before sliding it back in between the tyre and the wheel. Remember to feed the inner tube valve through the valve hole on the wheel and make sure you tyre is pointing the right way (there’s a handy arrow to help with that!). Line up the beading on the wheel and on the tyre, using the tyre levers if things get tight. Once everything is lined up, use your bike pump to inflate the entire tyre to the PSI (pounds per square inch) number that is specified on the tyre wall. Don’t forget to replace the valve cap to keep any dirt and grime out, reattach the wheel, and you’re good to go!

Finally, remember to leave the battery for 10-15 minutes after charging before refitting it to your bike.

If you have any e-bike questions or want to find out more about charging your e-bike battery, then call into a local Halfords store and one of our bike experts will be able to help!

Check out our full e-bike range