Begode 900Wh Battery Recall Options

[Flying W]

Bumping to keep this going. I know the shortages of supplies are huge right now but just want to keep this thread alive and well. 

[goatman]

whats the deal with these 900 wh  packs and ewheels and begode

 im presuming that if you got your wheel from ewheels then you will be covered and get new packs 

what about all the other packs out there in the wild

i see wheels for sale on craigslist with these packs in them

theres alot of wheels that have changed ownership 

is there a place where you send the serial numbers to get notified

[m1racl1]

up 

[Tawpie]

On 5/29/2022 at 11:42 AM, goatman said:

what about all the other packs out there in the wild

Owners of non-eWheels wheels are on their own... GW obviously thinks the packs are just fine††, so I wouldn't even think of holding my breath if I didn't buy from eWheels. I have no idea if eWheels is extending the replacement to second owners or not, but what they are doing is well and far beyond the call. And that's why I'm happy to pay their markup, and wait and wait and wait for my new wheel.

 

††: actually, GW formally recommends you should replace your batteries every single year, so if you're following their advice, your suspect battery pack has been responsibly recycled long ago

(fact check: I'm not actually happy about having to wait, but will do so willingly)

Edited June 3, 2022 by Tawpie

[goatman]

gotway recommends replacing the packs every year because they make shitty battery packs.

that reminds of the story of the old lady that was upset because she has to look out for bicycles while driving, so ban the bicycles.

i guess it sounded good to who ever was typing it out

sounds like a bunch of bull crap to me

imagine Tesla telling their customers to replace their packs every year. 

how "green" is that lmfao

recycling lithium batteries is in its infancy stage, theyre getting incinerated.

[techyiam]

2 hours ago, goatman said:

imagine Tesla telling their customers to replace their packs every year. 

Speaking of which, in the US, it is federal law that the battery packs in EV's must last for a minimum of 8 years. The battery packs cannot go below 80% of its rated capacity, or you get a new pack.

[djimbe]

I’ve seen in a few places this week mentions  of a Gotway/Begode “recall” in the makes- does anyone have any information on what’s potentially going on? 
 

Coming from a non-ewheels 900wh pack owner…

[Chriull]

1 hour ago, djimbe said:

I’ve seen in a few places this week mentions  of a Gotway/Begode “recall” in the makes- does anyone have any information on what’s potentially going on? 
 

Coming from a non-ewheels 900wh pack owner…

Afaik it's just ewheels doing the recall - as they have the litech battery packs as replacement?

[RetroThruster]

I've been waiting for months and months, emailed eWheels a few months ago and was told that it was in the works, emailed again a few weeks and radio silence, I don't look for this to happen.  Oh, not really related but sort of is, I had two molicel S18's from them, neither would fully charge, one 75% the other 91, finally got a refund, I've chalked it up to bad luck but I've decided to step away for a while.

Edited August 10, 2022 by RetroThruster

[Darren0128]

12 hours ago, RetroThruster said:

I've been waiting for months and months, emailed eWheels a few months ago and was told that it was in the works, emailed again a few weeks and radio silence, I don't look for this to happen. 

I would reach out to them again and put on your patience hat.  I have been told they are short staffed and very busy.  I recently got my packs(1st version of RS) replaced under the recall.  I had to email them and inquire about the recall as well.  It was fairly straight forward, since the CPSC(Consumer Product Safety Commission) was involved, you have to show proof of the Begode packs being recycled...see email below dated June 22nd.
 

"Greetings Darren,

 

Sorry, we have the replacement battery packs, but the project is constrained by lack of manpower; working on training up some more recruits, but the process takes time. 

 

Let's get this moving along, sent out this week.  (I never received this email)

 

Before shipping those out, we need some sort of proof disposal. If you have a local recycling center that will accept these with some sort of receipt or picture of the packs being handed over, we'll send you out a replacement pack set. Since the CPSC is getting involved, one of the requirements is that we demonstrate the potentially dangerous packs are destroyed and not in general circulation again. 

