French firm Gouach is pitching an Infinite Battery with replaceable cells

Safety, User Behavior & Risk

• Some worry that typical e‑bike users are too reckless to safely handle loose 18650 cells, source good-quality cells, or configure current limits, predicting fires from misconfiguration or bad packs.
• Others argue the concept is fine if assembly is left to trained bike shops or centralized “matched cell” suppliers rather than random DIY mixing.
• People cite elevator/plane fire fears and say they wouldn’t want to share a plane or even an elevator with user-assembled high‑energy packs.

Balancing, Pack Design & Technical Feasibility

• Critics say cell packs must be factory‑matched and balanced; mismatched cells in series or parallel can cause some cells to be overstressed, beyond what per‑cell monitoring can safely correct.
• Others counter that with good BMS, per‑cell voltage/temperature monitoring and conservative limits, slight mismatch is manageable; cells in parallel auto‑balance if voltages are close.
• Co‑founders claim per‑cell monitoring, auto‑balancing, an app showing individual cell voltages, and stress‑tested mechanical contacts.

Weight, Cost & Practicality

• Weight sensitivity is debated: pedal bikes are very weight‑sensitive, but many e‑bikes are already heavy, so a sturdy modular case may be acceptable. The announced 3.3 kg pack is seen as competitive.
• Some would prefer whole-pack trade‑in schemes rather than cell‑level tinkering; others like the cost savings of replacing a few cells instead of an entire proprietary pack.

Use Cases: Travel, Swapping & Broader Applications

• Aviation rules (≤100 Wh per battery) spark discussion of flying with disassembled cells vs simply renting a bike at destination; many view flying with suitcase‑fulls of cells as impractical and unsafe.
• Several see strong fit for swap‑station businesses and other vehicles (scooters, vespas, golf carts, vans) and even as a generalized 48 V power bank or solar/UPS core.

Standardization, Right‑to‑Repair & Openness

• Many like the idea as a pushback against proprietary e‑bike batteries and “locked‑down, throw‑away” designs; suggestions include an open‑source e‑bike ecosystem.
• The company pitches open protocols, WASM “plugins” to talk to different controllers, and eventual open‑sourcing of the app.

Encrypted Protocols & Legal Questions

• The product depends on reverse‑engineering encrypted Bosch motor‑battery communications.
• Commenters raise DMCA / EU right‑to‑repair implications and the risk that Bosch could change protocols or firmware to break compatibility, making a business model built on RE fragile.

Battery Life, Quality & EV Comparisons

• Discussion contrasts long‑lived EV packs (few, gentle cycles, active cooling, wide safety margins) with harsher, cheaper e‑bike packs (more cycles, less thermal management, deeper discharge, rough shocks).
• Some note that cell binning sends top‑tier cells to high‑value applications (cars, aerospace), with lower bins going into cost‑sensitive markets like many e‑bikes.

App vs On‑Device Indicators

• Some dislike the “Bluetooth‑app for everything” trend and ask for simple LEDs/error codes.
• Others defend the app: locating specific bad cells, viewing detailed telemetry, getting automatic alerts, and configuring protocols are seen as beyond what a basic indicator can offer.