My Bosch powered commuter is only hitting about 65% range compared to when I got it in 2024. I charge it every night and usually do 15-20 miles daily. Is this normal wear or am I doing something wrong with maintenance?
Charging every night might actually be speeding things up a bit - lithium batteries prefer partial discharge cycles, so if you're able to top up during the day or skip a day here and there, that can help preserve what's left. The 65% mark after two years of heavy daily use is definitely within normal wear, but tweaking your charging habits now could slow further degradation.
That's pretty normal degradation actually - lithium batteries lose capacity over time and charge cycles, and going from 100% to 65% over two years with daily commuting is roughly in the expected range. Charging every night is fine (modern batteries handle frequent top-ups way better than they used to), so you're not doing anything wrong there. The main things that speed up degradation are extreme heat, letting it fully drain regularly, or storing it uncharged for long periods - since you're riding daily, none of that applies. If you want to squeeze more life out of it, keep it cool when you're not riding and maybe avoid leaving it at 100% for days at a time, but honestly at this point a degraded battery is just part of the game with e-bikes.
charging every single night might actually be part of the problem here. lithium batteries don't love being kept at 100% charge constantly - that stresses them more than you'd think. if you're doing 15-20 miles daily, your battery probably doesn't need a full charge every day, and letting it drop to like 20-30% before charging helps it last longer overall.
that said, 65% capacity after two years of heavy daily use isn't necessarily a disaster, but it's on the steeper side of normal. bosch systems are pretty solid, so you're not dealing with garbage hardware. a few things to check: make sure you're not riding in extreme heat (like leaving the bike in direct sun all day), and if you can avoid charging it right after hard rides when the battery's still warm, that helps. also worth confirming your charger isn't one of those ultra-fast ones that hammer the battery - the standard bosch chargers are designed to be gentler.
at this point the battery's probably around 400-500 charge cycles in, which is where you'd expect maybe 80-85% capacity if conditions were ideal. you're not doing anything dramatically wrong, but shifting to charge only when needed instead of every night could help slow down further degradation.
Have you checked your tire pressure and drivetrain lately? Those two things alone can tank your effective range without the battery actually degrading. Beyond what's been mentioned about charge cycles, here's something nobody talks about - temperature matters way more than people realize. If you're storing it somewhere cold overnight (like an unheated garage), the battery's chemistry slows down and it reports lower capacity even if it's not permanently damaged. Try keeping it at room temperature for a week and see if you get a bit of that range back. Also, Bosch batteries can sometimes recalibrate if you fully discharge them once every few months - not regularly, just occasionally - which might help you get an accurate reading of what's actually left.
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