36V 10Ah NiMH $399	36V 10Ah Li-Ion $549
Standard battery for our kits. Weight: 14lbs Does it fit your bike? >> Buy	Lighter and smaller option Weight: 8.4lb Does it fit your bike? >> Buy

36V NiMH Standard Battery

The NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) battery is a medium power density battery similar in chemistry to a NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) battery.  However, the NiMH construction is inherently less toxic because NiMh does not contain Cadmium.  NiMH suffers from significantly less memory effect than NiCd and can be reconditioned fairly easy.  NiMh batteries are used in many different applications including the Prius hybrid system.

Installation

The battery is easily installed on the down tube of the frame using the supplied mount. If the battery does not fit, we offer a specially designed rack to mount the battery on the back of the bicycle. A second battery can easily be carried in panniers to double the range.

 

Technical Details

The battery system is a 10Ah 14lb NiMh pack made up of cylindrical D cells. The battery is capable of recharing in approximately 3 hours with the included 36V 2A charger. The battery does not suffer from noticeable memory effects. The battery contains a lock to prevent theft, a charging plug, on/off switch and fuse. The charger plug has three terminals, two for power and one for sensing the temperature of the pack.

The battery discharge rating is for 500 cycles at 80% percent depth of discharge

Caution:  Do not fully discharge the pack, this may drive cells into reversal and cause permanent battery damage.  The controller has a minimum voltage to operate so a full discharge would be difficult to do.  Please refer to our FAQ on correctly using and charging the battery.

As battery voltage drops off top speed will taper from 21mph to 18mph on flat level ground.  This is expected and is better than Lead-Acid batteries of similar capacity.  Self-discharge is significant compared to other battery chemistries.  It is always good to keep the battery on the charger before riding.  Although only 30% self-discharge is expected per month, it's worth keeping the battery topped up just in case.