Specialized Announces Voluntary Recall of Some Gen 1 Levo & Kenevo Battery Packs
Specialized has issued a voluntary recall for a number of battery packs that were used on first generation Turbo Levo and Kenevo e-bikes due to a chance of short-circuiting if water reaches a portion of the battery's circuit board.
The full details of the recall are below, and can also be found at: www.specialized.com/gb/en/safety-notices .
PRESS RELEASE: Specialized
Dear Specialized rider,
We are issuing a voluntary recall for a small number of battery packs sold as original equipment on and as aftermarket equipment for use with 1st Generation Turbo Levo and Kenevo electric mountain bikes with the control panel on the side, manufactured between 2017 and 2019. Specialized and retailers will contact riders that may be affected by this recall via email and with a notification on the Turbo Mission Control app.
Please read the instructions below to determine if your battery is affected. If so, reach out to your Authorized Specialized Retailer who will inspect your bike and repair the battery pack at no cost to you, which involves re-gluing the Control Pad to seal it more effectively. Lithium-ion batteries are a stable and safe way to power our portable electronic devices, including e-bikes. As with all devices, review your bike's user manual for proper care.
It is a privilege to share our passion for bikes with you and we hope to get you back on the trails quickly. Reach out to your retailer or contact Specialized Rider Care if you have any questions.
Thank you for riding Specialized,
Mike Sinyard
We are issuing a voluntary recall for a small number of battery packs sold as original equipment on and as aftermarket equipment for use with 1st Generation Turbo Levo and Kenevo electric mountain bikes with the control panel on the side, manufactured between 2017 and 2019. Specialized and retailers will contact riders that may be affected by this recall via email and with a notification on the Turbo Mission Control app.
Please read the instructions below to determine if your battery is affected. If so, reach out to your Authorized Specialized Retailer who will inspect your bike and repair the battery pack at no cost to you, which involves re-gluing the Control Pad to seal it more effectively. Lithium-ion batteries are a stable and safe way to power our portable electronic devices, including e-bikes. As with all devices, review your bike's user manual for proper care.
It is a privilege to share our passion for bikes with you and we hope to get you back on the trails quickly. Reach out to your retailer or contact Specialized Rider Care if you have any questions.
Thank you for riding Specialized,
Mike Sinyard
Reason for This Recall
All Specialized bike batteries are designed and tested to meet or exceed industry standards for water resistance. For the small number (estimated less than 15%) of battery packs, if conductive water (e.g., salt or chlorinated) penetrates the seal around the Control Pad, e.g., through repeated pressure-washing, and reaches a specific very small area of the battery pack’s protection circuit board, it can in very rare cases trigger a short-circuit that would bypass the multiple layers of protection built into the battery pack. In sufficiently charged battery packs, this can potentially lead to a thermal runaway event, posing fire and burn hazards.
Affected Bike Models
The following bike models may have a recalled battery. If your bike is not listed here, then you are not affected by this recall. In first generation Levo and Kenevo bikes, the Control Pad is located on the side of the battery. If your Control Pad is not located on the side of the battery you are not affected by this recall.
How to Tell if Your M1 "Trail" Battery is Affected:
Potentially affected battery packs can be identified by a combination of both the part number and manufacture dates listed below, both of which are noted on a label adhered to each battery pack.
The battery pack needs to be removed from the bicycle using a 6mm Allen key in order to read the label. If the label cannot be read or is missing, you should arrange to take your bike into your nearest authorized retailer for checking.
What Should I Do if I Have An Affected Battery Pack?
Re-install your battery in the bike, but do not charge the battery pack until your Authorized Specialized Retailer has repaired it. If your battery pack has a charge level of 50% or more, as a precaution, you should ride your bike (in dry conditions) as soon as possible for the sole purpose of reducing the charge level to less than 50% (if possible, no lower than 20% for retailer diagnostics). Once below a 50% charge level, please contact your Authorized Specialized Retailer to schedule a free bike repair starting Monday, May 24.
