Additional Battery For Gazelle Ultimate C380+

[Jim1348]

My wife and I each have Gazelle Ultimate C380+ bikes. We have gone on some longer rides recently and have been considering an additional battery. It looks like an additional battery and a Gazelle rack are about $1,000 each.

She has also suggested that we look into fast chargers. The thought being that we may stop for lunch somewhere and plug in to top them off.

I suspect that other here have looked into this and I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

 

[Roamers]

We have gone on some longer rides recently and have been considering an additional battery.

Curious, how long are you planning for? We have C380s, usually ride in OFF or ECO only kicking assist up for steeper hills, ride 13 to 15 mph. Since I am more robust than my wife, I use more battery. If needed, we will trade batteries part way through the day. So far our longest ride is 30 miles, at the end, I still had 35 miles estimated range, she had 60.

 

[Jim1348]

We rode 46 miles on Sunday. I rode in ECO mode most of the time. I, like you, use more battery than my wife.

We also talked about trading batteries during the ride, but we didn't.

I would like the ability to ride farther and/or faster, but given the cost of batteries, I am having second thoughts.

 

[Brendon@OEB]

My wife and I each have Gazelle Ultimate C380+ bikes. We have gone on some longer rides recently and have been considering an additional battery. It looks like an additional battery and a Gazelle rack are about $1,000 each.

She has also suggested that we look into fast chargers. The thought being that we may stop for lunch somewhere and plug in to top them off.

I suspect that other here have looked into this and I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

There's only 2 chargers for the North American market, the 2a and 4a, 6.5hrs 0-100% and 4.5 0-100% respectively (charge times). The 2nd battery setup is pretty darn slick. Both batteries charge via the 1 charge plug and the bike draws on both batteries at the same time so the duty cycles per battery is half.

As stated previously riding the bike in "off" is a great way to extend range when you don't need assist. The motor is incredibly efficient and the power lost through the motor is barely noticeable.

 

[ava1ar]

There's only 2 chargers for the North American market, the 2a and 4a, 6.5hrs 0-100% and 4.5 0-100% respectively (charge times).

Bosch sells 6A charges in Europe - ordered one recently and waiting it to arrive. Should make charging dual-battery setup much faster. I bought recently J1772 to NEMA adapter which should allow me to charge bike on electric cars charging stations. Most of them have limit of 2 hours per session, so 6A charger should allow to top up battery fast enough. If this setup work as expected, I want to start exploring 150-200 miles routes!

 

[RussC]

We rode 46 miles on Sunday. I rode in ECO mode most of the time. I, like you, use more battery than my wife.

We also talked about trading batteries during the ride, but we didn't.

I would like the ability to ride farther and/or faster, but given the cost of batteries, I am having second thoughts.

Jim, I rode in Tour 30 miles to work and I am 230 lbs. I bought a used Chrome courier bag on Ebay for $70 that will fit a second battery.

If I want to go faster (sport or Turbo) to work I will borrow my wife’s battery.

When we ride together she uses Tour and I use Eco and we go as long as our heart or legs desire.

Russ

 

[Readytoride]

My wife and I each have Gazelle Ultimate C380+ bikes. We have gone on some longer rides recently and have been considering an additional battery. It looks like an additional battery and a Gazelle rack are about $1,000 each.

I ordered a second downtube battery when I purchased my 380+ step- thru in June. I told the shop owner he needed to *get the battery cover* along with the battery. He forgot. The battery ($800) came in ... minus a cover. He quickly ordered a cover ($19), but we have now been waiting over 2 months for that cover to arrive. The shop owner keeps getting promises of "next week" for it to arrive. It hasn't yet.

I can easily get 40 miles on my current battery using Sport mode for the most part, but I'll need my second battery if I want to use the Gazelle for the metric century rides. Otherwise I have to ride my Vado 5.0 which has a 500w downtube battery, plus a second (604w) downtime battery that I carry on the bike's back rack until I need to swap out the batteries. Having two batteries easily give me 80 miles of range on the highest assist.

