Does anyone suffer from battery range anxiety like people do with electric vehicles?

[Chargeride]

I start worrying when the first bar goes.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

None with my Turbo Vado SL 5.0 as it pedals as easily as a normal bicycle and at 33lbs is very easy to ride without assist.

You just go slower.

Exactly why I rarely worry about battery and have had no need for a range extender (RE) on my SL 1 so far. The SL just sips from the smallish 320 Wh main battery in ECO (35/35) — even on hilly rides — and about 30-40% of my miles are in OFF by choice these days.

The one close call was my fault for not topping up the night before. And I could easily have pedaled home in OFF.

Was recently invited on a 50 mi unsupported desert ride with 2500 ft of gain over what's described as mostly rolling terrain with grades of up to 5-6%. My neck usually craps out at 35-40 mi, but if I decide to chance it, I'd want to carry at least one RE to be safe.

@Stefan Mikes , do you think one RE will be enough?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Stefan Mikes , do you think one RE will be enough?

We were on a race in Mazuria last year. The distance was 53.5 mi and the elevation gain was 1,240 ft. A healthy man on a Vado SL needed two Range Extenders. However, he was actually racing (so he had probably set the assistance high and certainly had his e-bike derestricted), and I guess he could have pedalled downhill.

On the other hand, I once made 70.6 mi with 1,040 ft elevation gain with a single Range Extender. The assistance was 40/100% (you should reduce the Max Motor Power as your legs are strong!)

I'm afraid it would be risky to go to the desert with a single Range Extender given the big elevation gain.
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If you install the RE and set the system to discharge the RE first, you will save your main battery for a long time.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A practical advice to you, Jeremy. You have the Range, Range Trend and Micro Tune tools I am missing. You could set off for the ride and observe the Range and Range Trend. Whenever the system reports the total battery charge of 82.5 (it is 55% of 150%), return if you haven't passed the half of your route yet.

 

[stompandgo]

No.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

View attachment 194608
No.

Your longest distance ridden is?

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I'm afraid it would be risky to go to the desert with a single Range Extender given the big elevation gain.

Riskier than this?

"Hey honey, getting really excited about this half-century! Glad you're OK with the entrance fee and travel expenses and the new trunk bag I'll need.

Oh, just one more thing: I'm gonna need another $1,000 for extra batteries and cables that I don't need at home."

 

[stompandgo]

Your longest distance ridden is?

55 miles. I'm working on it as my fitness improves.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

We were on a race in Mazuria last year. The distance was 53.5 mi and the elevation gain was 1,240 ft. A healthy man on a Vado SL needed two Range Extenders. However, he was actually racing (so he had probably set the assistance high and certainly had his e-bike derestricted), and I guess he could have pedalled downhill.

On the other hand, I once made 70.6 mi with 1,040 ft elevation gain with a single Range Extender. The assistance was 40/100% (you should reduce the Max Motor Power as your legs are strong!)

I'm afraid it would be risky to go to the desert with a single Range Extender given the big elevation gain.
--------
If you install the RE and set the system to discharge the RE first, you will save your main battery for a long time.

Many thanks for this info! Micro Tune's been very handy on group rides, and I can easily see it helping with battery management.

 

[MrHyak]

I remember stressing out once about 4 yrs ago on my ride home on my first ebike. Because I live in a hilly area it tends to consume a bit but that day I had to leave it on assist level 1 and keep pedaling and got home with about 2% left, so not much. My mid drive does so much better. I rode about 45 miles round trip Saturday and had about 50% left when I got home.... Kept the assist level around 1 or 2 the entire way until the last couple miles coming home.

 

[Nvreloader]

I don't any more, since I made adapter cable that fits both of E bikes and battery's and this adaptor works for either bike or all 6 battery's, never used more than 2 battery's for 80 >100 miles per charge,
so far. ymmv

 

[6zfshdb]

You can partially relieve range anxiety if you can arrange to ride uphill on the way out. That way, if you do have to pedal, it's easier to do going back down. If there is a low spot near the middle of the planned the route, I always try to start a ride there and ride up hill going out in both directions.

 

[stompandgo]

Or upwind/downwind. It's always going the wrong way for me, sometimes both ways.

 

[Nvreloader]

Always........I have to wait till around 10 o clock, to find the possibly true direction it want's to go.........
then it's a 90% chance it's be wrong.
ymmv

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

A practical advice to you, Jeremy. You have the Range, Range Trend and Micro Tune tools I am missing. You could set off for the ride and observe the Range and Range Trend. Whenever the system reports the total battery charge of 82.5 (it is 55% of 150%), return if you haven't passed the half of your route yet.

