E-bike batteries are vulnerable to theft and can cost £500 to replace. It’s one of the reasons cycle insurance cover makes financial sense. But what about if e-bike batteries were smaller, lighter and cheaper to buy in the first place? What if e-bikes were made compatible with cordless tool batteries?
California-based e-bike builders Aventon and tool makers Worx have teamed up to do just that. The specially adapted Aventon Pace 350 e-bike can travel 28 miles using a pair of 20V 8 Ah Worx batteries. The bike doesn’t comply with UK e-bike law, but given how many power tools lie idle in garden sheds, the idea is clever.
We’re waiting for a UK-friendly retrofit electric bike motor powered by cordless tool batteries. Makita, are you listening?
E-bike flat battery? Don’t worry, we’ll rescue you
It’s an unfortunate fact of life; bicycles can break down. Even the shortest journey comes to an abrupt halt if you can’t fix a flat tyre, broken chain or buckled wheel at the roadside. It’s why 30 years ago we launched Cycle Rescue – the first breakdown cover policy for bicycles.
ETA Cycle Rescue covers e-bikes, too. If you ride a road-legal electric bicycle, we’ll cover it against mechanical faults, punctures or a flat battery.
ETA Cycle Rescue safeguards against breakdowns – including a flat battery
Cycle Rescue costs only £24 per year with no hidden extras to pay if your bicycle suffers a breakdown.
Get Cycle Rescue for free when you buy ETA cycle insurance
Every cycle insurance policy of ours includes the following as standard:
• Theft, accidental damage & vandalism
• E-bike battery – No-quibble theft cover
• Cycle Rescue
• No devaluation of your bike over time
• £2m third party PLUS £20,000 personal accident cover
• Shed and garage storage
• Low standard excess of 5% (£50 minimum)
Read a full list of everything we include as standard.
The ethical choice
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.
ray hitchins
I’ve been running my Nano Brompton off drill batteries for many years. Not hugely powerful and limited range, but very effective (and street legal)
Haylor
The wider question of battery compatability raises the big question. I have a shedful of garden battery powered tools that are rapidly becoming useless as it is impossible to replace batteries – every maker has different capacities and incompatible connection arrangements.
Anthony Rogers
I am an ETA customer since the 1990s and enjoy the Newsletter. I find this article a little disappointing as Nano Brompton, in Leamington Spa, have been doing conversions with power tool batteries for over 10 years in the UK. I just commissioned them again, this time to make a kit for my tandem. My wife and I bought the tandem in the 1980s but would now like some extra uphill assistance. We use our Bosch power tool batteries, which are very reliable. It would be great to see ETA promote this British company, or indeed Boost, another British designer and company, who make an electric conversion with the sensor in the freehub such that it is more reliable, is lighter and has fewer cables than most conversion kits.
The ETA
Thanks for letting us know about Nano – we’ve written a short piece about them this week
Peter Soper
I’m sure I saw such a device more than 10 years ago, fitted to a Moulton. The battery was carried in a handlebar bag. With such small batteries it’s easy to carry a spare.
Piers Lesser
CNC adaptors for powertool batteries are made by some UK sellers on eBay and no doubt other channels. This would make it easier to power an e-bike with them.