 

Best Buy, Home Depot, Advance Auto Part, Battery+ are a few places that should take these packs off your hands, for example. It might be worth calling the locations before dropping them off. 

Thank you,

 

Jason "

 

[Elwood]

I got mine for a 2019 Nik back in June. Just need proof of disposal. A couple of emails, then just the Fed Ex wait.

[RetroThruster]

6 hours ago, Elwood said:

I got mine for a 2019 Nik back in June. Just need proof of disposal. A couple of emails, then just the Fed Ex wait.

First I've heard of the "proof of disposal", none of my communications mention that at all.  Last email to ewheels was on 7/22, have heard nothing since.  I'm guessing that since my Nik+ is a few yrs newer than yours, maybe they're going in order of units sold but I'm still not holding my breath.

My last conversation from them back in January:

Good morning Michael, 

 

It's in process.... We have 1000x of the new LiTech battery packs underway, they should be arriving in February. We'll have a new set sent out to all previous Nikola+, MSP, RS Customers with the Begode 900Wh LG M50LT battery packs. 

 

Thank you,

 

Jason 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by RetroThruster

[wstuart]

Yup I did the same thing 2 weeks ago.  I took the packs out of my MSP HT and dropped them off at a recycling center and got a certificate.  When I emailed ewheels a picture of the certificate, they sent me 2 new litech packs the next day.  They only do this with wheels that came from them though..... so email ewheels and verify before you throw away you batteries. 

This did take a while though...... I had been emailing with ewheels since December about this.  I'm not mad at all though.  I'm VERY VERY thankful for new safe packs for my favorite wheel.  Jason at ewheels is AWESOME!

I feel like the wheel actually has a little more torque now too.  

Edited August 12, 2022 by wstuart

[Flying W]

Which cells are in the new packs? I'll do the recall regardless for safety, I'm just curious which cell they went with. 

[wstuart]

I think mine were Samsung 50es

[RetroThruster]

I guess I missed the part where you had to show proof of disposal, it would have been nice to have gotten a reply from my last email though, especially with this information as a reminder, I'm going to reach out again for clarification before I take the batteries out.

[Flying W]

I just got the email from ewheels 2 days a go and disposed of my batteries yesterday. 

Batteries + does not have a way to reciept the intake so I took a picture at drop off (ewheels Email said this is fine).

There was an upgrade option for tye P42s, but I stayed with the 50e. I don't think I stress everything often enough to need the extra Amp draw. If there was a middle option, like 20amp per cell with a smaller capacity drop I think that would have been perfect. 

My original batteries had 2300 miles on them, charged all the way to 100.8 and never skipped a beat. It's sad to see good packs wasted but the thought of the wheel just lighting up all by its self from over taxing the cells has kept me from riding some of my favorite  trails, the very trails I bought the hight torque RS for so I'm very happy ewheels is volunteering to do this recall. 

@wstuart did your packs come balanced or did you need to charge them one at a time to make sure they were the same voltage? Also, did everything added fit easily back in the wheel (alarm, new fuse etc)?

[wstuart]

3 hours ago, Flying W said:

I just got the email from ewheels 2 days a go and disposed of my batteries yesterday. 

Batteries + does not have a way to reciept the intake so I took a picture at drop off (ewheels Email said this is fine).

There was an upgrade option for tye P42s, but I stayed with the 50e. I don't think I stress everything often enough to need the extra Amp draw. If there was a middle option, like 20amp per cell with a smaller capacity drop I think that would have been perfect. 

My original batteries had 2300 miles on them, charged all the way to 100.8 and never skipped a beat. It's sad to see good packs wasted but the thought of the wheel just lighting up all by its self from over taxing the cells has kept me from riding some of my favorite  trails, the very trails I bought the hight torque RS for so I'm very happy ewheels is volunteering to do this recall. 

@wstuart did your packs come balanced or did you need to charge them one at a time to make sure they were the same voltage? Also, did everything added fit easily back in the wheel (alarm, new fuse etc)?

Oh dang, I didn't check the balance voltage - I just plugged them in and charged.  The batteries went to 100.8 and the range is good and the WH consumed while charging was good, so I'm assuming they were balanced.  I let the stock charger sit with a green light for a long time on the first charge...... maybe that balances them??

