East Motion Evo - how far will it take me for my commute?

[Operator7]

I have a commute distance of 30 miles. Most of this is a bike path along the beach (So Cal), and the rest is mostly a dedicated bike lane. I am a newbie, and am in the process of doing heavy research. In another forum room, I read several comments that the battery performance is often much less than stated, as well as things like "you shouldn't run the battery past 20%".

My commute will likely be a little over an hour. I am willing to do SOME pedaling, but I certainly don't want to do heavy pedaling the whole time. As a matter of fact, I'd like to be able to take breaks and be on throttle alone.

Can experienced riders educate me on the performance I can expect from a bike like the Evo? If you have a suggestion for another bike that might better suit my purpose, please feel free.


thank you!

 

[pxpaulx]

If you want to know distance as a general rule of thumb multiply the voltage (36v for instance) by the amp hours (9ah) to give you 324 watt hours - then, take that number and divide by 20 to give you an approximate distance in miles - in this case 16. I would use that number as the likely distance you'd get, unassisted on flat terrain assuming you're a relatively light weight rider (under 180lbs or so...?).

I have a neo xtrem - I ride it in pedal assist only, why? because you can pedal without breaking a sweat most of the time - I am sure the Evo would be similar (which evo version are you looking at in particular, they have several).

 

[PowerMe]

Evo's come with 12ah batteries (except for the Evo Eco Lite). I reported I am getting around 30 mi on one charge, but I am overweight, not fit, and I have rolling hills in my area, all of which contribute to a shorter range.

Many others with Easy Motion bikes report higher range than what I'm getting, some much higher. You might find you'd get 40 mi or more of range. It's so variable, it's hard to say. I'd be surprised if you couldn't eek out 35 or more mi of range from one charge, with pedaling.

 

[Brambor]

with pedaling is the operative word. and I wholeheartedly recommend that

 

[PowerMe]

Yes, pedaling is important. I pedal and I enjoy doing that. I never use the throttle. The more you can stay in Eco the longer your range should be. That depends of course on the terrain, # of hills, etc. I'm probably among the worst cases for range; I suspect everyone else can and does get better range than I currently do. Also weight of bike is another factor. My bike is 57 lbs and I carry another 10 lbs of stuff with me, on average.

 

[PowerMe]

Update on range.

Today I rode just under 17 miles and dropped 1 bar around 10 mi, then dropped 2nd bar at 15.4mi (though at that point I was using Sport and Boost modes with a strong headwind). I actually used no pedal assist for maybe a total of 1 mi, in 1/4mi increments along the way.

So yes I think you could well get 33 miles out of 1 charge on an Easy Motion bike with 12ah battery.

 

[Brambor]

I love your dedication. Great job!

 

[Lenny]

Evo Cross should get you ~ 30 miles, unless you're riding into pretty strong headwind or pedal occasionally.
EVO line up should yield better range than the NEO because of updated controller programming and that's what we have been seeing with out customers.

 

[K. Jones]

Is your commute 30 miles one-way or 30 miles round trip?

 

[PowerMe]

He previously said 33 mi one way. That's a huge amount of commuting, even if only twice a week. I'm tired just thinking about it!

 

[K. Jones]

Oh, wow. That is a long way to expect the bike to go consistently. That could easily be two hours each way. It's definitely possibly it could make it, but it depends A LOT on the terrain, wind, and how much assist he uses. If not, I suppose he could just carry a second battery with him.

 

[K. Jones]

He might be better off with some sort of motorcycle or motor scooter. Sure, it's still burning gas, but less than with a car.

 

[Operator7]

Hi guys, thanks for all your responses!

Yes, my commute is roughly 30 miles one way; however a good portion of that is an extremely nice route, which is the bike path along the beach from Palos Verdes into Santa Monica.

Car commutes here in LA have gotten really bad this past year - much worse than usual. My average commute via car used to be 55 minutes. Now I often am spending an hour and a half (one way). So that is what got me considering other options, which got me thinking about the route along the beach, which is where I found out about ebikes. The more I read about ebikes, the more I think they could really be the wave of the future. I'm guessing many places average a motorist 25 to 30mph speed during traffic commutes; so if one can attain that same (or similar) speed via an ebike, then why the heck not?! Even if my commute were to take me an hour and a half each way, it wouldn't be anymore time than I am already spending in the car, and this would be exercise and leisure, so it would be a very desirable option. Many days, I am commuting home and then going to the gym where I spend an hour or so, so this would actually save me a great amount of time, energy and stress. My main concerns are practicality though, in regards to financial cost, if the bike can accomplish the trip, and if I can accomplish the ride. With that in mind, I ask -

1) Pedaling - just how hard would I have to pedal with pedal assist mode? I'm fairly athletic, and I'm thinking I could handle and hour or more of pedaling - if it's light pedaling. By the way, I am 6 feet and 200 (trying to lose 10 pounds though! )

2) I am thinking of doing this twice a week. Will the bike incur considerable maintenance costs? Or will it just be tune-ups, an occasional flat, and battery replacement after a year or two?

