BBSHD running at 200W vs Bosch Pre-built bike

[smashed]

Hi.

I have been reading about e-bikes and am fairly naive even though I have spent a fair amount of time on research.

I would like to commute 35kms each way by bike but am aware of the 200W (250W with cut-off assistance) laws in Australia.

A factory e-bike (e.g. with steps or Bosch) will provide 250W (more if I use a dongle) but the range will be limited by the accompanying battery.
A BBSHD is more reliable than BBS02 (from reading) so I was planning on purchasing this and dropping the output right down to avoid legal issues.

Is this a sensible solution or would I be better off with something else (including hub motors etc).

Would the BBSHD at 250W effectively perform similarly to the Bosch?
Dongling the Bosch on a legal bike is probably a safer way to go to avoid any legal risk but it will cost more and I don't think it will cope with my range.

ps: My commute is partially hilly but not extreme. The flexibility and option to increase the power on the HD seems like a sensible way to go.

Also, from reading it looks like the battery may last 250 charges before it loses say 40% of the charge. If the battery was $1000 AUD then it will become a very expensive part each year (assuming 220 plus rides per year). Am I likely to do better than that?

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks for your time

 

[Voltron]

If you're looking for commuting reliability, the proprietary system of the Bosch totally locks you into needing a dealer to fix minor problems. I worked at a dealer, and we would have bikes shut down on the showroom floor and not start because they wanted to be plugged into the diagnostic dongle for an update. There's a lot to be said for a simpler more modular system...

 

[MadRhino]

Yep, building yourself does make your bike easy and cheap to service. You can also build whatever characteristics that you want. Your bike could have a legal and off road power mode, the size and type of battery that you want, personnalized geometry...

A hub motor is not a good option at 250w power, they need much more to come alive. Driving the chain is your only option to achieve interesting torque at legal power level. From 1 Hp and up a hub is better, in terms of maintenance and reliability especially.

 

[d8veh]

It's not a sensible idea to limit max output power to 200w. The electric assistance would be totally useless. Instead it's legal to use a bike that complies with EN15194, which means 25km/h max, power must stop when you stop pedalling, and a motor rated at 250w max; however, there's no limit on how much power you run with, so you can have up to about 1000w from the battery. The Bosch bikes run with something around 700w from the battery.

Em3ev.com were selling the 25 amp 36v "250w" BBS02, but I think I heard that they don't have it anymore. You should check with them. We now have other resellers in the UK with those motors. Maybe there's some in Australia. Do a search.