Extra Energy

[PedelecCommuter]

Test results are now published on their web site in English. See attached

Pedelecs&E-Bikes - Products, Vehicle Tests, BatteryTest, Manufacturers, Company Reports, Archive - ExtraEnergy.org

Quite interesting but some results look a bit odd
- does Pro Connect really has assistance factor uphill of 3.4 compared to 1.8 for the raleigh Leicster E
- also T Flyer has higher average speed than S flyer and Pro Connect
- it sais Rixe has Deraillier gears and some odd light that is half dynamo/half main battery (maybe that is translation issue)

 

[flecc]

Thanks PedelecCommuter.

ExtraEnergy test are noted for some of the oddities about the testing and results. Since they decided to measure hill climb ability on 6%, which is not far off level, I've lost any faith in their ability to make realistic judgments. I see they rate the Sparta Ion M-gear uphill factor as 1.8 also. That's like saying it climbs as well as the Leicester E and Kalkhoff Agattu, which is ludicrous, the Sparta being notoriously poor at climbing.

Interesting stuff, but not to be treated as unconditionally factual.

I understand that the Spanish BH bikes with Panasonic units also have derailleur gears.
.

 

[jac]

hi surely the hills are steeper than that as the range is only abot 8 or 9 miles

jim

 

[flecc]

I haven't studied this years document yet, but 6% is what they used on previous years.

When I checked just now, their Pro Connect report is showing 34 miles as the everyday range and 6.8 miles as the mountain range. That latter figure is complete and utter nonsense, demonstrating how worthless their reporting is. That 6.8 miles has to be a purely theoretical assessment which is wrong anyway, the climbing in any sort of hills having a far longer range than that. In fact these Panasonic units don't vary range much between flat and hilly country, the climbs compensated by the downhills without pedalling when no current is used.
.

 

[jac]

do you think the power levels are controlled by software on panasonic bikes like in modern cars or is it gearing

jim

 

[flecc]

It's a complex mixture Jim. I posted a full explanation here in the Technical section:

Panasonic unit power delivery

and the explanation of the mechanical and software relationships is on my site, about three quarters down this page:

Panasonic motor system
.

 

[Orraman]

Thank you for the link PedelecCommuter.
From Specials on that site I went to the Smike home page for pictures of the Turbo with the sidecar fitted in the "Galerie.

SMIKE - two in one bike - Tourenbike mit anhängbarem Seitenwagen
Apart from the Heinzmann that would suit me nicely, creating a space between me and the motorists.

I still have one of the original American Sidekids sidecars which in this country is mounted on the traffic side. Now that I have the Gitane with the Panasonic motor I will be looking into the possibility of putting it back in use. It takes up about the same width as my 'widthwise' trailer but at 25 lbs it is much heavier but it leans into the corners.
SourceGuide:Sidekids Co.

Dave

 

[Renaud]

An other brand uses panasonic unit and derailleur : biketec.
Flyer bikes are with hub-gear (Nexus, Alfine or Rohloff), derailleur, or mixed (Sram dual drive).

 

[Hermann]

After reading the original test report in the "Aktiv Radfahren" magazine, I was really confused about so many points, some of them just wrong (or badly edited, like the relation of the numbers and the colour bar, where "1" or "very good" is green at one bike, red at another, etc.), some of them not understandable. For example, why should a Flyer T8 get a "4" in "Riding performance without motor", which is a poor note, while all other bikes with Panasonic drive get a "2" in the category, which is "good", and so on. I have lost confidence in these Extraenergy tests. They are quite a mess.
Best regards
Hermann

 

[flecc]

Hello Hermann, thank you for your support in this issue. I've been saying for a long time that these ExtraEnergy tests are worse than useless, actually being harmful with the misleading information published. On every machine I know something about they've made serious errors and drawn false conclusions.

I think they should set out learn what testing entails before purporting to do it on the basis of little knowledge or experience.
.

 

[Hermann]

Hello Flecc,
after all, these tests have an enourmous influence on the decision of possible buyers. Who buys a bike with bad test reports? Imagine how easy it is to seriously damage a product.
It seems to me, that Extraenergy was under a lot of time pressure to publish the results, and at least this last test serie was not carefully executed, or ,at least, the report was not edited as it had to be.
Regards
Hermann

 

[WaiWonChing]

Chief eZee Operator

I have known Hannes Neupert the CEO of Extra Energy since 2002, and of course he has been totally and deeply involved with testing of electric bikes already before that and continue to today and has probably the biggest influence in the German market. And every year he conducts workshop to a very big international attendence in conjunction with the Taiepi Cycle Show.

For the first few years, eZee has been sending our bikes to Extra Energy for testing, which cost a lot of money and the last was in 2005, and we have gained a lot of informations and we will not like to repeat it. As with most testing bodies I feel there are considerable bias even if they have methodical and technically designed test procedures, and he has several well qualified engineers working with him so I would not dispute those figures he publish. But I feel that he maybe beholden to big companies. Further he acts as a consultant to the industries, and so I would rather keep my informations away from him.

Just the same, as when you read Atob tests and reviews, give it a very big spoon of salt.

W W Ching