The biggest capacity battery that fits inside the frame of a folding eBike, is a soft-pack battery with Tesla cells.
Instead of the 14.5, 16 or 17.5 Ah or capacity you currently have, you could make the jump to 20Ah. That’s where the soft-pack battery comes into the picture. It’s ideal for long rides with less range anxiety, and at a whopping 52V instead of the standard 48V, it also delivers that fully-charged feeling for longer, while providing a little more accelleration. You’ve also got cells that are designed for use in cars, and are built to safely handle fast charging at 5A or higher without reducing the total lifespan. And let’s face it, you don’t want to charge a 20Ah battery at 2A – that would take most of the day! (but it’s stil recommended you do it every now and then to balance the battery).
Why a “soft pack”?
Most eBike batteries are built with AA-sized cells. Tesla cells are a different size, so in order to fit the maximum number of cells in the available space, it is necessary to sacrifice the hard metal outer-casing that is commonly used. Instead of the metal case, the battery is wrapped in heat-shrink vinyl to keep all the parts in place. The vinyl is easily damaged though, so please read the following list:
Things to be aware of:
- Care should be used when inserting and extracting the battery from the frame.
- Use the enclosed nylon strap to pull the battery out when needed. This essentially pushes it out from the inside, rather than pulling it out. See the attached video for instructions.
- Use the included adhesive padding to reduce vibrations and protect the vinyl wrapping as you slide the battery in or out of the frame.
- Additional vinyl wrap is included, and can be used to patch damaged sections or even to attach the head to the battery.
- It’s highly recommended that you just leave the battery in the bike and charge it via the opening in the side of the bike. This can make it impractical for those of you living in an apartment, where bringing the whole bike to a electrical outlet is not an option.
- The battery requires some assembly. The “head” is not attached to the main battery pack, and will require you to connect 2 wires. You don’t have to tape the head on to the battery body, or use the vinyl. You can simply slide the battery body in (remember the nylon strap so you can get it out again), attach the wires for the battery head, then slide the battery head in last.