Removable battery: what the right to repair changes

In practice, a removable battery has three advantages: you can take a spare battery to extend a ride, charge it separately from the board, and replace a worn battery without sending the whole product back to the workshop. A non-removable battery, on the other hand, forms a single unit with the chassis: replacing it often requires a full strip-down and a technical service.

A non-removable battery is not necessarily a bad choice: it sometimes allows a more compact, lighter chassis, which suits purely urban use. The question to ask is about real use: for a long ride on isolated terrain, far from a socket, a removable battery gives a safety margin that a fixed battery does not.

For several years, the European Union has been pushing for a stronger right to repair, with a repairability index already compulsory for some categories of electronic products. For light electric mobility, this trend has not yet become a specific regulatory obligation, but it is already shaping the buying choices of users who care about how long their equipment lasts rather than replacing it.

On The Stern', a 7 kg removable backpack battery charges in 2 hours 30 minutes with the 10 A fast charger, separately from the board. Wear parts (tyres, grip tape, bushings) are sold separately as accessories. See The Stern' page for details of the 8 configurations and their battery type, integrated or removable depending on the model.