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[DonTom]

I figure I should start a new thread for this one.


WRT my 2020 Esse Esse 9.



Anyway, I decided to start the work, I first charged up the bike to 90% SOC in case it takes me a while before I can ride it again.  I am now past the point of no return. It won't be ridden until this job is completed.




But I don't think it will take that long from where I now am, as I am now just about ready to lift the bike above above the battery as I have most of the stuff free from the battery already.  Most of the work was completed today, but I will not be working on the bike tomorrow as I have a ride planned with a buddy around Lake Tahoe. And I have other plans for a few days after that.


Anyway, I want to order the HV connectors to wire to my 75 amp external fuse that I wish to add, to protect the 100-amp that will be in the battery.  This external fuse I will have a spare and even be able to replace it on the road, so I will be waiting for parts.


It would be handy if I had a part number or something. I just spent a few minutes looking, they sure have a lot of items for sale.




The orange HV charging connector is made by EBUSBAR and what I am looking for is a very short cable to put my 75-amp fuse in series in a place where it can even be safely replaced on the road. I will carry a couple of spares.



Anyway, so far the job has been kind of a fun project. Especially since there is no hurry. That was an interesting trick I leaned from that video about using the rear wheel stand. Of course that will not work for wheel removal but is good  for just about everything else, even a chain lube. Since the axle is a bit higher, it makes the bike easier to get up on it.


After I have the battery out, can somebody here please explain how to get to the fuse. I assume I just start by taking the battery apart and I will see it, but I really have no clue because I never saw the guts of the inside of the 13.4 KWH battery.


The Video Frank_B posted was very helpful, but I have not seen anything about inside the 13.4 KWH battery.  BTW, I assume that battery must weight a few hundred ponds or so. Anybody know what the 13.4 KWH battery weights?







-Don-  Reno, NV

[smithy]

BTW, I assume that battery must weight a few hundred ponds or so. Anybody know what the 13.4 KWH battery weights?

-Don-  Reno, NV

I know the Experia battery weighs near 100kgs (~220lbs). I would assume the 13.4 battery would be substantially less.

Smithy.

[PWM]

Be safe...here's an illustration view from under-side of the pack once the casing is removed...me thinks the front / back annotations made is correct, so maybe lay the pack side down that can be left alone and only remove housing covering the charger-fuse, side up...

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qbKZjP3/0/KhBCcCtpvctcS3wpM3cj23CMmz5qwLtCTSDcQf4pb/XL/i-qbKZjP3-XL.jpg

Hope that helps...take lots-o-pictures as you go...

[DonTom]

Be safe...here's an illustration view from under-side of the pack once the casing is removed...me thinks the front / back annotations made is correct, so maybe lay the pack side down that can be left alone and only remove housing covering the charger-fuse, side up...

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qbKZjP3/0/KhBCcCtpvctcS3wpM3cj23CMmz5qwLtCTSDcQf4pb/XL/i-qbKZjP3-XL.jpg

Hope that helps...take lots-o-pictures as you go...

Thanks! Yes, that helps a lot!  So the fuse is still on the bottom of the pack. Now I will be wondering how often that 400-amp motor fuse blows!




I have done everything so far for battery removal except totally remove the three battery bolts. And I have those loosened, 12 MM nut on the left side and a 6 mm hex on the right which turns as trying to remove the nut. But easy to hold as a one mam job so that is NBD. I would expect more to hold such a heavy battery,  but I assume the Energica engineers knew what they were doing as I have not yet heard of anybody losing a 13.4 KWH battery!


The hex bolts are extremely tight everywhere, but no issue at all, don't even waste time trying to use a normal hex set. Use the type that fits on a 1/2" drive and get all the leverage needed, so those were no issue at all. I have lots and lots of tool here, I better with a dozen motorcycles!


I find it mostly common sense, simply remove anything and everything that the battery could drag down with it when the battery is lowered/bike raised.


And double and triple check a few times to make sure the battery is 100% free all around before the bolts are removed. That is what I will do next, but I am pretty sure I have the battery totally in the clear and it will not drag anything with it.


So far, I have done much tougher jobs than this one but only on ICE vehicles.   And I am glad I decided to do this job myself, helps me understand the bike, as this is the biggest job I have done so far on any electric motorcycle.





I can take a few photos right now. They probably won't be all that clear since it is night and other issues, such as me not all that good with cameras.


Two more on next message. . . .

[DonTom]

And the other two photos I just took.


I am not sure when I will do the next part, which is get the battery out of the bike, but I am as close as I can get to that point.

The chain from the crane is NOT touching any part of the bike, but the photo kind of looks that way. The chain goes to a soft strap that can hold a few thousand lbs.


