ebike Li-Ion battery break-in

[Cemoi]

Hi all,

I'm about to be delivered my new ebike, fitted with the Bosch engine and the new 400 Wh battery. The user manual doesn't deal with a "break-in" process to be followed when the battery is new.
I've searched CPF/Flashlight Electronics - Batteries included, but found nothing about Li-Ion break-in, unlike NiMH break-in which is dealt with in many threads.

A Google search gave me two very different recommendations:

1. According to this page: it is recommended that you perform a "break-in" cycle consisting of three discharge/charge cycles to allow your batteries to reach optimum performance. This involves three complete discharges and three complete recharges.
2. Whereas according to the Battery Break-in Process section on this page: It is recommended to perform 5 to 10 cycles of low discharges followed by full charges. A low discharge would be drawing 1-3 AH or riding 2-5 miles without heavy loads. Since the cells will discharge at different rates, the first cell to reach the minimum voltage will trigger the detection circuit in the BMS, which shuts off power. The range will be low and the customer thinks they have a bad pack. By doing short cycles the cells have a chance to equalize and not get far out of balance. The BMS has a balancing circuit, but it does not have the ability to bring up a cell that is much lower than the others. They have to be kept within a certain range of each other. In addition, leaving the pack on the charger over night gives the BMS time to equalize the cells.

Who is correct? Three full cycles, or 5 to 10 "very partial discharges + full charge" cycles?

 

[HKJ]

Generally you do not need to do break in on LiIon batteries, but some battery meters need a few cycles to calibrate the reading.

 

[Cemoi]

OK, but how about my e-bike dealer's recommendation to moderately use the pedal assist in the beginning (i.e. lowest power settings, and avoid very steep slopes), in order to avoid too high a current in the brand new battery?

 

[HKJ]

OK, but how about my e-bike dealer's recommendation to moderately use the pedal assist in the beginning (i.e. lowest power settings, and avoid very steep slopes), in order to avoid too high a current in the brand new battery?

That is some wisdom that was valid for old types of batteries, not for LiIon.
Today you are seeing 3 different types of rechargeable batteries: Lead acid, NiMH and LiIon, the first two can benefit from some break in, but not LiIon.

There is a few things you can do to get the longest lifetime from LiIon batteries:
Do not leave the battery in a hot place.
If you run the battery down, recharge it immediately.
If you are putting the bike away for the winter, discharge the battery to half charge, before storing it in a cool place.

To learn more about batteries I can recommend: http://batteryuniversity.com/

 

[Cemoi]

Thanks HKJ. I know and have read many pages of the excellent batteryuniversity.com, and have followed its guidelines Re. battery care for my MacBook Pro (an old version, whose battery could still be removed and kept in a cool place when not in use).
In addition, I use to cycle my iPhone battery between 40 and 95% SoC, and will be doing so for my e-bike battery, when I won't need the full riding range.
According to Table 4 on this page, this should result in a huge increase in battery life: instead of 300-500 full cycles, I might be getting up to eight times as many half-cycles, hence four times the battery life. But because I won't be charging it very often, I assume that the natural aging of the batteries while not in use will significantly reduce these figures.