Range Test

[geeeyejo1]

Well decided to assess the range of my Ebike today - prior rides have all been mostly at 3/4 throttle averaging 25MPH or so. Power consumption was near 1AH per mile. Today I pedaled nearly all of my ride and averaged 15-18mph - just a few bursts to 23-25mph to make lights - HUGE increase in range and averaged 1AH for 3 miles! I am starting a new job that is 20 miles from my house - not sure how "bike friendly" my new employer will be but with no bridges to cross and local roads that can get me to work - riding the whole way is definitely a viable option now!

 

[BikeFanatic]

I noticed the same thing . at 15-16 mph I could get 30-35 miles range from my 48v 15amph Ping.
But traveling 20-24 much less range. Also you will get more range in the warmer months .
have fun.

 

[geeeyejo1]

It was very interesting to ride the bike using predominately "pedal assist" as prior rides were mostly using the bike as an "E-Moped" The bike is very rideable and with the assist the weight of motor and battery is not noticeable. Was nice to get a real workout as well - basically as if I had ridden without power but just got where I was going quite a bit faster!

 

[Ykick]

It's no secret if you barely and rarely tickle throttle and MOSTLY pedal you can stretch battery pack incredible distances. That's the whole problem with retailers who've advertise "best case" range numbers rather than a realistic combined and/or worst case average. Which most of "us" seem to adhere to the later.

Good stuff to work the old noodle about.....

 

[mvly]

When my 74V20ah nanotech lipo was new, I use to get 40miles @ 30mph average speed. @35-40mph, the range drops to 25-27miles. Now that my battery is old, I only get 18-20miles @35-40mph.

Keep in mind I discharge and charge from 3.6V-4.1V respectively.

Range really decrease if you go a few mph faster. I have not range test it since @ 30mph because of the lack of time. My guess would be it is not 30miles at best. Due to the age and sag of the lipo.

 

[BikeFanatic]

The bike is very rideable and with the assist the weight of motor and battery is not noticeable. Was nice to get a real workout as well

yesterday I rode like that and noticed my heart rate was around 130- indicating that i was getting a work out similar to regular bike ride average heart rate around 145.

i feel the motor resistance if i try to pedal over 15mph no throttling at all.

ykick-as it is no secret that you can pedal and ride slower to extend range -very little discussion about it here.
Lately i m more motvated to pedal, keeps me warmer .

 

[dogman dan]

I found the 18-20 mph speed range to be optimal for longer rides. A nice compromise between running out of battery if faster, and dying of boredom if much slower.

I did find though, that a scenic ride out of town made 13-14 mph ok. Just not on a commute.

But 20 miles one way is a real bear of a daily commute. I know, I did 15 miles for 4 years. Trust me, you'll very soon want to ride it as fast as you can without running out of power. Especially to work. Car, bike, bus, train, one hour each way is about the max humans tolerate well.

One option you might consider is a small investment in lipo. Extend your range without slowing much from the 20-25 mph speeds. Just carry a 10s or 12s 5 ah lipo pack as an emergency tank, adding 5 miles at full speed for those days when you have a headwind. Most days you will have the range to get there, charge at work and get back. But you don't want to run out, nor do you want a second full size battery to lug around.

 

[RLD70]

It was very interesting to ride the bike using predominately "pedal assist" as prior rides were mostly using the bike as an "E-Moped"

I noticed that with the old currie motor being able to ride 40+ miles per charge using the pas system on it. They say it used 50% power using pas but in all reality it was 61.4% since the max speed was 17 mph and it ran 10.5 mph without me actually peddling but keeping it moving enough to register me as peddling. When I peddled it ran about 12.5 mph.

I found the 18-20 mph speed range to be optimal for longer rides. A nice compromise between running out of battery if faster, and dying of boredom if much slower.

I did find though, that a scenic ride out of town made 13-14 mph ok. Just not on a commute.

But 20 miles one way is a real bear of a daily commute. I know, I did 15 miles for 4 years. Trust me, you'll very soon want to ride it as fast as you can without running out of power. Especially to work. Car, bike, bus, train, one hour each way is about the max humans tolerate well.

One option you might consider is a small investment in lipo. Extend your range without slowing much from the 20-25 mph speeds. Just carry a 10s or 12s 5 ah lipo pack as an emergency tank, adding 5 miles at full speed for those days when you have a headwind. Most days you will have the range to get there, charge at work and get back. But you don't want to run out, nor do you want a second full size battery to lug around.

I totally agree with you dogman as 18 - 20 mph seems to be the sweet spot for these motors. 18 mph is roughly 64% throttle and 20 mph is roughly 71% throttle of the yescom motors and I received my 48v 20Ah LiFePo4 battery pack today and took it for a little test ride. The average speed of 18.8 mph coupled with 21.47 miles for the little ride of just over an hour and the really cool thing is that the voltage pretty much remained between 47 - 49v running at 18 - 20 mph. And the funny thing is Im not done with the battery pack just yet. When its all finished, hopefully Ill have either a 54.4v or 57.6v 30Ah LiFePo4 pack which should net me my 30 - 35 mph speed that I originally wanted. As far as Lipo is concerned its not worth it IMHO especially considering that you have to replace them atleast twice before you even have to replace the LiFePo4 pack and I doubt any of us are made of that kind of money. Ill take LFP4s 1k - 2k charge cycles over Lipos 600 - 800 cycles anyday and to me thats equivalent to the SLA batteries charge cycle although you can actually USE all of the Lipos power unlike SLAs. Theyre ok for some people but not everyone wants to learn how to use them correctly. It seems that alot want the "plug and play" battery more than the "plug and monitor" type and thats not saying that the BMS wont malfunction because lets be honest, anything man made messes up eventually and all of these are man made so. Bottom line is get the battery pack(s) you want and have fun with your motored bike, I mean isnt that what were all here for anyway??