-Don- Reno, NV

[DonTom]

I know the Experia battery weighs near 100kgs (~220lbs). I would assume the 13.4 battery would be substantially less.Smithy.

That is less than I expected. But I have heard the opposite, and that is what makes the bikes with the 21.5 KWH battery lighter than then older bikes with the 13.4 KWH. IIRC, it has something to do with the way it is cooled. The battery cooling is supposed to be better on the older bikes, but I cannot say I have noticed any difference. I am in the yellow as often on my SS9 as the 2023 Experia. However, the older battery charges closer to 2C, the newer bikes 1C.  My SS9 often charges at 24KW, I have never seen my 2023 Experia charge that high (I have not yet fast charged the 2025). And perhaps had something to do with why my 75-amp fuse blew.


I would have expected a higher charge rate on the 21.5 KWH battery than the 13.4, but it is more the opposite there also.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[Stonewolf]

The 13.4 battery uses an older chemistry and IIRC has more internal structure to conduct heat away from the cells (which is why the 21.5 battery struggles thermally). According to Sam from NZ it's about 130kg.

[smithy]

I know the Experia battery weighs near 100kgs (~220lbs). I would assume the 13.4 battery would be substantially less.Smithy.

That is less than I expected. But I have heard the opposite, and that is what makes the bikes with the 21.5 KWH battery lighter than then older bikes with the 13.4 KWH. IIRC, it has something to do with the way it is cooled. The battery cooling is supposed to be better on the older bikes, but I cannot say I have noticed any difference. I am in the yellow as often on my SS9 as the 2023 Experia. However, the older battery charges closer to 2C, the newer bikes 1C.  My SS9 often charges at 24KW, I have never seen my 2023 Experia charge that high (I have not yet fast charged the 2025). And perhaps had something to do with why my 75-amp fuse blew.


I would have expected a higher charge rate on the 21.5 KWH battery than the 13.4, but it is more the opposite there also.


-Don-  Reno, NV

Pretty sure the Experia has a 22.5kwh battery. The 21.5 is in the later Ego, Ribelle and SS9 I believe.

Smithy.

[DonTom]

The 13.4 battery uses an older chemistry and IIRC has more internal structure to conduct heat away from the cells (which is why the 21.5 battery struggles thermally). According to Sam from NZ it's about 130kg.

Yes, but the useable KWH is very close to the same. Only the max KWH (which is never used) is higher on the Experia. While I do not know, others have said the old cells and new cells weigh about the same and the difference in weight is the cooling, which I know nothing about. Perhaps you have it correct that the cells themselves are the main difference in cooling.


-Don-  (Truckee-Tahoe airport getting a free slow 3KW AC charge on my 23 Experia)

[Specter]

I have only really put my ego into the yellow on a very few times on the track, and that was back to back to back romping it then pushing a 12 kw charge, with the temp in the 90's and the track temp just ugh.  my ribelle, ive had yellow a few times but that's on stupid hot days and after long sustained 85 mph - 120 mph runs for several miles.   in the early afternoons and on weekends before the rush hour shit, traffic flows at 85 to 90 mph sometimes on the west belt and you can go for miles, weekends , with light traffic, people will actually move out of your way if they see you coming up so often times you'll have many miles with the left lane all yours. 

the only reason i am charging at only 12 kw on the bike is because that's all i can squeeze out of a 50 amp 240 vac outlet.   When i have my trailer there i can shove closer to 20 to 24 kw into it, tend to keep it at 60 amps batttery amps max though. even when in the yellow, i have only seen it curtail my charge amps when it was pushing close to going orange, after i let some of the racers run the bike, you know, .. people who actually CAN milk it for all it's worth, unlike me   

the ego/ribelle have the 21.5 battery  the experia 22.5, not sure if that extra kw is because they opened it up a bit more due to less of a max pull on it, or different cells or what.  i cant remember if the voltage top was diff between the two, implying more batteries for the bigger battery.  it could also be something along the lines of instead of using 3500 mah cells they used 3700 or something like that, again not sure where the extra kw capacity comes from but pretty sure they both weigh about the same.


aaron

[DonTom]

According to Sam from NZ it's about 130kg.

If true, (287 lbs) means the 13.4 really is heavier than the 220 lbs (100kg) 21.5 KWH battery.


-Don-  (Truckee-Tahoe Airport, CA)

[MVetter]

I know the Experia battery weighs near 100kgs (~220lbs). I would assume the 13.4 battery would be substantially less.

Smithy.

