- Battery
- 800 Wh
The Bosch PowerPack 800 has been out in various online stores for weeks, and now the official Bosch press release finally reached us. The new Bosch Powerpack 800 is the old Powerpack 725, only with new cells. Good news, you might say, especially if you ride a cargobike with external batteries. Some cargo bikes can take two 800 Wh batteries, providing 1.600 Wh capacity for hauling heavy stuff. Newer emtbs use the Bosch Powertube 750 though, and that’s not updated. Not yet anyway.
The Bosch Powerpack 800 is the same size as the old Powerpack 725. It uses basically the same enclosure, and it has a claimed weight of 3.9 kg. That’s about 100 g more than the 725.
The Bosch CompactTube 400 from 2023 has the same 5.56 Ah cells.
That was the short statement I received. And it makes sense. Manufacturers such as Bosch, Giant and Shimano always were quite conservative designing their battery packs, making slightly heavier batteries than the 3rd party manufacturers. One could argue cells with the “old” chemistry with less nickel is safer. And it’s not like Bosch is sacrificing much. Using the “ultra high nickel” 5.8 Ah cells would have yielded an additional 35 Wh while weighing not even 100 g less.
The PowerTube 750 is the battery we emtb'ers care about. Unfortunately it uses the smaller 18650 cells, so I don't know if we can expect an update for this relatively new pack.
My made-up serial number yielded no errors.
The Bosch Powerpack 800 is the same size as the old Powerpack 725. It uses basically the same enclosure, and it has a claimed weight of 3.9 kg. That’s about 100 g more than the 725.
New-ish cells
So, how is this possible? Well, Giant have been selling bikes with 400 and 800 Wh batteries for a year or two now. Rumor has it Panasonic developed a slightly different 21700 format cell for Giant. The cell hasn’t got a new chemistry, but it’s marginally bigger and is sometimes referred to as 22700. This means it’s slightly wider and a couple of grams heavier. The increased volume takes the cell capacity up from 5 Ah to 5.56 Ah.The Bosch CompactTube 400 from 2023 has the same 5.56 Ah cells.
Why not more?
And it seems Bosch is using the same 5.56 Ah cell. In fact, they started using it in the CompatTube 400 battery that was introduced last summer. Since then, we’ve seen a few bikes using a Trend Power battery with 5.8 Ah cells. Why doesn’t Bosch use those instead?That was the short statement I received. And it makes sense. Manufacturers such as Bosch, Giant and Shimano always were quite conservative designing their battery packs, making slightly heavier batteries than the 3rd party manufacturers. One could argue cells with the “old” chemistry with less nickel is safer. And it’s not like Bosch is sacrificing much. Using the “ultra high nickel” 5.8 Ah cells would have yielded an additional 35 Wh while weighing not even 100 g less.
The PowerTube 750 is the battery we emtb'ers care about. Unfortunately it uses the smaller 18650 cells, so I don't know if we can expect an update for this relatively new pack.
Online battery check when purchasing a used ebike
This isn’t as cool as it sounds, I think. You can’t connect your battery the online battery check service and get a health status. Your bike shop should be able to do that though. But it can still be helpful. If you enter the battery serial number in the online battery check service, you’ll know if the battery has already been serviced, opened or deemed defect by Bosch. The idea is you use this service before buying a used ebike with a Bosch battery.My made-up serial number yielded no errors.