No range or range trend options for the programmable fields displayed by the app in recording mode. Will check to see if they're options for the display on the bike (TCU).

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I'm afraid it would be risky to go to the desert with a single Range Extender given the big elevation gain.

Found out more about the Death Valley (DV) half-century from the RideWithGPS profile and a member who's ridden it. The elevation gain's 1796 ft, not 2500 ft.

For battery usage estimation, I divided this 54.4 mi out-and-back DV profile into 2 segments — a 28.6 mi "rolling" middle segment, and a 25.8 mi "climbing" segment combining the two ends. The rolling segment starts at the blue cursor. The estimated time implies an average speed of 12.9 mph.

Turns out, the DV rolling segment is very similar in topography, proportional elevation gain, and average speed to the rolling April 2 coast ride I recorded with the Specialized app.

This coast ride used 31% of the main battery in 20.2 mi with 49% ECO and 19% OFF. That extrapolates to 44% battery for the DV rolling segment.

Likewise, the DV climbing segment is very similar to my March 16 inland hill ride. Grades are also comparable.

This hilly ride used 34% of the main battery in 20.6 mi with 86% ECO and 1% OFF, extrapolating to 39% battery for the DV climbing segment.

Assuming comparable fitness and wind and pavement conditions (reasonable), that predicts 44% + 39% = 83% of main battery for the entire DV route. The recorded rides were neither easy nor grueling. Pretty sure I can sustain the required rider power for a half-century.

Conclusion: Willing now to take my chances with just 1 RE on the DV half-century — and that makes it thinkable. Now what to do about that stiff old neck?

 

[Chazmo]

It’s definitely an issue for me because I can’t really ride my Fättie anywhere without assist. But, Juiced provided a big battery for it which is good for 50 miles in the conditions I ride. Also, I only rarely charge to 100%, as I can easily get 35 miles within the 80%-20% usage.

 

[Catalyzt]

Only range anxiety for my longer rides on Seeker. My max was about 38 miles with just under 4,000 feet of vertical-- it's easy to remember, because I had about half a bar left, and I guesstimated my total range as 40 miles with 4,000 feet of vertical. This is a 46.7 pound bike with a 413Wh battery and 40nm E5000 motor.

Brutal, for me, anyway!

You can partially relieve range anxiety if you can arrange to ride uphill on the way out. That way, if you do have to pedal, it's easier to do going back down. If there is a low spot near the middle of the planned the route, I always try to start a ride there and ride up hill going out in both directions.

Since I live at the top of a hill/ridge that requires a 400 foot climb no matter which direction I approach it from, and Seeker will not fit in either of my vehicles, your technique would require me to regrade and rearrange the surrounding landscape.

When I consider the expense of such an enterprise-- renting hundreds of bulldozers and backhoes, displacing hundreds of neighbors, building new roads, etc.-- the anxiety I feel is somewhat greater than the stress of being four or five miles into my last bar of charge.

 

[6zfshdb]

Only range anxiety for my longer rides on Seeker. My max was about 38 miles with just under 4,000 feet of vertical-- it's easy to remember, because I had about half a bar left, and I guesstimated my total range as 40 miles with 4,000 feet of vertical. This is a 46.7 pound bike with a 413Wh battery and 40nm E5000 motor.

Brutal, for me, anyway!



Since I live at the top of a hill/ridge that requires a 400 foot climb no matter which direction I approach it from, and Seeker will not fit in either of my vehicles, your technique would require me to regrade and rearrange the surrounding landscape.

When I consider the expense of such an enterprise-- renting hundreds of bulldozers and backhoes, displacing hundreds of neighbors, building new roads, etc.-- the anxiety I feel is somewhat greater than the stress of being four or five miles into my last bar of charge.

You'll notice I said IF. Apparently, you can't, but perhaps others can.

 

[Catalyzt]

Absolutely, sorry, I didn't mean to be snarky, it was not a comment on the relevance of your advice, but rather my own frame of mind!

In fact, this is similar to what I do for shorter fitness rides, or when my connective tissue disorder is giving me more trouble: I choose a series of loops with less extreme grades, so I don't have to go all the way down that 400 foot hill. This is fine for a 25-30 minute ride, but one of the reasons I need a lighter and more powerful bike is that I need to be taking longer rides, which will always involve that final climb and probably several others.

You make a good point; my neighborhood it actually has taken me years to develop a series of routes that are less exhausting and still interesting. Sometimes this means taking loops that are part of the route both backwards and forwards.