Levo SL Gen 1 Levo SL charging cable design flaw...beware!

[Bykr55]

While recharging the bike on a camping trip...a gust of wind shifted the bike slightly...it rolled back and the crank sheared off the thin plastic tube that “protects” the charging pins! No real damage to the pins but the charger effectively rendered useless which means a dead bike.
Absolutely stupid design if you compare to the magnetic charger connection on my wife’s Levo or how about the way the range extender battery connects to the motor without any crank concerns. Another solution could be that the charging cable connects to the charger body in a similar manner to the power cord so that all you need to replace is the cord... not the whole unit.
To make matters worse...Specialized’s response was you need to be more careful!

The bike is a pleasure to ride and I think one of the best designs on the market. However...having a design that allows a $0.25 piece of plastic cover to become a catastrophic event is a business case for cable connection redesign.

Riders beware!

 

[p3eps]

Since day 1 I’ve thought the charging plug was a bad design.
I’ve had mine not charge a couple of times, because it doesn’t have anything to hold it in place. For suck a well designed bike, the charger plug is crap!

 

[Vin829]

That’s the first thing they warned me about at LBS when I picked up the bike. Don’t pedal backward when charging the bike

 

[boBE]

Wow, that *does* suck! Some epoxy might fix it. I wonder if that is a Specialized custom plug or if it is available somewhere else? I wouldn't seem likely they had a plug designed and molded just for a relatively small number of bikes.