Factors that kill an ebikes range

[Footie]

I love my ebike, it's the best thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately, I've been very disappointed with its range.
Even after going to great lengths (taking the best part of 6 months gathering information) to get the right type of bike, for what I wanted, I have found other overlooked factors have reduced my distance.

There are many factors that can play havoc with your distance.
Unfortunately, some new ebikers find their ebikes also fail to meet their expectations or the claims of their suppliers.

I am no expert and I make no claim in being one. But as a new ebiker (13 months, or so) I have learned a few lessons along the way.

So what have I found that mess' it all up? Well ....

Hills - the biggest factor of all. Many claims of long distances are in areas where there are few or no hills at all. Most ebikes are just not able to coup with the really steep stuff. Manufactures claimed distances can vanish if there are a few steep hills in your area. If you test ride a possible purchase and you have hills try to test ride it on similar terrain. There'll be tears if you don't.

Type of motor (rear, front, high/low voltage, hub, chain, etc) - Careful choice here can make or break the love affair with your trusted steed.

Weight - heavy bike, heavy rider, lots of shopping; these all take their toll on your poor old battery.

Type of battery - Along with the motor type this is the heart of an ebike. SLA batteries are heavy, but they are easy to DIY and cheap. The other types can be much better than SLA, but they can be expensive, not easy to DIY. Some can be very short lived and hard to recycle. Manufactures know batteries take a hammering so often warranties can be very short - some only 6 months.

Use of power - Some uses are happy to hammer along at full throttle, while others eek out extra miles by having a more delicate wrist twist.

These are a few of the range killing factors I would recommend any new ebiker thinks about when choosing their new ebike.

Feel free to add your bit if I have missed something important off.
.

 

[giguana]

high torque motors are supposedly more efficient but I don't know by how much.some motors are a lot more efficient than others, -it would be interesting to ask ebike to do some efficiency measurements.

Going slower extends range, lithium polymers are excellent, thin road tyres go a few miles further, and that covers all bases really.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

Using human power for pulling away then using the motors power for cruising at the higher speeds greatly improves the range of the battery for me .

 

[MaryinScotland]

I agree with giguana about using road tyres if you only ride on roads. I would add, whatever tyres, keep the pressure up where it should be. I often see people (on any kind of bike) riding with obviously soft tyres, and it looks very inefficient.
Mary

 

[fishingpaul]

I would agree mary,i have found steep hills coupled with my weight really take a lot out of the battery,my suede when down to one led, would start to flash and then cut out on one steepish hill, but seemingly go on forever on the flat immediatelly afterwards,when extraenergy tested the ezee sprint they got 20.8miles on mixed track and just 4.8 miles on a hill.

 

[PaulC]

I would reinforce Mary's comments on tyre pressure - the harder and more inflated the tyre is, the less rolling resistance. When GM built their first electric car back in the 1990s and tested it, they found they could add a noticeable improvement in range by using a special tyre with low rolling resistance.
Paul

 

[Haku]

I knew when getting my Urban Mover UM36 I'd never get the distance claimed by the company because like all ebike manufacturers their optimal tests are on flat road with no headwinds, I can't go anywhere without encountering steep hills, weighted panniers & D lock don't help much either.

However it gets me where I need to go so I'm happy with it but sometimes would like double or triple the distance. I still get suprised just how quickly the battery drains when going up long steep hills and I've had my bike almost a year now.

I've been meaning to get a speedometer for it so I can find out what kind of distance I actually travel as opposed to wildly guessing, wanting to get another Cateye CC7000 as that was the first one I ever had til the bike got nicked, almost had one off eBay but forgot to place the higher bid.

 

[Tiberius]

Obviously there are many factors, but the two main ones are how the rider uses the throttle/pedals and hill climbing.

You might think hills would cancel out, what you lose going up, you gain going down the other side, but its not so. Even with regenerative braking you lose out, and without that you really lose out.

The underlying problem is that an electric motor gets less efficient at converting battery power to mechanical power as it turns slower.

High throttle openings at low speed are especially bad. Some of that is down to rider behaviour, aannddyy's suggestion of pulling away on pedals is good. But high throttle, low speed can become unavoidable when hill climbing, and you don't recover the wasted power going down the other side.

Ironically it turns out that the best way to deal with hills is to go up them as fast as you can, add some pedal power and storm at them.

With drove through gears its a bit better, the motor speed can be set up better for different bike speeds. I also thing one of the reasons the Panasonic system gets such good range is that the control electronics prevent you operating in the really inefficient combinations.

Nick

 

[hillside]

I knew when getting my Urban Mover UM36 I'd never get the distance claimed by the company because like all ebike manufacturers their optimal tests are on flat road with no headwinds, I can't go anywhere without encountering steep hills, weighted panniers & D lock don't help much either.

