Scope:
Sales Channel: only eWheels.com Customers. If you had acquired your machine from other sources, please contact your Seller for assistance on this topic.
Year sold/shipped: 2019-March 2021
Model: MSP, RS, Nikola+
Approximate number of machines shipped, through eWheels.com: ~500, across the three models
How to Identify if your pattery packs may be affected: with the battery pack date sticker of 2019-2021 “900Wh” (see example below). Older MSX, MSuper, etc, models contain the 18650 Panasonic GA battery that have a clean safety record.
If your Begode Electric Unicycle falls within the criteria of the above, due to the increased risk of spontaneous combustion as the battery packs age, we strongly recommend that you extract both battery packs from your machine and immediately dispose of them at your nearest battery recycler. Please obtain a receipt or take a photo for confirmation that the packs have been taken out of circulation. eWheels will be providing a new replacement battery packs set, free of charge.
Background: There have been several reported incidents of the 21700 900Wh battery packs spontaneously catching fire, both while in use and while idle. The battery may not exhibit any prior symptoms, such as reduced range or an inability to accept a full charge, and can self-ignite at any time.
The underlying cause of this issue is believed to be the lack of sufficient safety measures on the BMS and controller to regulate maximum power output and input with the inferior performing M50LT cells, which leads to elevated temperatures, degradation of the electrode membrane, and dendritic growth. This can ultimately result in an internal short and thermal runaway, leading to a chain reaction in the adjoining cells.
Given the severity and impact of these incidents, we have decided to provide our customers with free replacement battery packs. When commissioning our third-party battery pack provider, LiTech, to design a new battery/BMS architecture, the objectives were to make a pack that is as “safe as is reasonably possible” using a combination of preventative measures and built-in warning buzzers to alert the user if the cells are operating outside of the thermal limits.
Take a photo of the motorcode for tracking purposes, extract the battery packs from the wheel, and bring them to a battery recycling/handling site for disposal. Confirm with the site that they have the appropriate facilities before dropping off the battery packs. Some potential locations include your municiple recycling cetner, Best Buy, Home Depot, Autozone, and Battery+.
Please provide your current shipping address, a photo of the motorcode/serial number, and a receipt or a photo showing that the battery packs have been handed over to a recycling/handling site. If a receipt cannot be obtained, a photo showing that the battery packs have been handed over is acceptable.
