Schwinn Ebike claims 60 Miles range

[sabrewalt]

Hell of a claim But they still won't say at what speed. If it will do that at 15 mph or higher... I will buy one even at that price.

http://tinyurl.com/yrplp5

U.S. BIKES
2007 Electric > 2007 Campus

Stylish alloy frame with integrated rear rack.

21-speed Shimano drivetrain for accurate shifting performance.

Comfort-enhancing suspension fork and seatpost.

Equipped for commuting; rack, fenders & bell.
Long range – Hi-tech patent-pending Protanium® lithium polymer battery is the lightest and most durable on the market. One charge will last approximately 60 miles(Depending on user weight, climate and terrain).

Plug n’ Drive – The Protanium lithium polymer battery is easily removed for recharging due to our Plug n’ Drive system. There are no wires connected to this system.

Lightweight – Schwinn Electric bikes set a new benchmark for electric bikes. Frame materials are aluminum while the electric drivetrain weighs in at about 10 lbs.

Fast recharge – Our Protanium battery charges fully in less than 4 hours and provides 100% power to the motor until the point when the battery is fully depleted.

Internal electric cable routing – Clean looks and added protection.

Easy wheel change – The front wheel can be disconnected without dealing with cumbersome wires

 

[xyster]

Well, let's do some math and find out how far it'll go on a full charge, no pedaling, at 15mph.

The website says it's powered by a 24 volt 10ah lithium cobalt battery. So at 80% DoD that gives 8ah X 24 volts = 192 watt-hours of electricity.

The bicycle speed and power calculator below tells us it takes 120 watts at the wheel to go 15mph. Assuming 80% efficiency and no pedaling, it takes 150 watts of electrical power input to get that 120 watts output.
http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

192 watt-hours / 150 watts = 1.28 hours = 1 hour 17 minutes of runtime at 15 mph.

1 hour 17 minutes of runtime at 15mph = 1.28 hours x 15mph = 19 mile range


60 mile range at 15mph would therefore require two-thirds pedal-power to one-third electrical power.

60 mile, no-pedal range could be obtained by going 4mph, but that would take 15 hours!
4mph takes 12.5 watts. 192 watt-hours/12.5 watts = 15.3 hours; 15.3 hours x 4mph = 61 miles. 4 mph is a fast walking speed.

"Range" will be taken by the average customers -- and rightly so -- to mean range of the bike using bike power at reasonable, normal bicycling speed. So Schwinn's 60 mile range claim is highly deceptive if not outright false.

 

[TylerDurden]

Schwinn and Izip are making some attractive electrics. But it would be prudent to reduce their claims of range and speed by at least 50%.

The pricing speaks volumes about where the manufacturers believe the market is headed. Currie must be cranking out enough low-ticket-of-entry units to give the manufacturers enough justification to produce high-end bikes. (All the Curries were sold-out at the local dealer after the holidays.)

Granted, Schwinn has made it's share of stupid moves, but it has also nailed some home-runs too. Adding price & prestige to the e-bike vehicle class can benefit the EV movement overall, provided they don't poison the field by false claims.

Maybe the times are right... back in the '70s, hillbillys and motorheads would gleefully run cyclists off the roads. Today, there is a greater "share the road mentality" and people are somewhat pi$$ed about the price of fuel.

 

[sabrewalt]

Well to be fair. They did not say at what speed it would take you 60 miles..

5 MPH?????
98 lb chick riding.

 

[xyster]

Well to be fair. They did not say at what speed it would take you 60 miles..

60 mile, no-pedal range could be obtained by going 4mph, but that would take 15 hours!

 

[Matt Gruber]

60 mile, no-pedal range could be obtained by going 4mph, but that would take 15 hours!

Well
it takes that long to get a sun tan in the winter

 

[Lowell]

192 Wh sounds like it's near useless. I guess cost on li-poly batteries is the main thing holding back a good products. Hopefully the engineers had the foresight to allow easy upgrading. Kind of reminds me of RC toys vs. 'real' RC equipment, where the toys have all in 1 circuit boards and mediocre batteries, and upgrades are difficult if not impossible...

