My Urban Plus is 2017. To answer your question going downhill, once the speedometer approaches 28 mph the assist completely shuts down. You can still go faster (which I did) but it's under your own power.
So last night on my ride home about 4 miles into it while climbing a very steep but short hill (>13%, 200 ft long) I received a message that said shutting down motor due to low battery. The battery still read 18%! I was left pedaling away unassisted. After about 1.5 miles of this I stopped, shutdown the bike then restarted it to get a the rest of my ride home assisted. It seems that when the motor had to work really hard it had some sort of failsafe. Does anyone understand how this works?
A bit about my ride: It's 14 miles each way, with about 1000 ft of climbing and descending. (
https://www.strava.com/activities/1427116901) when I started the battery was at 92%, when I arrived I was at 44%, I decided bot to charge during the day and see how I would do on the way home. I was definitely stretching the battery to its limit. It was only about 40F during the ride each way, and I used level 3 and level 4 assist most of the way in, most of the way home after the shutdown I kept it at level 1 or 2 to make sure I was able to get home.
I'm still happy with the bike but want to understand where the limits are for the battery life. I feel like 18% should not be where it shuts down. My car does not shut itself off when I have 1/4 tank left of gas, why should my bike down the same?
This is my first and only E-Bike I have ever owned or ridden. My primary reason for buying it was for my wife to use for quick errands around the city. SO I'm not too worried about the short battery life but thought I should be able to get 28 miles out of a single charge, even with the 2000 ft of total climbing. I normally commute on my road bike for exercise and training, as I still road race and compete triathlons frequently.