Electric Bike Technician Training at ProdecoTech by LEVA

Ed Benjamin reviews the work of members of the class who installed a Watts Up meter on a ProdecoTech Stride electric bike.

The other day Robert Provost, CEO of ProdecoTech, invited me to join them for the Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA) E-Bike Technician Training at ProdecoTech headquarters.

How could I say no?!

The LEVA E-Bike Technician Training helps electric bike dealers increase their e-bike knowledge and diagnose and troubleshoot electric bike technical issues for their customers.

Ed Benjamin is the founder and chairman of LEVA (also Managing Director of eCycleElectric) and he taught the 3 levels of the e-bike technician training over the 2 day course period.  Ed has been involved in the electric bike industry since 1996 and he is definitely considered an e-bike guru!

ProdecoTech is a unique electric bike company because they assemble their bikes in a 60,000 sq. ft. facility in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida USA.

Last year I had the opportunity to visit their new assembly facility.  Make sure you checkout my report of the ProdecoTech electric bike assembly facility.

And here is a video tour of their facility:

Now that you have an idea of what ProdecoTech is all about, let’s dive into the LEVA E-Bike Technician Training.

The training courses have been developed by Dr. Don Gerhardt along with input from other experts in the electric bike industry.  Dr. Gerhardt is a professional engineer with experience at Ford, GM, and Ingersoll Rand.  He currently provides electric vehicle product design services in addition to his work with LEVA. Here is more information on Dr. Gerhardt’s background.

Below is a break down of the 3 levels of E-Bike Technician Training that LEVA provides:

Level 1 is a 2-hour basic training course that provides an introduction for technicians to e-bikes, batteries, battery chargers, controllers, controls, displays, electric motors and wiring systems. LEVA members are able to take the course online for free.

Ed Benjamin from the Light Electric Vehicle Association teaches a course on the basics of e-bikes.

This is what the inside of a geared hub electric bike motor looks like.

And the inside of a direct drive electric bike motor.

A lithium ion electric bike battery pack with its cells exposed.

Level 2 is an 8-hour intermediate training course that includes both class room instruction and hands on training.

Students learn electrical theory, how e-bike components function, how to diagnose failures on all the components and how to replace failed electrical components.

Students learn how to set up e-bikes, solder, make electrical connections, use multimeters, use DC clamp on meters, use motor-controller-throttle testers and how to install and interpret data from the Cycle Analyst power meter & Watt’s Up meter during the hands on training.

Hands on wire connection was part of the course. We learned how to make Anderson Connections, soldered connections, splice connections, and more.

Ed Benjamin reviews the work of members of the class who installed a Watts Up meter on a ProdecoTech Stride electric bike.

The Watt’s Up meter provides “heart rate” information of an e-bike and can help locate technical issues.

Mr. Benjamin quizzes students on their installation of a Cycle Analyst meter on a ProdecoTech Mariner 7.

Level 3 is an 8-hour advanced training course that includes both class room instruction and hands on training.

Students learn how to diagnose complex failures and repair the components.

Students learn how to operate a computer controlled battery analyzer to determine the precise capacity of bicycle batteries. The student will be able to provide battery analyses to their customers and advise when it is time to replace the battery.

Ed Benjamin running a battery test with computer hardware and software.

Ed Benjamin presents the results of the battery test to the class with instructions on how to diagnose the battery’s health.

In addition, ASI was at the training to provide information on their electric bike controllers.

After 2 days of immersion at the LEVA E-Bike Technician Training, here are my thoughts.

Ed Benjamin did a great job of presenting the e-bike technical education, teaching hands on diagnostics & troubleshooting, helping dealers with customer education, and providing his predictions of what is on the horizon for the electric bike industry.

Ed was very helpful in answering questions and providing guidance to dealers who had specific questions about their business.  As a previous owner and operator of 4 retail bike shops, Ed knows the retail bike business well.

There were a lot of educational slides that were put together by Dr. Gerhardt and all of them were provided to the students in a CD for reference after the class.

One of the handy materials provided was the e-bike troubleshooting checklist. This is a form that a dealer can fill out when analyzing a customer’s electric bike and it provides an organized and logical process for evaluating an e-bike.

The hands on training was very helpful.  It was nice to have the guidance on what tools to buy, how to use the tools properly, and how to safely work on an e-bike.

For the Level 1, 2, & 3 package price of $500 (for LEVA members) it is definitely a value for dealers who want to increase their technical knowledge and provide their customers with a better understanding of what needs to be fixed on their electric bike.

Since the industry and technology is always changing, LEVA offers graduates of the training an option to retake the courses for $100 to stay current on the latest training.

After the first day of training we enjoyed a tour of the ProdecoTech assembly facility. Robert Provost showed us the latest at ProdecoTech and took the time to answer everyone’s questions about their company.

Robert Provost, CEO of ProdecoTech, started the tour of the facility at the bike assembly area.

This is just part of e-bike assembly area. There are a total of 64 assembly stations!

ProdecoTech builds all of their wheels on site with their Holland Wheel Building Machine.

And these are just a few of the many wheels!  This was a temporary spot for these wheels as the wheel department was being expanded.

Yeah, that’s a lot of electric bikes!

ProdecoTech is using the mechanical Park e-bike stands; high tech!

These ProdecoTech bikes are ready for boxing and shipping.

Robert Provost talks about their boxing process. ProdecoTech bikes arrive to dealers/customers almost completely assembled.

ProdecoTech has a large warehouse for all of the parts that they keep in stock.

Boxed ProdecoTech e-bikes, ready for shipment.

And here are more pictures from the LEVA E-Bike Technician Training and the tour of the ProdecoTech assembly facility:

Overall, it was a great experience to take the LEVA Level 1, 2, 3 E-Bike Technician Training.  I recommend these courses to any e-bike dealer who wants to improve their technical know how and business operations.  Check this page for when the training will be offered next.

Thanks to ProdecoTech for hosting the LEVA training and inviting me to attend!  If you haven’t already, make sure you checkout my full trip report of the ProdecoTech e-bike assembly facility for a more in depth look at this unique e-bike company.

-Pete

P.S. Don’t forget to join the Electric Bike Report community for updates from the electric bike world, plus ebike riding and maintenance tips!