 

[knightmb]

It must be a typo on their site, my bike can do about 37 miles (going up and down hills) with (2) 24 volt @ 12 AH NiMH batteries going 15MPH. I'm sure the Lith battery tech makes it a few pounds lighter, but I don't think going half the weight of my battery pack at less capacity is going to translate to twice the range. The person who wrote their technical specs is using the wrong logic on this one. It's like saying that since one person can run 15 MPH while carrying a briefcase, then 6 people all holding the same briefcase must be able to run 90 MPH (15 X 6, :lol: )

 

[Mathurin]

Except it's an E-bike, not a scooter. That implies there's a good part of rider
input (unless you're a bocabikedude) And in the end, blast it all you want but
that's one hella bike, I bet it actually feels like a bike, and given the weight
I don't think I've seen better?

I bet you guys are just jealous...

 

[knightmb]

As luck would have it, a dealer is nearby for me. Might have to "test ride" one of their bikes to see if it lives up to the claims :wink:

 

[knightmb]

I bet you guys are just jealous...

I would be except for the price. But it's probably the battery technology that brings up the price. I'm going to take a look at once of them today and hopefully bring back more pictures for everyone to see :wink:

 

[knightmb]

Well as luck would have it, about a dozen dealers around me for Schwinn, but none of them have any to look at and they can't even order them because Schwinn won't sell these to them? So how exactly does Schwinn expect to sell these? Directly from the website?

 

[xyster]

It must be a typo on their site, my bike can do about 37 miles (going up and down hills) with (2) 24 volt @ 12 AH NiMH batteries going 15MPH.

They list 60 miles as the range for all their bikes with the 10ah 24 volt "protanium" battery.

With 11 times the Schwinn's 192 watt-hour capacity, my bike gets ~90 miles at 15-20 mph no pedaling (22 watt-hours per mile) -- which is 1.5 times more than Schwinn's claimed 60 mile range (3 watt-hours per mile).

Knightmb, I do not understand how you go 37 miles on 288 watt-hours (8 watt-hours per mile) at 15mph without pedaling.

 

[knightmb]

It must be a typo on their site, my bike can do about 37 miles (going up and down hills) with (2) 24 volt @ 12 AH NiMH batteries going 15MPH.

They list 60 miles as the range for all their bikes with the 10ah 24 volt "protanium" battery.

With 11 times the Schwinn's 192 watt-hour capacity, my bike gets ~90 miles at 15-20 mph no pedaling (22 watt-hours per mile) -- which is 1.5 times more than Schwinn's claimed 60 mile range (3 watt-hours per mile).

Knightmb, I do not understand how you go 37 miles on 288 watt-hours (8 watt-hours per mile) at 15mph without pedaling.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5

I wrote the wrong amount , should be 36 miles, not 37 but the link above has all the data and info in it.

 

[knightmb]

Some info to add, you can't buy the bikes until May 2007. I had a Schwinn dealer check with Schwinn about this. So we can't put this to the test until May of this year I'm afraid

 

[xyster]

OK, I reread your thread. You're using a pedal first controller, but not start/stopping much. The route I get my estimates from is fairly hilly, with many starts/stops at intersections, and I use a blast of amps to get back up to speed. Spinning up to speed the 25lb x5 probably takes a lot more power than lighter hubmotors, but once there, it should be more efficient. Still seems like a very big power consumption discrepancy between our vehicles.

 

[knightmb]

OK, I reread your thread. You're using a pedal first controller, but not start/stopping much. The route I get my estimates from is fairly hilly, with many starts/stops at intersections, and I use a blast of amps to get back up to speed. Spinning up to speed the 25lb x5 probably takes a lot more power than lighter hubmotors, but once there, it should be more efficient. Still seems like a very big power consumption discrepancy between our vehicles.

Yeah, different variables and motors that's for certain. I'm certain that if I took that Schwinn to the place I test all the e-bikes and run it through the same test it wouldn't get near 60 miles of range though. It may be a lighter bike with some more advanced battery technology, but I still have my doubts on 60 miles unless it involves pedal assisting the entire way.

Otherwise, I can do 100 miles per charge on my e-bike with pedal assist. I've already done a dozen century rides with it (100 miles), and the battery pack still had juice to run the bike when it was done.

