How to Become an Electric Bike Technician
Jan 29, 2025
7 Comments
Share
LEVA has trained close to 2000 technicians in our various courses. These courses range from one-hour safety-focused, online events to two days of in-person training and semester-long training at vocational-technical schools.
Experience with these programs has taught me that a “complete” e-bike tech needs to thoroughly understand and be comfortable working on the mechanical parts of an e-bike. That takes longer and requires more tools than being able to service the electronic parts.
There is a different mindset between bike mechanics who are used to being able to see, feel, and hear issues with the mechanical parts of the bike and the mindset that relies on measuring instruments and error codes to service the propulsion system of an electric bike. Mechanical stuff is harder.
Most e-bike problems are mechanical problems. Flat tires, out-of-true wheels, broken spokes, brakes that need adjusting, all the normal bike problems. So, the first step is to learn how to work on the bike.
Sponsor
Sponsor
Learning Opportunities for Aspiring Technicians
Historically, bike mechanics usually learned on the job. I started working in bike shops as a teenager and was mentored by men who had been in the shop for decades. But there are more options today.
United Bicycle Institute is probably the oldest of the schools, but a good search for such training yields many choices, along with many books and websites.
And, of course, there is the old school approach: Offer to work for free at a bike shop in exchange for experience as a mechanic.
Once the mechanical knowledge is developed sufficiently, the next step is to learn about the electrical/electronic side.
Key Areas of Technician Training
There are three areas of knowledge development that I regard as important:
1. Safety for the technician and the customer. This includes fire and electrical shock safety. But it also includes test ride safety. We are combining kinetic energy, electrical energy, heat, and a lot of stored energy all in one small vehicle.
2. The fundamentals of how the various systems work. Our goal, which we do appear to reach most of the time, is for the students in our classes to learn enough to figure out almost any problem. And to know where to seek help if needed.
3. Awareness of the need to attend clinics on proprietary systems so that the technician learns the error codes and solutions for such. And knowing how to gain access to service software on systems that are not proprietary. A part of this is to realize that e-bike service often requires more updating of software or adjusting values in software than it does turning a wrench.
Safety and Battery Handling
One of the big safety issues is battery handling. Preventing fires, responding correctly if a fire does occur, and disposing of old or damaged batteries.
There are two truths to consider on battery safety.
1. Almost all batteries are safe and will give no problems.
2. Problem batteries (mistreated, cheap, damaged, or suspect batteries) will be brought to the bike
shop with little or perhaps misleading information. And then trouble occurs.
When a large format Lithium Ion battery gets into thermal runaway (a fancy way to say…it catches fire), the result is very serious. Fumes and smoke are quickly followed by exploding cells that fling burning material and hot bits of battery around. These are dangerous and will cause a fire to spread.
The smoke and fumes are toxic and likely to reduce visibility to zero. The most important action of the technician is to evacuate the building.
We teach how to prevent such fires and how to minimize such fires using appropriate firefighting materials and techniques. But the dangers are such that these are not always useful. Evacuation is the most important action. We have a one-hour “Safe Battery Handling” course that comes with a certificate. This is online and has a short test.
Safe disposal of batteries is part of all of our courses, as is learning about UL and EN standards, battery shipping, and regulations.
Training Courses Offered by LEVA
Our most popular course is the 2-day, 4 hours each day, 8 hours in total online lecture that is accompanied by two practical skills exercises, a test, and a comprehensive book and video resource. This is offered in English and soon – Spanish. The online nature of the course has allowed students from all over the world to attend.
We know from experience that most students in that course will learn how an e-bike works at the component level and how to diagnose nearly any issue. And to know where to find info on software issues and how to address such issues.
Online & Hands-On Learning Options
Now that COVID is mostly gone, we are once again offering the two-day 16 total hours course in both Virginia and Florida. Once a year, and in the late fall or mid-winter. This course is a hands-on version of the online course.
The semester courses vary in location and offering. Contact [email protected] to learn about them. Almost all of them are at VoTech High Schools or Community Colleges.
Proprietary System Clinics
Many e-bikes today use propulsion systems that are self-diagnosing, and while these are very simple to understand the process and to perform the correct repair, each brand is different in detail.
The basic ideas are the same between all. ‘Find the component that is not working properly and replace it.’ Same as we teach our students to do.
To work on the various proprietary systems (Examples are Bosch, Brose, and Shimano), the technician needs to attend (in person or maybe online) a clinic where the credentials to access the system and to understand the diagnostic codes is made available.
The Growing Demand & Career Opportunities in the E-Bike Industry
Electric bikes are already the major profit maker for bicycle brands. And the growth category. Sales are climbing all over the world, and eCE predicts that the stable size of the e-bike market will be 50% of all bicycle units. This is already the case in several Western nations and in several Asian nations. About 400 million e-bikes are in service worldwide.
Despite the rapid growth of e-bikes, the number of technicians who can work on them is still small in most of the world. This means that such skills are good for career and job advancement, for better pay, and there are relatively few competing shops and mechanics at this time.
You can learn more about the LEVA Training at www.LEVAssociation.com.
The contact person at LEVA is Martin Massuh, who is fluent in both English and Spanish. He lives in Argentina (The e-bike world is very international), so occasionally, he responds a day or so late.
[email protected]
I welcome questions and comments. [email protected]
We all face a bright future.
Sponsor
*Please help support our efforts at Electric Bike Report. We work hard to provide the highest quality content, news, and reviews for our readers – and our sponsors make all of this possible. Please visit our sponsors from their ads on our website and let them know that you appreciate what they do for the e-bike industry and Electric Bike Report
Sponsors
Sponsor
Sounds like a great option and idea!
Great article! Bikes are the future and growing really fast in many countries.
OK so the good looking guy with the blue Hawaiian shirt on is mike from Pedego Sarasota hanging out with Pete Prebus of the EBR and Court Rye from Electric Bike review two years ago at the Prodecotech facility. Learned a lot, enough to have a new profit center of repairing all types of Electric bikes.
Great class .. I attended with Ed in Fort Myers. You will really learn A lot.
David
Looks like a good opportunity for a baby boomer since I noticed that the folks on the video were around my age .
i am a retired mechanic.i am 68 years old ,i wanted to get into repairing e-bikes can i take online classes?is it possible to get certified through your schooling.i see these bike all over in our town the nearest bike shop to work on these is 100 miles away,people hate that.im very interested in fixing these bikes im in a town of 50,000 and no bike tech…can you help me,im very interested in this field..thank you.i would come to your schooling i just need to have info on that
I want to open a kick scooter and E-bike retail store and repair shop, I’m interested in taking you November 19-20 class with Ed Benjamin,