The Gazelle shop owner is at the point where he said he's simply going to give me a cover off one of the 380+s in inventory if my cover doesn't arrive by early September. I would honestly not want him to do that because it takes one of his sale bikes out of inventory. I plan to suggest (should my new cover still be MIA) that he let me "borrow" a cover for any metric rides so that I can return it right after the ride.

 

[Gazzy]

I ordered a second downtube battery when I purchased my 380+ step- thru in June. I told the shop owner he needed to *get the battery cover* along with the battery. He forgot. The battery ($800) came in ... minus a cover. He quickly ordered a cover ($19), but we have now been waiting over 2 months for that cover to arrive. The shop owner keeps getting promises of "next week" for it to arrive. It hasn't yet.

I can easily get 40 miles on my current battery using Sport mode for the most part, but I'll need my second battery if I want to use the Gazelle for the metric century rides. Otherwise I have to ride my Vado 5.0 which has a 500w downtube battery, plus a second (604w) downtime battery that I carry on the bike's back rack until I need to swap out the batteries. Having two batteries easily give me 80 miles of range on the highest assist.

The Gazelle shop owner is at the point where he said he's simply going to give me a cover off one of the 380+s in inventory if my cover doesn't arrive by early September. I would honestly not want him to do that because it takes one of his sale bikes out of inventory. I plan to suggest (should my new cover still be MIA) that he let me "borrow" a cover for any metric rides so that I can return it right after the ride

How do you carry the second battery (hopefully with cover by now!)? Am contemplating one myself. The full installation would be nice, but it's only about 1 in 20 rides where I'd make use of the extra range.

 

[Readytoride]

I carry the 2nd battery secured by velcro straps, and protected by a custom made faux leather sleeve, on the top of the back rack. Now that I have 3 batteries I plan to make a set of custom panniers this winter to fit the two extra batteries inside, one on each side, if I do rides longer than a metric century.

 

[Gazzy]

I carry the 2nd battery secured by velcro straps, and protected by a custom made faux leather sleeve, on the top of the back rack. Now that I have 3 batteries I plan to make a set of custom panniers this winter to fit the two extra batteries inside, one on each side, if I do rides longer than a metric century.

I am impressed that you can fabricate your own panniers! In case someone happen upon this thread and is not up to making panniers, Ortlieb makes a pannier, the E-mate, designed for carrying an extra battery. There's a separate padded compartment inside, sized for a battery. I received one for a Xmas gift and it seems well designed.

 

[kneebenderbiker]

Hello happy Gazelle Ultimate C380+ owners. Please let me know what you think. I am considering the C380+ for my first e-bike. They are available at LBS - not sure yet if I need/want an extra battery but the sales guy said that an extra downtube battery is not an option. Only a rear rack battery which requires the rack be replaced. This is contrary to what I've found in my research and what people posting here have said. Any thoughts?

 

[ava1ar]

Only a rear rack battery which requires the rack be replaced.

I never saw rack battery option for C380+. I know Bosch has this option, but I doubt Gazelle used it. How much they want to charge your for the 2nd battery and parts/labor?

 

[kneebenderbiker]

I never saw rack battery option for C380+. I know Bosch has this option, but I doubt Gazelle used it. How much they want to charge your for the 2nd battery and parts/labor?

I didn't ask the guy, in part, because I had already read some where, that the extra battery, which ever option, was around $1000 and puts it out of my price range.
Probably the rack option is something they have at the LBS ready for some one to buy

 

[ava1ar]

I didn't ask the guy, in part, because I had already read some where, that the extra battery, which ever option, was around $1000 and puts it out of my price range.