I'm sure if we took the Schwinn and put it through your tests (with large hills) the bike would die after 15 miles of unassisted use.

I think it's all just some marketing hype. I may be wrong, but given the battery capacity I just don't see the range unless the rider weights 50 lbs and it's a perfect 65 degrees temperature with no wind and a 1 mile level track to ride around in circles with pedal assist the whole way @ 15 mph the entire trip. We always like to factor in those "perfect" riding conditions.

 

[lemmiwinks]

I think there's a lot to be said for a lightweight, moderate power assist bike: http://www.bigriverride.com Personally, I've loved the look of those Schwinn's ever since I first saw them. Of course, if you guys can't get them until May, I daresay we'll never get them at all down here. I wouldn't buy one because of the price anyway, but I'd still want one!

 

[knightmb]

I think there's a lot to be said for a lightweight, moderate power assist bike: http://www.bigriverride.com Personally, I've loved the look of those Schwinn's ever since I first saw them. Of course, if you guys can't get them until May, I daresay we'll never get them at all down here. I wouldn't buy one because of the price anyway, but I'd still want one!

I love the stealth look of them as well. If they really get 60 miles assisted, then I would guess they would do about 30 miles unassisted. That's really good and I'm sure possible with the latest greatest battery technology, but the price reflects what it cost to achieve this perhaps?

Yeah, until May, no idea what the range will really be and at what speed. They may be on to something like power pulses wide enough not to be noticed by the rider, but still enough to save power in the long run. This is something that you could "upgrade" for longer range and maybe more speed. I'm sure if the controller could be upgraded to 36 volts, this would make for a real mean and lean riding machine.

 

[chashb]

Knightmb, I do not understand how you go 37 miles on 288 watt-hours (8 watt-hours per mile) at 15mph without pedaling.

Knightmb had 576WH (48V 12ah) of storage, not 288WH. (24V 12ah) For what it's worth, I had to re-read it again to see this...

Charlie

 

[chashb]

I don't see these Schwinns having too much hill-climbing torque with such a small hubmotor? Am I missing something?

Charlie

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

As the name on some of them even implies, they're intended as campus cruisers.

 

[Geebee]

I don't see these Schwinns having too much hill-climbing torque with such a small hubmotor? Am I missing something?

Charlie

If you assist and they are the Tongxin roller geared motors their hill climbing torque is surprisingly good compared to a direct drive hub of similar wattage, and add to that the light all up weight they should make for a nice assisted ride.

 

[m3vuv]

Hell of a claim But they still won't say at what speed. If it will do that at 15 mph or higher... I will buy one even at that price.

Mountain Bikes, Kids Bikes, E-Bikes, and More | Schwinn

Schwinn is the original American bike brand. Over the years, Schwinn has empowered millions of people, earning a special place in the hearts and minds of generations of riders. All riders welcome.

tinyurl.com

U.S. BIKES
2007 Electric > 2007 Campus

Stylish alloy frame with integrated rear rack.

21-speed Shimano drivetrain for accurate shifting performance.

Comfort-enhancing suspension fork and seatpost.

Equipped for commuting; rack, fenders & bell.
Long range – Hi-tech patent-pending Protanium® lithium polymer battery is the lightest and most durable on the market. One charge will last approximately 60 miles(Depending on user weight, climate and terrain).

Plug n’ Drive – The Protanium lithium polymer battery is easily removed for recharging due to our Plug n’ Drive system. There are no wires connected to this system.

Lightweight – Schwinn Electric bikes set a new benchmark for electric bikes. Frame materials are aluminum while the electric drivetrain weighs in at about 10 lbs.

Fast recharge – Our Protanium battery charges fully in less than 4 hours and provides 100% power to the motor until the point when the battery is fully depleted.

Internal electric cable routing – Clean looks and added protection.

Easy wheel change – The front wheel can be disconnected without dealing with cumbersome wires

I fully expect the range was measured with 1/2 pedalasist doing a 60 mile freefall from space or its just pure bullshit,i expect the later!,bit like the 13s3p batterys from china that are 35ah!.

 

[neptronix]

This is a 16 year old thread FYI, let's let it rest in peace!