3) As for cost, I was ready to spend up to 3K (plus tax), but I'm thinking it's probably a must that I purchase a second/back-up battery. If so, that's probably going to run me another $500, putting the overall cost close to 4K. That's a little out of my financial comfort zone for this. I'm wondering if the prices are coming down as the technology improves? And wondering if the technology is improving rapidly, to where I maybe should wait a while? Someone also suggested in the general Q/A room that I consider a business that does bike conversions, because that would be much more economical. Do you guys have any thoughts/opinions you care to share on that idea? My initial idea/concern is maintenance, and if I will be able to receive maintenance/repairs after the purchase. If I purchase an ebike at a shop, I'm assuming they will provide good repair service in the future.

One last thing, the first part of my commute is a dedicated bike route along a riverbed, so that's pretty nice. I'd be coming from downtown Long Beach right onto that dedicated bike route (no cars). The only part in traffic would be 20% of the commute, which would be a street called "Anaheim", which is in an industrial area, and a street which has a bike lane most of the way.

 

[PowerMe]

Pedaling with pedal assist mode is easy and enjoyable, and Easy Motion gives you 4 levels of assist: Eco, Standard, Sport, Boost. If your path is fairy flat then you'll probably spend most of your pedaling time using Eco, maybe with some Standard thrown in.

If you can, watch some of Court's videos. He's created a few with different Easy Motion bikes and that will give you a feel of what we're talking about.

 

[Brambor]

Besides your other questions, do you believe that riding the bike to work 4 times per week will pay for the bike in savings within a year?

 

[Operator7]

I've watched a number of Court's awesome vids! And I also plan to rent an ebike soon, in order to try them out. I wanted to do that this past weekend, but schedule did not allow for it. Going to try again maybe this Friday after work. The Bike Attack place in Santa Monica is local, and they have a rental for 2 hours, so I plan to try out the beach part of the route to get a feel for things. That should answer a number of my questions.

And Brambor, I estimate that if I were to ride a couple times per week, I'd probably save an estimated $500 in gas annually (not to mention wear and tear on car). I'm past 40, so don't think I could do the ride more than 2 or 3 times per week. Out of that $500 in savings, I'm guessing I'm going to have a certain amount of costs for maintenance, though not sure how much.

 

[Brambor]

How did you calculate the $500?

 

[Brambor]

At 30 miles one way, 60 miles per commute daily, if we were conservative and said you will travel 2 times per week and gave you 2 weeks of vacation you would travel 50 weeks * 2 days = 100 days out of the year and cover 6000 miles in that said year. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in California right now is 3.1 dollars per gallon and the average car maintenance per mile is 60 cents. Because if you put 6000 miles less on your car you will save on wear and tear, oil changes and repairs. Adding all this up comes up to $4420 per year or 85 dollars per week. Buy a bike and set aside 85 dollars per week - drop it into a piggy bank and reap your rewards after a year.

 

[K. Jones]

I'm not sure if you'll be averaging 30 mph. On flats in my top gear with maximum pedal assist, I can't get higher than around 25 and I wouldn't be able to sustain that. A realistic average for me would be, maybe, 15 mph. But that's on the EVO City. Other models may have more aggressive gearing and such for faster speeds.

Also, depending on the bike path, you might find that there are too many curves and blind corners to go flat-out the whole way. (I have no idea what sort of paths you have, but the ones around here aren't built for high-speed biking.) So, factor that in too.

Be sure to pay attention to the frame size. I'm 5'9" and the City Wave and Street models both had much too small a frame for me. The City fits me great. Whatever brand you get, be sure the frame's large enough. If the brand doesn't have a model with a large frame, skip it and look at another brand. It's not worth the pain in the knees.

You might see if they'd be willing to rent you the bike for a whole day so you can do your whole commute and see how it works for you. That way you can see if the battery will hold out for the whole trip. Wait to see how the battery does before you commit to a second battery. It might not be necessary and is a significant expense.

 

[Garrick Staples]

The Evo Cross and Race both hang out at 20mph on flat ground easy. If you help it, you can do 60 miles. I do ~25 miles per day on max boost the whole way (and I pedal like a manic the whole time) and can skip days to charge.

Operator, the guys at Bike Attack are nice, but I wouldn't say that they actually offer much input to help guide your selection. They are fans of Stromers and push them hard. Every other bike you asked about, they kind of shrug off "yah, that's a good bike too." I bought my Evo Race from them and they would barely suggest it to me. However, they are great about test-rides. Go have fun on their bikes.

As far as your future route goes... the beach path is great until you get to Marina Del Rey. Don't stay on the beach north of there because Venice and Santa Monica are too busy with beach people. At Marina Del Rey, go inland along Fiji Way, Via Marina, Ocean Ave and then to Main St. Almost all of that is reasonable bike path. Have fun!