sla/nimh

[lantus]

Ive been looking at getting my wife a cheap electric bike to go out and about on.shes not a cyclist by any means and would only do about 5 mile max 2/3 time a week,so not keen on lith battery replacement costs after two years of little use.

so are sla batts still an alternative,will replacements still be available in years to come in ebike form.

looked about for nimh battery bike but seams like everyone is switching to lithium ion now,

If anyone knows of retailers still stocking nimh batt bikes can you help me out as cant find any,and you have any thoughts on sla id be happy to hear them

 

[flecc]

No cheap NiMh bikes available any more, the nearest recent one was the Carrera Sparc, a Halfords "special" at £750 that quickly disappeared.

Powabyke still do their Eurobike and Citybike models, well established, powerful hill climbers and reliable, with plenty of dealers having experience with them:

Powabyke range

Contact page for Powabyke to find your nearest dealers
.

 

[TeTs.BiZ]

Ive been looking at getting my wife a cheap electric bike to go out and about on.shes not a cyclist by any means and would only do about 5 mile max 2/3 time a week,so not keen on lith battery replacement costs after two years of little use.

so are sla batts still an alternative,will replacements still be available in years to come in ebike form.

looked about for nimh battery bike but seams like everyone is switching to lithium ion now,

If anyone knows of retailers still stocking nimh batt bikes can you help me out as cant find any,and you have any thoughts on sla id be happy to hear them

We're developing a solid 24V lead-acid bike for your exact requirements. Having 2 cells rather than 3 makes the SLA battery 1/3 lighter (obviously). However we don't have it in production yet. In the meantime the Powacycle Milan2 (36V SLA) really isn't bad for the price - just don't leave it out in the wet.
Nickel batteries are more or less out of the electric bike picture these days, having become hard to source.
Lead acid batteries are still readily available, and will be for a long time to come. For those who don't mind the weight of the batteries and don't want the replacement costs of lithium batteries, it still makes sense to look at SLA.

 

[tangent]

LiFePO4 batteries are supposed to have a much longer storage life than the current lithium batteries. Not many bikes seem to use them at the moment though.

 

[kitchenman]

I have NIMH (its on charge now under my desk!). I have a Cytronex which is excellent for commuting. Very robust. I've been drenched and crashed and I'm still going strong after 41 trips (686 miles) The battery life is 250 cycles so should last you forever! Charge time is about 1 hour.Cytronex were thinking of producing kit solutions so it might be worth contacting them and having a chat.
Alan

 

[jerrysimon]

The Cytronex models are indeed very fine (I had one) but not really cheap!

I got mine s/h which I guess might be an option.

I am now a big fan of A123 cells (though probably suited for shorter runs and DIY enthusiasts).

Regards

Jerry