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Quiz question: How many amps does the charger you have in your cupboard have? Never looked at it? It's usually four amps for Bosch, often only two for Shimano. These are differences with considerable consequences. Because the amperage determines how quickly the charger charges the battery. This is crucial when recharging on tour, for example during a lunch break. Put simply, a charger with two amps should actually charge half as fast as one with four amps. But how big is the difference really? As Bosch has three chargers from two to six amps in its range, it made sense to carry out an exemplary test (Shimano also offers chargers with different speeds). We let the chargers charge the batteries for 90 minutes - and the differences are more than striking. So it's worth taking a closer look, because chargers are increasingly being used as an alternative to a second battery in the rucksack - with 625 watt hours and more, the batteries are now simply too heavy.
But faster chargers also have disadvantages. They are larger, heavier and more expensive to buy than their smaller brothers. But they are still cheaper and more compact than the second battery, and above all much lighter: at 788 grams, the fastest 6A charger from Bosch weighs only around a quarter of a 500 Wh battery. But fast chargers are also said to wear out the battery more. We clarify whether this is true with Prof Dr Bohlen from Munich University of Applied Sciences. Bohlen is convinced that chargers still have a lot of potential.
Especially when it comes to packing size. "You can get up to the size of a packet of cigarettes," says the expert. We also tested a device from a third-party provider: the Lion Smart Charger from Ongineer. The Smart Charger automatically loads the appropriate charging protocol for the connected battery and can therefore reliably charge batteries from multiple manufacturers.
You can conveniently download the complete comparison test of the fast chargers from EMTB 4/2021, including a market overview, as a PDF below the article. The test costs 1.49 euros.
Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the tests in EMTB. We don't pay for them, but the opposite is the case: we charge for them, namely tens of thousands of euros every year.
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Adrian Kaether
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