If your Control Pad is not located on the side of the battery or if your battery pack Manufacture P/N is not listed here then you are not affected by this recall and may keep riding your bike as usual.
What Will Specialized Do For Affected Riders?
Specialized Rider Care and Retailers will be contacting riders who may be affected by this recall.
If your battery pack is affected, your Authorized Specialized Retailer will inspect and repair it at no cost to you, which involves re-gluing the Control Pad to seal it more effectively.
Do not expose your battery pack to any water until it is repaired. Even thereafter, do not use a high-pressure water spray to clean your bicycle or battery pack.
For more information, please visit: www.specialized.com/gb/en/safety-notices .
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92 Comments
"People on their way to work say baby what did you expect
Gonna burst into flame
Go ahead
Burning down the house"
www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/19/e-bike-left-on-charge-blamed-after-fire-engulfs-sydney-home
#FutureDestroysThePast
So … Just get an electric dirt bike already
Also, they're just called bikes. A "non-ebike" is not a thing.
Wow. Who knew...
Huh......go figure.
Shocking.
"Lithium-ion batteries are a stable and safe way" So, this is sort of correct, Lithium batteries are stable and can be somewhat safe, but depending on who your supplier is, and how your BMS operates, it may not be true. Lithium batteries compared to a Pb acid, or NiMH, not at all safe or stable, but way more energy dense. But they're also way less tolerant and if you skimp on battery protections, they have some pretty crazy failure modes. We can see temperatures that are in the several hundred Celsius range and if your pack goes into a thermal runaway, good luck extinguishing it. The only way to stop a Li-Ion battery fire is to cool the pack to the point that the reaction ceases. The only way I know to do that is with copious amounts water.
If you have a Specialized e bike, you need to keep it over a dunk tank with thermal fuse, that way when it goes into thermal runaway it'll drop into a big tank of water and stop it from burning your entire house down.
This! I work in the battery trade and our main focus is pb acid but we do get a lot of Li-on come through our doors. Once thermal runaway starts and it doesn't take much, stand back and watch the flames
We did cell balancing technology on all of the cells to maintain best lifetime.
I would not want to be in the way when lithium cells go!
Safer than oil an gas downhole tools cells though that only start to operate at higher temperatures.
I still do work with battery manufacturers, but only for mass manufacture, some of the failure rates for the common battery we all buy from the shops is quite high, luckily they dont pose much threat when they fail.
I have seen a CR2032 fail in spectacular fashion, a nice firework! (we didn't qualify that manufacturer, but they were not a small one!)
We do battery abuse on purpose and have some pretty large steel chambers to perform testing in. Our chambers are designed to hold back about 20psi and we’ve had some small thionyl chloride primary cells damage our chambers. We used to test in a chamber that was essentially an old gun turret and a very large thionyl chloride under abuse caused the turret to lift off the ground.
Li-ion rechargeables don’t have the energy density of a lithium metal primary so their failures aren’t as spectacular, but if pack a lot of them into a tiny space you can get some major fireworks. We’re working on some Pb-acid replacements and when you package a lot of 26650 into a cubic foot and then abuse one cell they’ll burn hot and for a long time, hours depending on what the battery case is made of.
The inexpensive Drone or RC batteries are a real safety concern they are produced extremely poorly and typically rely on a charger for their BMS. We’ve had several go off during standard non-abusive cycling. I won’t let them into my house to be charged for my kids toys.
could you send me an email to iulianfi"at"yahoo.com? Thanks a bunch!!!
Specializeds' lawyers should be strapped to pile of ebike batteries, then given a thorough going over with a power washer.
I havent had a gen1 for over a year now & it was always known not to get the switch area wet or you would likely get the battery light issue of doom due to moisture ingress. Plus people wanting to buy a new rubber as theirs had fell off & gotten lost.
I expect plenty have had to buy a new battery out of warranty due to this issue, pretty poor, but the price of early adoption. The gen2/3 are much much better plus a damn sight cheaper & more plentiful to buy secondhand.