 

For my MSP I had to grind down the little ribs on the inside of the removable covers.  Even with the ribs ground down, the batteries barely fit.  The litech batteries are thicker than the stock ones.

[Flying W]

@wstuart thanks for the update,  sounds like they barely fit in the MSP but once installed its really cool to have an MSP with new batteries!

I have an aversion to first batch wheels normally, but I waited to get an MSP too long and when I was ready to pull the trigger they were sold out so I ended up with a first batch RST. I even bought the shorter pedal hangers when they became available to get my pedal height more or less the same as the MSP. 

Jason sent tracking to me already and deliver will be tomorrow or Saturday so the turn around was very fast. 

I hope everyone that is part of this recall takes the time to do it. Even if everything seems perfectly fine when the help is literally free it just makes sense to be as safe as possible. My original packs charged to 100.8, didn't have any visible damage and my dust prevention measures had the inside very clean. I was the perfect candidate to leave well enough alone and not find the time to do this (work 60 plus hrs a week and have a 2.5yr old kid) but the thought of a spontaneous fire made this a no brainer.

 

 

 

 

[Flying W]

Batteries arrive very quickly,  showed up two days ago so I installed them today. They are a tight fit. The tape I used on the backside was thin, but still a mounting style tape and even that little bit made it hard to seat the side covers, they kind of slightly bend around the batteries on the RS. 

Setting the screws in the inserts without tightening is key, going back to tighten after all have been seated.

I'm looking forward to a shakedown ride! 

[Tryptych]

Can anyone give me some info about the batteries in the Hero?  Have the battery issues been resolved in this model, or is it the same situation as the RST/MSP?

 

[RagingGrandpa]

4 hours ago, Tryptych said:

Can anyone give me some info about the batteries in the Hero?  Have the battery issues been resolved in this model, or is it the same situation as the RST/MSP?

This recall applies only to the M50T cell, which was used in MSP, and early Nikola & RS, and ended in mid-2021. 

I think Hero was not in production at that time, and all Hero packs are newer cell models (48X, 50E, or the new 50LT). So it's not affected by this recall.

If you want to convince yourself, get a photo of your battery pack label- it should say which cell model was used.

[meepmeepmayer]

I also thought this only concerns LG M50T cells.

 ewheels mentions LG M50LT though. Typing error, or is this cell also dangerous? Probably a typo, but I don't know for sure.

[RagingGrandpa]

On 8/30/2022 at 10:00 AM, meepmeepmayer said:

 ewheels mentions LG M50LT though
Typing error?

Yes, an error...

On 11/10/2021 at 10:43 AM, RagingGrandpa said:

As we scrutinize cells, it will be important to keep the product names straight. There are 3 LG cell models being conflated- they are not the same.

Sad that their communication doesn't seem to acknowledge the difference between the two cell models with similar names... but in the end it won't matter because if you have an M50LT wheel (which will be newer than 2021) and contact ewheels, they will check your EUC serial number and nicely confirm that you weren't affected. 
(Also because: I think ewheels never actually sold any EUC's with M50LT cells)

Labels on the outside of the pack vary; but the cells themselves are clearly labeled. 

M50T (recalled by ewheels in 4P Gotway packs): 

M50LT (new design, no recall): 

And we could call into question "Is M50LT substantially more reliable?"... but the only fire of M50LT reported thusfar was the S20 demo, which failed from overload, not during storage or recharging.
 

Edited September 1, 2022 by RagingGrandpa

[wstuart]

On 8/30/2022 at 6:54 AM, RagingGrandpa said:

This recall applies only to the M50T cell, which was used in MSP, and early Nikola & RS, and ended in mid-2021. 

I think Hero was not in production at that time, and all Hero packs are newer cell models (48X, 50E, or the new 50LT). So it's not affected by this recall.

If you want to convince yourself, get a photo of your battery pack label- it should say which cell model was used.

I have a begode EX.  Do you happen to know if the EX had M50Ts or M50 LTs?