The Bicycle Association (BA) is trialling its e-bike battery collection and recycling programme in the North West of England this month. The organisation says it’s in the process of engaging key electric bike brands to be a part of the programme.
A UK-wide e-bike battery collection and recycling service was announced earlier this year, with the BA appointing the European Recycling Platform UK (ERP UK) as its partner.
The BA says the trial - which will consist of visits to 100 retail outlets - will help it determine what level of expired and faulty batteries it can expect to collect. “This information is important to help us inform our intended national programme launch – which we wish to [get underway] as soon as possible and in September of this year.”
Over time, more than 1,000 retailers are expected to be part of the programme, the association added.
> Crank Power aiming to reduce battery wastage in e-mobility
Other European markets already have a single collection programme running, with companies participating with retailers who act as collection points for the public. Retailers are supplied with fireproof rated drums to store the batteries in.
On announcing the programme, BA retail trade manager Stephen Holt said: “With millions of electric bike sales ahead of us, this is an exciting initiative that will make it easy for retailers to safely store faulty and expired batteries in one fireproof rated drum – with one phone call when full to get it swapped out.
“With the support of electric bike producers, we hope to provide a national network of hundreds of collection points convenient for customers. We are looking forward to working closely with ERP, who are experts in the construction and implementation of such initiatives.”
> A beginner's guide to e-bike batteries
The latest industry advice is that a defective or end of life battery should be replaced by “an authorised technically identical battery”. The advice to only replace a battery with one that comes from the same manufacturer and is of exactly the same spec is for good reason – battery, controller and motor have all been designed to work safely together and using a ‘non-original’ replacement pack potentially introduces uncontrolled risks.
There are however issues where like-for-like replacements are no longer available. If you find yourself in this position, you might want to take a look at our guide: Old worn-out e-bike batteries: repair, recycle, refurbish or replace?
