0-15mph acceleration of 250W electric bicycle?

Wicky

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2014
2,823
4,011
Colchester, Essex
www.jhepburn.co.uk
"How long does it take a 250W electric bicycle to accelerate from 0-15mph without pedal assistance?"

A very long time (clue pedelec ;-)

"How fast do they go uphill?"

Depends on a number of factors, Cranks drive or hub and type of, and gradient of hill. But somewhere between a few mph to 15 odd mph.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: LeighPing

Benjahmin

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 10, 2014
2,590
1,746
70
West Wales
Depends:
On what motor
How heavy you are
The bike
It's a bit of an open question to be honest. Accelerating from a stand to top speed without peddalling is the best way to eat your battery.
Why do you ask?
 
  • Informative
Reactions: LeighPing

D8ve

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 30, 2013
2,142
1,294
Bristol
With a sim fit man they zip off like a rocket and climb at 15 mph.
With an old fat asthmatic they still go not badly and climb reasonably well.
Of corse the steepness of hill etc all count too.
Oh the 250 watt is a fudge most legal motors can max at over 600 watts some can hit a Kw and gearing helps too.
A 500watt direct drive can struggle on a fairly simple hill as no gears and it really won't do 750 watts or it would be sold as such.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: LeighPing
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
Lets estimate:
The average torque of a 250w motor below 15 mph would be about 24NM. You can get that from the Ebike.ca simulator.

The radius of a 26" wheel is about 30cm, so the force at the tyre would be 24/.3 , which is 80N.

Acceleration is force divided by mass. Lets say a 75kg rider on a 25kg bike, so 100kg total. That means that the acceleration is 80/100 = 0.8 M/S/S

The first equation of motion says that final velocity = initial velocity +acceleration x time or V=U +AT. Turning that around, you get V-U=AT or T=(V-U)/A

U is 0, V is 15mph, which is 15x1500/ 60/60 M/S = 6.25 M/S

Therefore we have T = (6.25-0)/ 0.8. which is 7.8 seconds.
QED.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
20,329
16,853
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
that seems to be too long. I reckon it takes less than 12 seconds to hit 15mph.
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,786
The European Union
With pedaling (I only have a pedelec to test with) under 4-5 seconds, I don't ride with a clock so that is from counting in my head. Healthy, reasonably fit 78 kg slightly asthmatic 61 year old man on +25 kg bike.

I have stopped riding up hills at 25 km/h in order to save the battery and go further so now I am at between 16 and 19 km/h in assistance level 3.
 
  • Like
Reactions: D8ve

awol

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 4, 2013
1,216
374
Lets estimate:
The average torque of a 250w motor below 15 mph would be about 24NM. You can get that from the Ebike.ca simulator.

The radius of a 26" wheel is about 30cm, so the force at the tyre would be 24/.3 , which is 80N.

Acceleration is force divided by mass. Lets say a 75kg rider on a 25kg bike, so 100kg total, which is roughly 1000N. That means that the acceleration is 80/1000 = 0.08 M/S/S

The first equation of motion says that final velocity = initial velocity +acceleration x time or V=U +AT. Turning that around, you get V-U=AT or T=(V-U)/A

U is 0, V is 15mph, which is 15x1500/ 60/60 M/S = 6.25 M/S

Therefore we have T = (6.25-0)/ 0.08. which is 78 seconds.
QED.
Calculations like that at 1am, that's incredible.
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
Yes, it was late. I got my units mixed up like any schoolkid. The units of mass are kg not N, so it's out by a factor of 10. The correct answer is about 7.8 seconds. I edited the one above now.

It would be interesting to have a race between a hub-motor and crank-motor with exacly the same controller. Which one would win and why? That's your homework for tonight.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,154
30,570
Besides, we all know it's 7.8 seconds now!
They vary due to a number of factors, mine is faster than that.

Reasons: My 65 kilos, bike has controller capable of delivering over 28 Amps, rear hub motor is in 20" wheel.
.
 

fishingpaul

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 24, 2007
872
86
Uphill speeds depend on the motors winding, and the amps allowed by the controller,also battery voltage,same bike same hill same motor at 48 v with 30amp controller i can do 11mph with a bit of help,48v with 10amp controller and its down to about 7mph with a lot of help,and it feels like hard work,36v with a 18amp controller about 9mph with a little help,same on the flat more volts and more amps accelerate much quicker,but drain the battery far quicker,this is on a hill that most lycras get out of the saddle for, and a lot of people get off and push.
 

fishingpaul

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 24, 2007
872
86
Yes, it was late. I got my units mixed up like any schoolkid. The units of mass are kg not N, so it's out by a factor of 10. The correct answer is about 7.8 seconds. I edited the one above now.

It would be interesting to have a race between a hub-motor and crank-motor with exacly the same controller. Which one would win and why? That's your homework for tonight.
Im going for the hub motor on all but the steper hills, when the crank motor can start in a lower gear and gradually build up speed through the gears.
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
Is that correct?
My impression is that actually out there in the world, the bulk of bikes are Chinese and do have throttles.
Both of mine have.
I have 8 ebikes at the moment. They all have throttles. My neighbour has two, and they both have throttles as well. In fact, I'm pretty sure that every ebike I've ever seen out and about in Telford (at least 100) had throttles except two Kalkhoffs.

It's rare to see an ebike in a shop now with a throttle, but many seem to grow one not long after they left the showroom.