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I bought an e-bike some years ago, loved it completely, but the battery promptly failed. The company that sold the bike (SF startup faraday) promptly went out

I bought an e-bike some years ago, loved it completely, but the battery promptly failed. The company that sold the bike (SF startup faraday) promptly went out of business. — I want so much to hop back in the saddle… but I’m thinking about e-waste. And feeling pretty shy about the whole thing.

jeffbee 3y ago
So buy an ebike from a bike company instead of some VC crap. Bonus: less likely to burst into flames.
- schaefer 3y ago
  If you really start looking for companies that pledge to support battery replacements for 5 or 10 years after initial sale… well, I haven’t found any. Meanwhile, my 20 year old manual bike is still good as new. Or go looking for a company that will take an old e-bike and recycle it upon purchase of a new bike, I’m not finding that either. So it’s easy to be flippant, but if you have concrete links to either of the above, that would be far more useful.
  - midoridensha 3y ago
    >If you really start looking for companies that pledge to support battery replacements for 5 or 10 years after initial sale… well, I haven’t found any. Have you looked at Panasonic?
    - jeffbee 3y ago
      Also Yamaha.
      - schaefer 3y ago
        The three year warranty at Yamaha is way better than the deal I walked into last time around. They’re on my radar now for sure. Thank you.
        jeffbee 3y ago
        Hail Japan.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
Too bad. Someone comfortable tinkering could replace the battery and get it back on the road.
paulgb 3y ago
If there is ever a national subsidy for e-bikes (I’m in favor of it), it would be a lost opportunity not to use it to create a battery standard to reduce e-waste.
Jenda_ 3y ago
The batteries can usually be refurbished (if the BMS is not too clever / requiring special software to setup), and maybe only one or two cells of the whole pack have failed - this would mean replacing only these and thus low waste.

jeffbee 3y ago

So buy an ebike from a bike company instead of some VC crap. Bonus: less likely to burst into flames.

schaefer 3y ago
If you really start looking for companies that pledge to support battery replacements for 5 or 10 years after initial sale… well, I haven’t found any. Meanwhile, my 20 year old manual bike is still good as new. Or go looking for a company that will take an old e-bike and recycle it upon purchase of a new bike, I’m not finding that either. So it’s easy to be flippant, but if you have concrete links to either of the above, that would be far more useful.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  >If you really start looking for companies that pledge to support battery replacements for 5 or 10 years after initial sale… well, I haven’t found any. Have you looked at Panasonic?
  - jeffbee 3y ago
    Also Yamaha.
    - schaefer 3y ago
      The three year warranty at Yamaha is way better than the deal I walked into last time around. They’re on my radar now for sure. Thank you.
      - jeffbee 3y ago
        Hail Japan.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

Too bad. Someone comfortable tinkering could replace the battery and get it back on the road.

paulgb 3y ago

If there is ever a national subsidy for e-bikes (I’m in favor of it), it would be a lost opportunity not to use it to create a battery standard to reduce e-waste.

Jenda_ 3y ago

The batteries can usually be refurbished (if the BMS is not too clever / requiring special software to setup), and maybe only one or two cells of the whole pack have failed - this would mean replacing only these and thus low waste.