I think I’m about to buy a Velotric T1 ST Plus which would be my first ebike.
The manual says to store it indoors at a temperature of 50°F to 77°F (10°C to 25°C). However the location I actually have to store it in is in an uninsulated shed that will probably reach 120ºF (50ºC) in the summer in baking sun, and below freezing in the winter.
Is this going to kill the bike or its battery?
The only reference to a manual i could find for that ebike is the “New York Ebike Battery Operating Manual”, which seems to be Velotric’s answer for New York State’s S7503B bill from 2024, mandating that ebike sellers provide a manual.
The document has this to say:
It seems that this 10-25 C recommended limit is only for when charging the battery, not for general storage. For storage, this manual is silent as to what happens at different temperatures, but you must remember that this is a bicycle: a mode of transportation which can and will find itself exposed to the elements, come rain or sunlight.
As a general rule for li ion batteries, the ideal storage temperature is somewhere between -20 to 25 C, to minimize self discharge. Warmer storage will mean faster aging of the battery cells, but it would not imply some sort of future sudden and catastrophic failure. All batteries are mortal.
These charging and storage temperatures are further still distinct from the operating temperatures, meaning when power can be drawn from the battery.
As for the mechanical components of the bike, those will have the same, wide temperature range as storage as non-electric bicycle. After all, it’s mostly metal with some rubber and plastics. What will happen, though, with exposure to sudden temperature changes – ie bringing a bicycle from a cold, 5 C cellar to the outdoors when it’s 45 C – is that some plastics and lubricants will fail quicker. This is not specific to ebikes at all.
For your case, this uninsulated shed will not be ideal, and this particular ebike model does not have a quick-remove battery. If it did, my advice would be to bring the battery indoors to charge and store it, since 50 C is inappropriate for charging. But barring that, can this shed receive improved airflow? Or perhaps the bike can be chained to the shaded wall outside of the shed?