Battery Warranty from ElectricRider

Battery warranties are difficult to understand or explain. We are consumers, too, and we depend on warranties to protect us from buying a TV or iPod that quits working 2 weeks after we bought it. We want to make sure everything ElectricRider offers works correctly, performs at least as well as we advertise, and lasts a long time. This is a small industry, and we have a large group of repeat customers we want to keep. At the same time, we don't want to have to raise prices because of a few consumers who mis-use the product. One of the problems with batteries is that  most of us don't know what constitutes mis-use. I want to fully explain this, so I begin with a foundation of knowledge from which we can proceed. Try to stay awake.. this is good stuff:

• A battery is considered worn out when it can only reach 80% of its original capacity when fully charged.

• Volts is a measurement of electrical energy potential. An analogy would be the size of a gas line on a fuel tank. The filler tube is large so you can fill the tank in a hurry (high voltage), but the line that runs to the engine is small (low voltage).

• Amps is a measurement of the amount of current flowing through a circuit. An analogy is the amount of gasoline flowing through a gas line to your engine.

• Amp Hours (AH) relates to the amount of energy a battery can store. An analogy would be the amount of fuel a gas tank can hold. AH ratings are very tricky. Most manufacturers use (for standard batteries) a 20 hour rate where they draw enough current from the battery to make it "dead" in 20 hours. A 12V SLA battery is considered "dead" at 10.2V. Lithium-based battery chemistries are rated differently, and it actually works in favor of Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) use. Since we don't ride a LEV for 20 hours at very low current, for instance, the actual number of AH we get from an SLA battery will not come up to its rated capacity. Lithium comes much closer, and I honestly don't know how they are rated. I do know that our own testing proves the above.

• Watts is a measurement of the total amount of energy being used. Volts(V) times Amps(A) equals Watts(W). A 12V 20A circuit draws 240W (12V x 20A = 240W). A 24V 10A circuit draws the same.

• The true AH capacity of a battery is affected by the amount of current drawn by the load (how much current the power system draws). A Phoenix will wear out a set of SLA batteries faster than a RoadRunner or Sparrow because it draws a lot more current. You can power a Phoenix with NiMH batteries, but they will wear out very quickly - after just a few recharge cycles. That's why we have never offered NiMH batteries. By the time you put enough packs together to produce the current, the size and cost are too high.

• The true AH capacity of a battery is likewise affected by the amount of current "pushed" in to the battery the during recharge cycle. For SLA batteries, it is best to slow charge with an occasional fast charge. The reason SLA batteries wear out is because they eventually collect enough sulfate on their plates that not enough plate material is exposed to the acid to store and deliver electricity. A fast charge encourages the sulfate to break up, exposing the plate so it can interact with the acid.

• Not all brands of batteries with identical ratings will perform equally. We have tested several brands and continue to periodically test different brands, and we offer the ones that perform the best with our LEVs. It can take over two years to test a set of batteries in real-world conditions. The better the battery, the longer it takes to test.

No one can accurately predict the number of recharges you will get from a set of batteries. SLA manufacturers say 300, but that is under their ideal, low current, lab testing conditions. An analogy would be EPA mileage estimates on cars. We never get as many MPG as they do because we're in the real world versus a set of controlled test conditions.

Recharge profiles for SLA and Eonyx (Lithium) batteries are very different. SLA batteries are relatively inexpensive and tough. They can produce gobs of current for short intervals, and they can take a fair amount of abuse. Their chargers should push a very small amount of current into the battery even after full charge. This "trickle" keeps the batteries charged without shortening their life because they can easily dissipate the extra energy as heat (a tiny amount) without damage. If three of our four batteries are at 13.6V and the fourth is at 13.5V, the trickle charge will eventually bring the fourth one up to 13.6V, equalizing the pack. Lithium is different. Once fully charged, the charger must shut off completely. Prolonged trickle charging will destroy Lithium batteries, and they are very expensive to replace. For this reason, a separate circuit must make sure the cells are equalized.

Eonyx batteries (or any Lithium-based chemistry) require a Battery Management System (BMS). You and the battery are protected by the BMS. The BMS is designed to shut down power output in the event of a cell failure or when voltage reaches the lowest point that will allow the cells to recover during recharge. That is, without the BMS, you can discharge the pack so deeply that it can not be recharged. The BMS also manages equalization of the cells during recharge. Without equalization, cells may charge to different levels, and the capacity of the pack will be compromised. For the longevity of the battery, use only the charger supplied by ElectricRider with your Eonyx battery. Obviously, use of a charger not designed specifically for Eonyx battery chemistry and BMS voids your warranty.

Time limited warranties are difficult to set because some people use their LEV for errands twice a week while others are in commercial use where they may run through 2-3 recharge cycles per day. A battery that goes bad prematurely is the one we want to replace under warranty. That is, if you have a pack made up of four SLA batteries, and three of them read 12V and the fourth reads 9V, that battery may have had a manufacturing defect. Even this can be complicated, though, because some people power accessories from one 12V battery, and leaving a light on, for instance, can cause that battery to suffer deeper discharge than the other three. In that case, it's not a manufacturing defect. Most SLA battery manufacturers offer a 6 month warranty. In that amount of time, defects will show up. There is no industry standard for Lithium yet, but we expect Eonyx to last 5 years or more with daily use. Fact is, no one knows for sure because the technology is too new. The reason we set a time limit of 2 years on our Eonyx warranty is that the battery industry is very dynamic right now. New chemistries are appearing, and like computers, batteries can become obsolete in 6 months. That doesn't mean they're not usable.. it just means that there is something newer, and presumably better.

ElectricRider's Eonyx warranty is probably the best in the industry:

BMS: If your Eonyx BMS fails for the life of the battery pack or in 2 years, whichever comes first, we will repair or replace it. Like all electronics, a marginal component on a BMS will cause it to fail quickly. If it lasts 2 weeks, it should last "forever".

Cells: If your Eonyx Battery Pack loses capacity suddenly, it is probably due to a single cell failure. Cells should age at about the same rate. If one of them wears out prematurely, we will replace that cell for the life of the battery pack or 2 years, whichever comes first. We want to make sure our customers receive the best products and service in the industry from ElectricRider, but we also want to be realistic about what we can do. If compatible cells are no longer being manufactured and we are out of stock, we will not be able to repair your battery pack. If that happens, we will offer our current technology battery system at a discounted price.

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