YUROP

No silly the battery is there so the book can play videos of subway surfers on the side while you read.

damn, both impressed and uncomfortable without so much juice going thru a phone charger.

Hmm. So should our mid-size power standard also be able to push data? And then maybe a third standard for EVs and similar. If AC is okay just a standard plug will do it.

It would be possible to put in a voltage converter that would boost the 20 volts that's relatively common for USB-C/PD devices to whatever voltage the battery pack needs to charge while increasing the losses on the charge.

A 200 watt charger for a 48 volt 20 amp battery would be okay, but it would take like five to eight hours to charge depending on what kind of losses are involved.

It's pretty rare to see USB-C charger that can handle 200 watts on a single port. More common is like 120, so it would take closer to 10-12 hours to charge that battery with USB-C versus a barrel plug.

And even if the cable is able to handle the 200 watts or more, it would be on the user to remember that they can't plug in their 15 watt charger and actually charge their ebike battery.

So once you take all of that into consideration, given that you're going to need a separate charger specifically for your e-bike battery, then why would it even matter that it's USB-C?

I'm not aware of any cell type with more than a few volts of potential. If we're designing from scratch you just put fewer of them in series in each pack. There might be problems getting other components conductive enough to facilitate the needed power transfer at a much lower voltage, although now we're outside of what I really know. If it's 40V it shouldn't be a problem.

While you're at it standards for higher power DC would also be good. IIRC there's a few in competition for EVs right now.

My laptop takes 300 watts from a proprietary charger and will only charge via USB-C when off. I don’t think it’s enough power for a bike.

My thought process was similar when I first heard of them. I asked my most handy friend why electric screwdrivers exist when drill.

He said that it was primarily because sometimes low torque was needed for delicate tasks and it's much easier to control that in a less high powered device.

I've never had real cause to use one, but that explanation at least seems plausible.