You can now run electric bicycles from power tool batteries

We’re officially living in the future: No longer are your e-bike batteries just for your e-bikes and your power tool batteries just for your drills and string trimmers. Now you can actually mix and match your batteries, at least if you have the right e-bike. Companies like Aventon and Greenworks are making it happen.

Lithium-ion batteries are the single most expensive component on an electric bike, and they usually contribute to the bulk of an e-bike’s price tag.

That will come as no surprise to anyone who has a collection of power tools but only a few batteries that they swap back and forth between them. It doesn’t make sense to own a pile of expensive batteries if they’re just sitting around not getting used. And that’s before even considering the environmental ramifications.

And so several companies have been working on – and now apparently succeeded at – making e-bikes compatible with power tool batteries.

The first example comes from Aventon. This California-based bike manufacturer has a wide range of electric bikes, but until now they’ve all required Aventon’s own e-bike batteries. Thanks to a recent partnership with the tool manufacturer Worx, you can actually now run Aventon’s Pace 350 E-bike off of a pair of 20V Worx batteries.

The companies teamed up to create an adapter that mounts in place of the typical Aventon battery.

Using two Worx 8 Ah batteries, the setup claims to offer up to 28 miles (45 km) of range on pedal assist. With a top speed of 20 mph (32 km/h), you’ll be traveling a lot faster than a power drill!

Aventon and Worx aren’t the only companies putting power tool batteries on e-bikes. Greenworks, better known for its electric lawn tool line including products like electric mowers and leaf blowers, announced a big push into new products several months ago.

It looks like the R&D team has made some significant progress in the last few months, because there are already a few models up on the Greenworks site. They aren’t available for purchase yet, nor are there any prices, but the specs certainly sound intriguing.

They all feature 750W motors and 20 mph (32 km/h) top speeds, though the range figures have been left with placeholder X’s in them, perhaps implying these products aren’t quite ready for launch (and that perhaps the pages aren’t even supposed to be live yet).

There aren’t any prices yet either, but the various models give us a good idea of what to expect from the company. A 27.5″ tire commuter e-bike, a 26″ fat tire e-bike, and a 20″ moped-style e-bike run the gamut of utility, fun, and cruising models for just about every type of rider.

And most importantly, they all seem to use Greenworks’ existing 80V batteries. So if you’ve got a Greenworks lawn mower or other tool in their 80V ecosystem, you could share it between your bike and your other gear.

Electrek’s Take

This is pretty awesome, and fulfills a longstanding desire of many e-bike enthusiasts.

Obviously it requires having the right bike and the right tools, so it’s only going to work for a certain segment of the larger e-bike population. But if that includes you, then I’m a bit jealous. I’d love to be able to share my oversized collection of both e-bike and power tool batteries with each other.

Plus, this is a much safer alternative to most other power tool-powered e-bikes we normally see…

Getting slip and spin when accelerating. How can I make this grip better?
by u/c0nsumer in ebikes