You'd be quite wrong. The 21.5 is probably lighter than the 13.4. They are radically different designs. The 13.4 has that massive armored protective shell with the cooling vents in the middle. This is what allowed the bikes to do back to back full speed DC charging all day long. But that armored shell is HEAVY. Probably close to 100 lbs by itself.

When they were designing the 21.5 packs I suspect they had a lot of internal debates and decided that the vast majority of their riders wanted more range and weren't doing more than 1-2 charge sessions per day. So they scrapped the massive armored vented case and went for a lighter, thinner, sealed case and just crammed it full of battery cells. This allowed the massive leap in capacity but sacrificed the nice thermal management. Again, their data probably led them to believe most of their customers liked to ride about 100 miles, stop for a charge and a lunch, then ride 100 miles home. This is one of the reasons the 21.5 bikes are 573 lbs and the 13.4 bikes are like 640 lbs. The redesign of the motor and inverter helped, but that didn't happen until the gen 2 of 21.5 bikes.

So yeah, the 13.4 pack is heavier. Fun fact for you, Don: I was just at Energica HQ during the open house/clearance and noticed a specialized tool in the back corner of the room. It's specifically designed to grab all the mounting points of 13.4 packs so you can crack open the shell and to cell repair. Maybe see if you can rent it from them. Bring a truck over, haul it back, play with it, and then return it. Or buy it altogether!

[Stonewolf]

I have only really put my ego into the yellow on a very few times on the track, and that was back to back to back romping it then pushing a 12 kw charge, with the temp in the 90's and the track temp just ugh.  my ribelle, ive had yellow a few times but that's on stupid hot days and after long sustained 85 mph - 120 mph runs for several miles.   in the early afternoons and on weekends before the rush hour shit, traffic flows at 85 to 90 mph sometimes on the west belt and you can go for miles, weekends , with light traffic, people will actually move out of your way if they see you coming up so often times you'll have many miles with the left lane all yours. 

the only reason i am charging at only 12 kw on the bike is because that's all i can squeeze out of a 50 amp 240 vac outlet.   When i have my trailer there i can shove closer to 20 to 24 kw into it, tend to keep it at 60 amps batttery amps max though. even when in the yellow, i have only seen it curtail my charge amps when it was pushing close to going orange, after i let some of the racers run the bike, you know, .. people who actually CAN milk it for all it's worth, unlike me   

the ego/ribelle have the 21.5 battery  the experia 22.5, not sure if that extra kw is because they opened it up a bit more due to less of a max pull on it, or different cells or what.  i cant remember if the voltage top was diff between the two, implying more batteries for the bigger battery.  it could also be something along the lines of instead of using 3500 mah cells they used 3700 or something like that, again not sure where the extra kw capacity comes from but pretty sure they both weigh about the same.


aaron

Thermal performance from draw is basicly irrelevant for Eva Ribelle, the thermal issues are with charging. If you do a handful of charges on your ride you'll run into thermal throttling on the second or third if you're using the 65A (normal) or 75A (max) setting. My bike has actually developed an issue where it goes yellow half way through the first charge at 65A and stays yellow and I'm waiting for the PSU to get fixed so they can pull OBD data from it and see if it's localised (potentially a bad sensor) or the whole pack.

[DonTom]

\Don: I was just at Energica HQ during the open house/clearance and noticed a specialized tool in the back corner of the room. It's specifically designed to grab all the mounting points of 13.4 packs so you can crack open the shell and to cell repair. Maybe see if you can rent it from them. Bring a truck over, haul it back, play with it, and then return it. Or buy it altogether!

Thanks for all that great info! That is what I heard before, that the extra weight of the 13.4 KWH battery was the cooling stuff, which was quite heavy and removed from the newer bikes. If my SS9- can charge faster and better on hot days, that's a good reason to keep it. However, I am in the yellow as much on it as with my Experia after DCFCs on a warm day, but I am not sure if that means much.


I assume that cooling stuff is why the smaller battery charges at 2C and the larger battery at 1C. My norm charge on my SS9- is around 2KW higher than on my 2023 Experia. I have not yet DCFCed my 2025 Experia.


I am not sure what you were saying about the cells. The main thing I want to know is if I will I have any issues getting to the DCFC fuse with my normal hand tools.  That's all I care about for now. I was assuming I only need to undo the bolts around the battery to get into it.
-Don- Auburn, CA

[Specter]

The bigger packs have a better warranty on them too,  5 years.  That means you should have  treat them nicer to fully see that, hence the 1C charge rate .vs. 2C or more for increased longevity.  This goes for pretty much any battery though, slower amp flow, lighter capacity drains make them last longer.

ideally 0.5 C is what most manu's would like you to do their batteries at, so overnight charging is perfect for them, on the road,  ehh not gonna happen

Aaron