Any eBike Century-capable in Cascade Mountains with two Batteries?

[Mike leroy]

Has anyone tried the Mt. Shasta Century Ride on an eBike? Could be a semi-pro level, e.g., 200W leg power. Do you happen to have a Strava listing, or know the average uphill speed?

Or know of any eBike capable of any century ride thru Cascades from Vancouver, CN to Redding, CA?

 

[Mike leroy]

I make some first order mental calculations with a Google Sheet for Mt. Shasta Century ride. Preliminary guesstimate is 17Ah with battery economy as the primary consideration.

 

[Cameron Newland]

Going through the mountains in economy mode, an ebike wouldn't be much faster (if at all) than a regular road bike, as it would be slower on descents and because the economy mode wouldn't give you much power to go faster up hills, especially considering the extra 25-30 lbs of weight you're carrying.

Ebikes really shine when using higher PAS modes up hills and on flats, but don't offer much assistance in economy mode.

If you're doing a century, I think you'd want four 10Ah batteries and a medium-to-high assist mode, with three of the batteries being carried by a support vehicle! ;-)

I've got an 8.7Ah battery on a 48V/500w system and I get ~19 miles of range in the highest pedal assist mode, so you could probably get 25 miles per battery if you go down one assist level if you're running a similar setup, but then again, the mountains might sap your battery's energy faster than in normal around-town use.

 

[Mike leroy]

Going through the mountains in economy mode, an ebike wouldn't be much faster (if at all) than a regular road bike, as it would be slower on descents and because the economy mode wouldn't give you much power to go faster up hills, especially considering the extra 25-30 lbs of weight you're carrying.

Ebikes really shine when using higher PAS modes up hills and on flats, but don't offer much assistance in economy mode.

If you're doing a century, I think you'd want four 10Ah batteries and a medium-to-high assist mode, with three of the batteries being carried by a support vehicle! ;-)

I've got an 8.7Ah battery on a 48V/500w system and I get ~19 miles of range in the highest pedal assist mode, so you could probably get 25 miles per battery if you go down one assist level if you're running a similar setup, but then again, the mountains might sap your battery's energy faster than in normal around-town use.

Cameron,

Do you happen to know the exact chemistry and properties of your battery?
Which bike or kit do you ride?
Do you have any Strava listings ? Or, do you have any idea how many watts your legs generate?
Do you profile your PAS for different routes? Or, do you primarily rely on the highest PAS?

Have you found any non-battery approach to improve battery economy?

• I wonder if any efficiency can be gained by changing the chainring for different topography?
• Can the controller be enhanced or manipulated in any way to give more precise control over the amount of power consumed?

Does turning the motor power off during descents improve range significantly? Or, does the controller automatically turn power off almost all the time?

I prefer slower, underpowered, longer range to higher speeds. I am willing to live with 10 (ten) or 20mph cut-off. I am not sure which is more efficient.

 

[Cameron Newland]

I primarily use the highest PAS mode, however, I'm generally traveling less than 12 miles on any given trip, so watching my range is a rarity for me. Your Century use case is quite different.

My battery is a 13S/18650/4.2V (peak voltage 54.6V), 8.7Ah/417Wh/48V Lithium-ion pack.

I don't know if the controller turns off the power while going downhill, however, I have heard from some of Court's reviews that some ebikes just freewheel after ~28mph, which should conserve battery life significantly. My bike doesn't cut off power at 28mph, but rather continues providing assist up to ~34mph, so it's possible that my bike does not have the ability to conserve power when going downhill unless you manually turn off the battery. Yours may be different.

 

[Mike leroy]

The Bike as Transportation blog is very good! He lowered his cut off to 10mph in 2011 and got 120 miles,

I primarily use the highest PAS mode, however, I'm generally traveling less than 12 miles on any given trip, so watching my range is a rarity for me. Your Century use case is quite different.

My battery is a 13S/18650/4.2V (peak voltage 54.6V), 8.7Ah/417Wh/48V Lithium-ion pack.

I don't know if the controller turns off the power while going downhill, however, I have heard from some of Court's reviews that some ebikes just freewheel after ~28mph, which should conserve battery life significantly. My bike doesn't cut off power at 28mph, but rather continues providing assist up to ~34mph, so it's possible that my bike does not have the ability to conserve power when going downhill unless you manually turn off the battery. Yours may be different.

Cameron,

I suspect your mileage can be optimized for different scenarios. Your controller is the key. Which controller and motor do you have? Your controller probably nevers cuts off power on your descents, unless they exceed 34mph.

Sounds like you want power and like your current tradeoffs. I feel the same way in this case. I have two cases. The hi power version is only two miles, but pushing 40 pounds of food up an 18% grade. I think I need different chainrings and PAS profiles for the two cases. I also think I need different battery chemistries, too.

 

[Mike leroy]

I spent over an hour discussing the Polaris Apex with Mike Tumulty, 978-910-0008 x10, [email protected] . We believe the 100 mile Shasta ride is possible on one battery with careful planning.

The key technologies are: Active Trail, Full Regeneration and Back Pedal regeneration. The bike has climbed 82 miles of Oregon trails with 10% battery to spare.