However it gets me where I need to go [...].

Hello Haku,

I sign as 'hillside' 'cuz that's where I live: 450 m above the valley floor (13% incline) - the Swiss Alps. I tried a UM36x and it did get me up that initial climb (albeit with a rest - I'm 65, no biker's training). It was much easier to do what the eBike is mainly meant for: to go from Ruschein to Falera, 7.2 km, going 170 m, returning 120 m level diff.

GPS-Tracks.com - Onlinekarten

It's hard to guess what it means for the battery. While riding the control on the handle bar goes quickly down a couple settings or three, but when stopping all lights are on again. I did make the return trip on one charge.

There's tho' one thing with UrbanMover bikes: in a recent test they were fingered for using cheapish components (brakes, gearing etc). No further detail given, just that warning: You get what you pay for. Popular and pricey: biketch.ch Flyer; over 1000 francs more expensive.

Any advice welcome! -- RM

 

[carpetbagger]

On saturday i completed a 17 mile journey with a mixture of hills and flat into a stong headwind on my Powabyke 6sp Euro,complete with 3 year old lead acid battery.I still managed to pass a group of 6 cyclists on a hill,i reckon i was using less effort and travelling at twice the speed.When i reached home the battery indicator was just under half capacity.I don't really try to save power,usually pedalling to achieve 15mph.Its not as pleasing to the eye as some of the newer more expensive bikes but as far as i am concerned it certainly delivers..One day,when i have the money i will get a lithium for it,which given the weight saving should give even better performance...

 

[BLADERUNNER]

In derestricted mode i find i get about 30% less range on my Ezee Torq.

Cheers
Russell

 

[keithhazel]

In derestricted mode i find i get about 30% less range on my Ezee Torq.

Cheers
Russell

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and that would make the range ?

 

[Kal]

No worries about the range on my Synergie Mistral . A modest 425 watts peak motor power doesn't seem to drain the battery too quickly. I travelled 33 miles in pedelec mode without exhausting the battery. My rides are usually less than 15 miles so I don't even try to conserve power, and often use throttle only on the flat, knowing the battery will easily cope. I let the motor do as much work as possible which means I'm down to 5mph on very steep hills. I'm living in hilly terrain so I must assume that the Lithium battery is good, the brush geared motor is efficient and my low body weight of 65kg also helps. I recharge the battery after every ride.
.

 

[BLADERUNNER]

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and that would make the range ?

Hi
in restricted mode i get about 25 miles; and in deresricted mode i get about 17 miles

Cheers
Russell

 

[keithhazel]

Hi
in restricted mode i get about 25 miles; and in deresricted mode i get about 17 miles

Cheers
Russell

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is that in pedelec mode or power only ?

 

[BLADERUNNER]

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is that in pedelec mode or power only ?

Hi
i get that range in pedelec mode.I have never tried to see what range i can get with power only as i like to pedal along. I would imagine it would be considerably less!

Cheers
Russell

 

[keithhazel]

Hi
i get that range in pedelec mode.I have never tried to see what range i can get with power only as i like to pedal along. I would imagine it would be considerably less!

Cheers
Russell

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well as my Quando possibly has the same motor as yours, except then that i have only 20inch wheels........................in power only mode i get 22 miles...and if i ever get round to it im expecting 28-30 in pedelec mode, i had assumed big wheels would have got as much if not more then little.............as your 17 in deristricted mode possible could go to 10-12 at a guess...

 

[fishingpaul]

keith do you encounter any steep hills ,the hills and any. extra weight are what really kills the range

 

[fishingpaul]

a couple of steep gradients and a 16 stone plus rider can rapidly kill a battery,these lightweights claiming 30 miles plus to a charge need to post there weight,a 10 stone rider will put far less resistance on the motor and will achieve far greater distances.

 

[coops]

High speeds can kill range

Reduced range for a derestricted Torq1 due to higher speed and acceleration falls partly into Footie's 'use of power' category (aswell as for the often mentioned high fixed motor gearing reasons and probably many others too!): hills aside, the power used to drive the bike increases exponentially with speed (mainly due to increasing air resistance), and rider contribution becomes proportionally much less of the total needed - hence the battery drains faster = less range.

The range loss can be minimized by moderating speed and pedalling a bit harder as you go faster and adopting a more aerodynamic riding position would help a lot too.

The same motor also spins more efficiently in the Quando - its close to optimum speed at 15-17mph in the Quando but in the 40% bigger Torq1 wheels the same efficiency occurs at around 24mph which can require much more power from rider & motor: the same motor in bigger wheels = more speed, not more range!

Stuart.