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USB-C charging for electric bikes has arrived with the new Ampler Nova | BikeRadar
(www.bikeradar.com)
this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
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"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.
micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"
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Forgive me if people already know this, but while the plug for USB-C is universal, the cables are not. You can't just plug any cable into a 45W or 100W wall wart and expect to get the power you need. Every cable has its own rating, and it needs to match or exceed the rating of the charger, or else you could cause damage to the devices, the cable, or even start a fire.
Exactly. So we're talking probably 45W+, or else long charge times.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good step away from proprietary chargers, but USB-C is kind of a mess in terms of having a unified or at least clear standard. Inb4 people unknowingly damage their bike battery by using the wrong cable.
Trickle charging is still better than no charging at all, and you would more likely to have a charger that works with you if fast charging is important.
Also, even 120W USB chargers tend to be smaller than their ebike equivalents with the typical barrel pin connectors.
To be fair, this is probably a voltage difference. The max a PD charger can go is 20V, while some ebike chargers go up to 48V.
USB-PD 3.1 can go up to 48V 5A for a 240W output.
Granted, almost none exist yet even though the spec is four years old, I know of one 180W charger and a handful of 240W rated cables, but the possibility is there.
And while 36V & 48V are the most common ebike batteries, they go up to 92 volts for the "not sure how this isn't just an electric motocycle" ones (Surron etc).
Oh sure. I'm not saying this is bad, per se, but the author presents it like some panacea, and it's not (yet?).