This is the price of the official dual-battery kit from Gazelle, however your option seems unofficial. Regarding if you need one - depends on what are your planned usage for bike? I have it and it is very convenient for me since I am commuting by bike and dual-battery is needed for my commute round-trip rides (~28 roundtrip, ~500ft elevation each way). Since I am usually using Sport and riding as fast as I can (averaging 18.5-19.5mph) one battery would be not sufficient. For my touring ride I am usually using Eco/Tour and then with two batteries I can do 80-100 miles. If you doing any of this you will see benefit of 2nd battery, otherwise you would probably skip and save $1000 for something else.

 

[Brendon@OEB]

I didn't ask the guy, in part, because I had already read some where, that the extra battery, which ever option, was around $1000 and puts it out of my price range.
Probably the rack option is something they have at the LBS ready for some one to buy

Rack battery?! No. Perhaps he was mistaking it with another brand but as far as I know dual battery options are reserved for powerpacks if they don't come from the factory like R&M bikes, for example.

You have to have the high step version and the 2nd battery mounts to the seat tube, wired into the system, pretty slick! On the Medeo's it mounts to the downtube.

$1k includes the battery, you could lower that a bit if you went with a 400wh battery or potentially just have them install the mount and find one used that's still got a clean bill of health!

 

[kneebenderbiker]

This is the price of the official dual-battery kit from Gazelle, however your option seems unofficial. Regarding if you need one - depends on what are your planned usage for bike? I have it and it is very convenient for me since I am commuting by bike and dual-battery is needed for my commute round-trip rides (~28 roundtrip, ~500ft elevation each way). Since I am usually using Sport and riding as fast as I can (averaging 18.5-19.5mph) one battery would be not sufficient. For my touring ride I am usually using Eco/Tour and then with two batteries I can do 80-100 miles. If you doing any of this you will see benefit of 2nd battery, otherwise you would probably skip and save $1000 for something else.

Since I retired - due to a major bike accident - I no longer commute. I'll probably not need an extra battery except - I thought it would be nice when I go camping in out of the way places (dispersed, often in the western mts) to have enough juice to use the bike for several days.

 

[kneebenderbiker]

Rack battery?! No. Perhaps he was mistaking it with another brand but as far as I know dual battery options are reserved for powerpacks if they don't come from the factory like R&M bikes, for example.

You have to have the high step version and the 2nd battery mounts to the seat tube, wired into the system, pretty slick! On the Medeo's it mounts to the downtube.

$1k includes the battery, you could lower that a bit if you went with a 400wh battery or potentially just have them install the mount and find one used that's still got a clean bill of health!

Rack battery?! No. Perhaps he was mistaking it with another brand - this could very well be the case as they only recently started carrying Gazelle.

I forgot about that official battery - mainly because I'm interested in the midstep and like you say - only works with high step.

 

[kneebenderbiker]

The whole battery thing is one of the reasons I was interested in the Evelo Atlas since they make it so easy and it was on sale for 1/2 price at the time I started researching.
However, I've been thinking more about how I am normally going to ride, it isn't likely I'm going to be going so far the extra battery is essential. It's been almost 12 years since I commuted, rode my bike regularly and was in good shape to do it. When I crashed into the sinkhole my commute was only about 4 miles each way and I wasn't on a bike for 10 years.

 

[tomjasz]

The whole battery thing is one of the reasons I was interested in the Evelo Atlas since they make it so easy and it was on sale for 1/2 price at the time I started researching.
However, I've been thinking more about how I am normally going to ride, it isn't likely I'm going to be going so far the extra battery is essential. It's been almost 12 years since I commuted, rode my bike regularly and was in good shape to do it. When I crashed into the sinkhole my commute was only about 4 miles each way and I wasn't on a bike for 10 years.

Buy a bike. Go for a ride.

 

[Gazzy]

Since I retired - due to a major bike accident - I no longer commute. I'll probably not need an extra battery except - I thought it would be nice when I go camping in out of the way places (dispersed, often in the western mts) to have enough juice to use the bike for several days.

I wanted an extra battery for occasional long rides, and did not want to carry the extra battery around all the time since it is usually unnecessary. I got a second battery, which I carry in a Orlieb E-Mate pannier. Works great.