Does anyone make a universal charger?

thecremeegg

Member
Feb 9, 2020
44
45
Hampshire UK
Just a thought as we're going to be hiring an ebike for the gf when we go away to Wales later in the year and it'll be a Yamaha motor. I have a Shimano charger which obviously won't work, so, like the mobike phone industry all adapted the same format is there a charger that works with all the main manufacturers? If not, is there a reason other than lack of demand?
 

Tim1023

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2020
660
584
Hamburg, Germany
You just need a couple of adaptors, like in the old mobile world before there was some standardisation
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That and a whole stack of voltage and ampage buttons on the unit.
 

thecremeegg

Member
Feb 9, 2020
44
45
Hampshire UK
Yea the adaptors bit is fair, however the battery will surely just pull what it supports from the charger, just like with a mobile? Or are they not that intelligent?
 

Tim1023

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2020
660
584
Hamburg, Germany
There are more knowledgable people on the forum, but I was told by my lbs that whilst I could use a fast charger, it might shorten the life of the battery a bit, so my guess is that there is no intelligence.

With phones all using USB now, that requires some negotiation to go on between device and charger. My guess is that something like that would need to be agreed upon and implemented by the ebike industry. The problem is that the motivation is nowhere near what it was for mobiles.

The only thing that I could see forcing manufacturers' hands is regulatory standardisation to enable mass use of ebikes for commuting and cities wanting to provide / allow public charging stations. Something like this seems to have happened to some degree for electric cars.
 

thecremeegg

Member
Feb 9, 2020
44
45
Hampshire UK
Good answer, thanks, and is what I thought - the batteries must be "dumb". Shame really as if I forget my charger on a trip and my gf or mate has one, it won't work!
 

thecremeegg

Member
Feb 9, 2020
44
45
Hampshire UK
Any good?


Looks good, though seems to not support Shimano....fail!
We want to hire an ebike for a few days and all the bike hire places say you get one charge and that's it...what a joke! You buy a bike it comes with a charger, let us have the charger with the bike hire dammit! Argh!
 

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