Long post alert: a question about the reliability of the 'range' indication on the display of my wife's bike, a Raleigh Motus Low Step with Bosch drive. It seems to bear no relation to the battery status indicator. Key facts:
My bike is a Wisper 905 Classic with a 16Ah battery (592 Watt-hours, 37V) and has six power levels (six little LED lights on control unit) and four LEDs to show state of battery. My usual commute (27 miles round trip, hilly) is normally done on max power (6/6 lights) and when I get home I have two battery lights remaining, i.e. I have used about half the battery capacity. That implies a total range of about 50 miles, which is in line with the manufacturer's estimate.
The Motus has an 11Ah battery (400Wh, 36V) with four power levels (Eco, Tour, Sport, Turbo) and five segments to the battery status display. It also has a 'range' indication, which changes according to the power level you select. Eco, on a full battery, should be good for 70 miles or so, and less for the higher settings. Obviously, this figure reduces as you ride.
So on Tuesday I decided to use the Motus instead of my own, just out of curiosity. (It has a wider range of gears, which might help with some of the steep ascents I have to tackle.) I decided to use the Tour setting (2/4 and theoretically less than I am used to) in view of the smaller battery and my wish to get fitter. The range read 42 (full battery) when I set off, but to my horror by the time I had reached the top of the road, about half a mile away, it read 36, and then started to click downwards ominously. I switched to Eco after a while of this, using Sport and Turbo only for the steepest bits, and did probably half the miles with the thing turned off. When I got to work, very hot and sweaty, the range was reading 14 in Tour (just enough to get me home) and 24 in Eco. I used the assistance very little on the way home (I got a good sweat up again) and after 27 miles the range read 12 in Tour and 20 in Eco. The battery status indicator, however, showed three out of five bars, which is about half used. My estimation, based on the smaller battery size and the effort I put in, is that this is about right. The range indicator, however, says that in 27 miles, mostly off or on low settings, I have used the equivalent of 50 miles on Eco and 30 on Tour. So, do I believe the battery indicator or the range estimate? I don't expect the range figure to be 100% accurate (same as on a car, it's a guide), but the way it plummeted in the first couple of miles and then seemed to level off suggests that it is not something to rely on.
I'm taking it in again on Friday night, and will take the charger with me and give it a full charge at work. That way, I can use the assistance more without worrying about range. On the plus side, the experience shows that I am fitter than I was, and that doing the whole distance on an unassisted bike is not impossible. Also, the Raleigh rolls very well and without power feels like a heavy but smooth roadster, quite pleasant and easy to pedal along. When I ran out of juice on the Wisper, the remaining couple of miles were very hard work indeed. Possibly the drag of the hub motor? The Raleigh's crank drive is a dream, much more natural feeling than the hub drive on the Wisper, but then it's a lot more expensive too.
The Motus is clearly the better bike, and if this experiment had worked out I might have sold the Wisper and used my wife's bike full time (with her approval, of course) or even bought a crossbar Motus. But if I have to pedal it most of the time to conserve the battery I won't bother. Possibly relevant is that the bike was used a few times (40 miles total) last autumn and then put to bed over winter, with a couple of full charges while in storage as per the instructions. I put the charger on for about 12 hours before I used it this week and the system said the battery was full, but perhaps it needs a few charge/discharge cycles before it reaches peak efficiency. Any thoughts? Sorry for the long and rambling post!
My bike is a Wisper 905 Classic with a 16Ah battery (592 Watt-hours, 37V) and has six power levels (six little LED lights on control unit) and four LEDs to show state of battery. My usual commute (27 miles round trip, hilly) is normally done on max power (6/6 lights) and when I get home I have two battery lights remaining, i.e. I have used about half the battery capacity. That implies a total range of about 50 miles, which is in line with the manufacturer's estimate.
The Motus has an 11Ah battery (400Wh, 36V) with four power levels (Eco, Tour, Sport, Turbo) and five segments to the battery status display. It also has a 'range' indication, which changes according to the power level you select. Eco, on a full battery, should be good for 70 miles or so, and less for the higher settings. Obviously, this figure reduces as you ride.
So on Tuesday I decided to use the Motus instead of my own, just out of curiosity. (It has a wider range of gears, which might help with some of the steep ascents I have to tackle.) I decided to use the Tour setting (2/4 and theoretically less than I am used to) in view of the smaller battery and my wish to get fitter. The range read 42 (full battery) when I set off, but to my horror by the time I had reached the top of the road, about half a mile away, it read 36, and then started to click downwards ominously. I switched to Eco after a while of this, using Sport and Turbo only for the steepest bits, and did probably half the miles with the thing turned off. When I got to work, very hot and sweaty, the range was reading 14 in Tour (just enough to get me home) and 24 in Eco. I used the assistance very little on the way home (I got a good sweat up again) and after 27 miles the range read 12 in Tour and 20 in Eco. The battery status indicator, however, showed three out of five bars, which is about half used. My estimation, based on the smaller battery size and the effort I put in, is that this is about right. The range indicator, however, says that in 27 miles, mostly off or on low settings, I have used the equivalent of 50 miles on Eco and 30 on Tour. So, do I believe the battery indicator or the range estimate? I don't expect the range figure to be 100% accurate (same as on a car, it's a guide), but the way it plummeted in the first couple of miles and then seemed to level off suggests that it is not something to rely on.
I'm taking it in again on Friday night, and will take the charger with me and give it a full charge at work. That way, I can use the assistance more without worrying about range. On the plus side, the experience shows that I am fitter than I was, and that doing the whole distance on an unassisted bike is not impossible. Also, the Raleigh rolls very well and without power feels like a heavy but smooth roadster, quite pleasant and easy to pedal along. When I ran out of juice on the Wisper, the remaining couple of miles were very hard work indeed. Possibly the drag of the hub motor? The Raleigh's crank drive is a dream, much more natural feeling than the hub drive on the Wisper, but then it's a lot more expensive too.
The Motus is clearly the better bike, and if this experiment had worked out I might have sold the Wisper and used my wife's bike full time (with her approval, of course) or even bought a crossbar Motus. But if I have to pedal it most of the time to conserve the battery I won't bother. Possibly relevant is that the bike was used a few times (40 miles total) last autumn and then put to bed over winter, with a couple of full charges while in storage as per the instructions. I put the charger on for about 12 hours before I used it this week and the system said the battery was full, but perhaps it needs a few charge/discharge cycles before it reaches peak efficiency. Any thoughts? Sorry for the long and rambling post!
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