Heat
I’ve ridden in desert and semi-desert conditions several times. The first time I had the chance to ride down a dune was in North Africa, when I visited the Buggyra team of Martin Koloc during their preparations for the Dakar Rally. Interestingly, the team members use e-bikes as part of their physical training. I showed them a few riding tricks, and in return, they shared their experience of how sand behaves in the desert.
For someone not born in the desert, sand may look like a uniform mass, but that’s not quite true. Anyone who wants to walk or ride through the desert without getting stuck knows that while the windward side of a dune is firm and supportive, the leeward side behaves like fresh powder in the mountains – once you ride into it, it swallows both your front and rear wheel. Just a side note.
I returned to the desert to test a new Mondraker model aptly named Dune. It was a mullet setup with a larger front wheel and a smaller rear one, equipped with the lighter Bosch Performance Line SX motor. We tested it in Morocco near the Algerian border, where I experienced huge temperature swings during the day. At night, temperatures dropped close to freezing, while during the day, we were roasting in forty-degree heat. Anything exposed to direct sunlight heated up like a frying pan. That was when I first realised that direct heat is worse for a battery than frost.
For someone not born in the desert, sand may look like a uniform mass, but that’s not quite true.
Modern batteries are designed for such extremes, so at one point, the e-bike simply shut itself down. That was the control unit protecting the battery from damage. By the way, this is also one of the advantages of a high-quality branded battery.
I had a similar experience at the Sport Festival in Lipno, where we were charging four e-bikes in the sun. At a certain point, all of them stopped charging and reported an error. Nothing happened to them; they just activated their protection mechanism. Once we moved them into the shade and let them cool down, they continued charging without any issues.
Moisture
Anyone who rides an e-bike knows that if the battery lasts, you can ride a hundred kilometres in heavy rain and nothing will happen to the bike. The motor is enclosed and sealed, the cables are insulated, and so there’s no reason to worry. Manufacturers only mention a few situations to avoid, such as transporting the bike outside the car in heavy rain or washing it with a high-pressure washer.
I’ll admit that I regularly wash my e-bike with a pressure washer and have never experienced a problem with any bike. I did have some doubts once in the Romanian mountains, when I had to ford a stream about sixty centimetres deep. The water reached my knees, and the entire fork was submerged. On a regular bike, I wouldn’t have dared to pedal against the water pressure, but the e-bike just kept going calmly, like a horse. I’m not saying you should rush out and try it, but I swear that even a year later, the bike still works perfectly.
Frost
With climate change, truly freezing days are becoming rarer, which has pleasantly extended the cycling season for us riders. In recent years, I’ve been riding practically year-round. Of course, that’s also thanks to my switch to e-bikes, which get me out even in unpleasant weather – I mean the kind of nasty cold that gets under your nails and would make you think twice about riding a regular bike.
The ability of an e-bike to handle muddy, waterlogged trails where I’d have neither the power nor the traction on a traditional bike motivates me to ride in any conditions. And even when temperatures drop below zero, I don’t notice a significant decrease in battery capacity or range because, while riding, the processes inside the battery run as they should.
Low charging temperatures have a much greater impact on capacity. I’m lucky to be able to store and charge my bike in a workshop where it’s dry and relatively warm. Every manufacturer specifies an ideal charging temperature. If a battery is charged in freezing conditions, it may happen that even after being plugged in, it doesn’t reach 100% capacity, and after switching on, the charge drops quickly by as much as 15% within the first few kilometres. Then it stabilises and continues to work normally.
In conclusion
A clear conclusion would probably only come from long-term laboratory testing, but based on experience and a bit of intuition, I try to take care of my e-bike by not leaving it standing in the frost or in direct sunlight for long periods. The battery is one of the most expensive parts of an e-bike, and if you want it to last as long as possible, you’d better look after it.
