E-bike batteries in your bike shop: store, move, hand in

Take the battery back and store it in a closed collection unit, away from anything that burns. Then let the collection scheme pick it up. For batches, damaged packs or batteries that may deserve a second life, YouPower Recycling is our Battery Disassembly Center. Our page on lithium battery recycling shows how we take in e-bikes and small lithium batteries, check them and take them apart. This article covers everything that happens before a battery leaves your shop.

It starts small. A customer buys a new e-bike and leaves the old battery on the counter. After the winter service, three dead packs sit on the workbench. Then someone brings in a speed pedelec after a fall, and the battery case has a crack.

Most shops put them on a shelf in the workshop, next to tyres, cardboard and spray cans. That is exactly where they should not be. A lithium battery that no longer powers a bike still holds most of its voltage. A damaged one can still heat up later. On forums, installers say most lithium fires they hear about start with tools and e-bike batteries, not with large storage systems.

The other risk is paperwork. In the Netherlands, Bright reported in October 2025 that inspectors found bike shops handing e-bike batteries to local scrap collectors. Only about a quarter of discarded e-bike batteries there were being recycled properly. A shop that cannot show where its batteries went has a problem, whatever the country.

Our Battery Disassembly Center takes in damaged cars, e-bikes, lithium batteries and smaller lithium applications. We dismantle old and broken lithium batteries from cars, home batteries and bicycles. That is why this guide starts at your counter, not at our plant.

Must a bike shop take back old e-bike batteries?

Yes, if you sell them. Since 18 August 2025, the EU Battery Regulation obliges every distributor to take back waste batteries from end users free of charge. The customer does not have to buy or have bought a new battery.

Article 62 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 sets the rules for distributors. For a bike shop they come down to this:

• Free of charge, no purchase needed: you cannot ask a fee or make the take-back depend on a sale.
• Any brand, any chemistry, any origin: a battery from a brand you never sold still comes back to you.
• Only the categories you sell: a shop that sells e-bikes takes back e-bike batteries. The duty does not cover categories you never had on offer.
• At or near your shop: the take-back happens at or in the vicinity of your retail outlet.
• Online and delivery sales too: a webshop must offer free take-back at the delivery address or at a local collection point. It must tell the buyer how when the order is placed.
• The battery, not the whole product: the duty covers waste batteries, not waste products that contain a battery.

What you take back, you hand over. The regulation allows two routes: the producer or its producer responsibility organisation, or a waste management operator that they selected. The Flemish waste agency OVAM names Bebat and Febelauto as such organisations. In Belgium, Bebat collects batteries of light means of transport, such as bike and e-step batteries, at recycling parks and at bike shops.

Which batteries count as e-bike or LMT batteries?

The regulation calls them LMT batteries: batteries for light means of transport. An LMT battery is sealed and weighs 25 kg or less. It powers the wheels of a vehicle that runs on a motor alone, or on motor and pedal power.

The weight decides a lot. The same shop can hold batteries from three different categories, each with its own route.

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, article 3; OVAM. Anything above 25 kg falls under strict storage and transport rules, Bebat notes. For those, Bebat has a separate collection service with its own packaging.

How do you store e-bike batteries safely in the shop and the workshop?

In a closed collection unit, in a dry place, far from anything that burns, and never for longer than needed. Bebat's safety brochure for specialised collection points sets out the rules.

• Use only Bebat collection units. They are designed to store batteries safely. Close the drum with its lid and clamp ring after every use.
• Only batteries go inside. No metal objects, no flammable or conductive materials. Put a waste bin next to the unit so nothing else ends up in it.
• A dry, sheltered place, indoors or under a roof. Avoid extreme heat and cold.
• Far from flammable material. Old paper, oil bottles and spray cans do not belong near the unit. In a bike workshop, add tyres, cardboard boxes and cleaning products.
• Have units collected in time. A full drum in the corner is an unnecessary stock of batteries.
• Tape the contacts. Bebat asks to tape the poles of loose batteries, so they cannot touch metal or each other.

Bebat also gives rules to professionals who collect, transport or store batteries. They need detection, storage split into compartments and a risk analysis of their own business. A busy workshop can borrow that logic: a smoke detector above the collection spot, and the stock kept apart.

Charging customer bikes? Keep charging and storage of waste batteries apart. The fire service and insurer questions for a fixed battery installation are in our article on business battery safety.

