I have a raleigh Dover which comes with an 8 ah Battery. I cycle 9 miles to work in the morning and the same home(obviously). On the way to work there are no uphill climbs so i leave the battery on its normal setting,(the middle one)except on downward slopes when i switch it to the lowest. On the way home it is on the middle setting except for two hills when i switch it to highest, they are only short hills which i used to cycle up on my normal bike.When i get near home the battery is usually flashing which means there is very little power left. My point being that if its windy i cannot swich to higest setting to help me because i would run out of power. I am just putting this post on to give people an idea of the battery capabilities ,because it is marked as a 60km (36) mile battery and in the shop they stated i could easilly do that on it.
Raleigh Dover 8ah Battery
- Thread starter davemcd
- Start date
Really speaking, the retailer should have recommended the 10 ah battery for that sort of mileage. 9-10 watt-hours per mile is a good bench-mark to use when calculating the size of battery required for a regular commute. I'm afraid the problem will get even worse as we approach the Winter. Batteries are none to good in cold weather.
Two options, take the charging dock with you and top up at work. Upgrade to the 10 ah battery. Check out the prices on German Ebay for a huge saving on UK prices.
Two options, take the charging dock with you and top up at work. Upgrade to the 10 ah battery. Check out the prices on German Ebay for a huge saving on UK prices.
That's a poor MPG figure in my view so how old is the bike and how many miles has it done? I don't think the Raleigh-badged machines have been around too long so I can't imagine you've racked up too many miles.
The 8Ah battery powering my early model Panasonic crank-drive is still good for over 20 miles using a mix of low/high power and that's a 2007 battery. It still produces 4 of 5 lights on the press-and-hold test and I'm aware of other older batteries still providing decent mileage at 4 or 5 years old.
Presumably, the machine is outside any warranty period so a free replacement battery is out of the question. As Blew it has mentioned, with the onset of winter looming, your battery may not get you all the way home without an interim re-charge. I'll be surprised if my battery lasts through the winter months but I can't grumble at 5 years old. When it finally expires, I shall probably just scrap the bike as I'm not prepared to pay Gazelle the silly money they are now asking for a battery which fits no other model I'm aware of. I can buy a whole new bike with warranty for not a lot more than the price of a battery for mine.
I don't suppose it's worth speaking to the supplying dealer for perhaps no other reason than to register your disappointment, maybe even disgust at the service life of your battery?
Indalo
Unfortunately nearly all range claims for e-bikes are best circumstance figures, flat road, still air, light rider, maximum use of low power modes. In the real world the range is often half the claim as you've found, and that only when a battery is new. All batteries lose capacity and thus range as they age, so when buying it's important to choose a battery size that can realistically give 40% longer range than you need.