Disappointed in battery life. RAD Mini

[anaxgorous]

I purchased 2 rad minis and have been happy with the bikes. My partner and I didn't ride them together as much as we would have liked the 1st year, so one bike got far more use than the other. After 14 months one mini had only a little more than 50 miles on it. At that time, it's battery died. The battery claims to charge up, but has no juice at all when put back onto the bike. I've tried all the usual fixes from RAD (changing fuses) and have had no luck (other than not being able to help me replace the battery, the support has been good).

I am forced to pay for a brand new battery to get this bike running again ($500) because I was out of the 1 year warranty. Very disappointed in the reliability of this battery. Maybe I just got a lemon, but feel that the company would do better by their customers if they updated their warranty to include a mileage specification. Just like a car engine. Something like, "warrantied one year or 500 miles which ever comes first". A dead battery after only 50 miles of use is really unacceptable and I wish that they could provide some support for my case. I provide this testimonial as a data point for those researching these bikes. I hope that my case is the exception and that I was just one of the unlucky ones.

A Sad Rad Owner

[sc00ter]

A few questions...
Are the ebikes/batteries in a non-climate controlled environment?
How long did the battery stay dead?
How was it drained that low to begin with?
Lithium batteries are not happy in extreme weather conditions, being completely drained or stored at full charge. I suspect one or more of the above questions caused the problem with the battery. So it was either truly defective or you learned an expensive lesson in battery care. Being outside of the warranty period does not help determine the true cause.

[DickB]

What exactly happens when you say the battery "claims to charge up"? Does the Charge light come on red? For how long?  What does the meter on the battery read?

[Ryan]

This might sound silly, but are you sure you are turning the battery on once placed on the bike? Have you tried swapping the batteries on each bike to see if the working battery works on the other bike?

[anaxgorous]

To answer these questions:

1. I live in a moderate coastal climate where it doesn't freeze in Winter and rarely gets above 80 degrees in Summer. Furthermore the bike was stored in an insulated garage. The second bike's battery was stored exactly the same way (it's battery is still going strong).

2. The charger goes from red to green. This is what I mean by "claims to charge up". it takes under 20 minutes to go from red to green.

3. It's the battery, not the bike or user error. My other battery, from my 2nd bike, works fine when installed.

4. The battery was probably at 50% capacity when it was idle for several months. At which point I attempted to charge it and found that it had died.

This is why I'm concluding that I got a lemon. Thanks for the replies.

[se-riously]

Did you swap batteries between bikes to confirm it's the battery and not the bike itself?

[anaxgorous]

Yes, the bike works fine with a functional battery.

[Jman]

Seems like the BMS could have killed your battery.
https://www.radowners.com/index.php?topic=1025.0