What do you do with a swollen, dropped or burnt e-bike battery?

Treat it as damaged from the moment it enters your shop. Bebat has a separate section in its safety brochure for vehicle batteries: cars, e-bikes and e-steps in garages, workshops and shops.

• Check at intake. When a bike comes in after a fall or a crash, look closely at the battery. Ask the owner what happened, so you also know about damage you cannot see.
• Watch it around a repair. If you repair batteries or bikes with batteries, keep an eye on them before, during and shortly after the repair.
• Pack it. Insulate the poles and any sharp or protruding parts with tape. Wrap the battery 5 to 6 times in plastic film, then put it in the Bebat collection unit.
• Careful with burnt packs. Heat can damage the inside of the battery, so an internal short circuit can still happen later.
• Heat, smoke or a leak? Cover the battery with dry sand or submerge it fully in water.
• Keep it closed. Always store batteries in a Bebat container with the lid closed.

After an incident, report it to Bebat on its free number 0800 97 521. Bebat then collects the collection unit or the damaged batteries as fast as possible. Damaged forklift or UPS packs of your own company follow other rules. Read our article on old lithium batteries in a company.

Can you drive old e-bike batteries to a depot yourself?

Usually you do not need to, and it is not as simple as loading the van. Transport of lithium batteries by road falls under ADR, the European agreement on dangerous goods by road.

Two ADR special provisions matter for a bike shop:

• Batteries for disposal or recycling (special provision 377): they may be packed under packing instruction P909. Each package needs a label showing that it holds lithium batteries for disposal or recycling.
• Damaged or defective batteries (special provision 376): they need stricter packaging (P908), usually special battery containers. Batteries that pose an especially high hazard need P911.

That is why the regulation puts the transport job on the producers. Their schemes must provide suitable collection and transport containers free of charge to connected collection points. Those containers must meet the EU directive on the transport of dangerous goods. The schemes must then collect the batteries free of charge, as often as the volume and hazard require (article 60).

How does free collection by Bebat work for a bike shop?

You register as a collection point, get collection units and request a pickup when they are full. Bebat says becoming a collection point is free, and so are the pickups.

1. Step 1: Register as a Bebat collection point via MyBebat, Bebat's online platform. Bebat provides collection units for different battery types and quantities.
2. Step 2: Fill the units according to the safety rules above. Damaged batteries go in individually packed.
3. Step 3: Request a pickup via MyBebat, by e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on the free number 0800 97 521. Units with telemetry schedule a pickup by themselves when they are nearly full.
4. Step 4: The driver collects within 5 working days. Put all units together in one spot, easy to reach, with no batteries lying next to them.
5. Step 5: Download the collection certificate in MyBebat. Keep it: it is your proof of where the batteries went.

Repair, second life or end of life: what happens to an old e-bike battery?

Not every battery a customer hands in is finished. Bebat writes that an e-bike battery lasts 3 to 5 years depending on its type, and many last a lot longer. A professional refurbishment sometimes costs less than a new battery.

The rules are moving in the same direction. From 18 February 2027, an e-bike battery and its individual cells must be removable and replaceable by an independent professional (article 11). From the same date, every LMT battery placed on the market needs a digital battery passport (article 77).

Collection also has to grow. The regulation sets these targets for waste LMT batteries:

Only a measurement tells whether a pack can have a second life. At our Battery Disassembly Center, a battery that passes screening can be reused in second life applications. If not, it is end of life after the measurements. Our article on second-life batteries for businesses explains where that line lies and what EU law asks.

What happens to an e-bike battery at our Battery Disassembly Center?

It is checked, screened and then either reused or taken apart safely. The process is the same for e-bike packs as for larger lithium batteries.

Where needed, we take additional safety measures before a damaged battery is handled further. Safe and accurate handling is the key: clear disassembly instructions must be followed, and the work is done by experts.

What happens when you contact YouPower Recycling?

We start with what you have, not with a standard offer.

1. Step 1: You tell us what you have. The type of batteries, how many, their state (intact, swollen, dropped, burnt) and where they are.
2. Step 2: We tell you the right route. Some batteries belong in your Bebat collection unit; others need an assessment first.
3. Step 3: Intake and assessment at our Battery Disassembly Center. We determine the type and features, assess the condition and check the cells for damage.
4. Step 4: Screening decides between second life and end of life, followed by safe disassembly and shredding into raw materials.