The battery in your electric bike is made up of several cells. Each cell has a fixed output voltage. For Lithium batteries this is 3.6 volts per cell. It doesn’t matter how big the cell is. It still outputs 3.6 volts. Other battery chemistries have different volts per cell. For Nickel Cadium or Nickel Metal Hydride cells the voltage was 1.2 volts per cell.
The output volts from a cell varies as it discharges. A full lithium cell outputs closer to 4.2 volts per cell when it’s 100% charged. As the cell discharges it quickly drops to 3.6 volts where it will remain for 80% of it’s capacity. When it’s close to dead it drops to 3.4 volts. If it discharges to below 3.0 volts output the cell will be damaged and may not be able to recharge.
If you force the cell to discharge at too high a current, the voltage will sag. If you put a heavier rider on an e-bike, it will cause the motor to work harder and draw higher amps. This will cause the battery voltage to reduce making the scooter go slower. Going up hills has the same effect. The higher the capacity of the battery cells, the less it will sag under current. Higher capacity batteries will give you less voltage sag and better performance.
Post time: Jan-06-2022
