How accurate is your distance (miles remaining) meter?

[Mr. Coffee]

Here are three tours that show how complicated range estimation can get, and in some situations how useless it can be -- you might need to click the bicycle icon to get an elevation profile:

• Clinton, WA - Oak Harbor, WA -- most of the elevation gain is in the first half of the trip, and particularly in that first long-ish uphill out of the ferry dock your range estimator probably won't think you have enough electrons for the trip.
• Bandon, OR - Gold Beach, OR -- the opposite problem of the previous example. Most of the elevation gain is in the latter part of the trip. In a lot of ways this problem is more troublesome and the situation would be more worrisome because there are few opportunities for charging in the last half of the tour.
• Slate Peak, WA -- all uphill one way and all downhill back. My bike estimates I have about sixteen miles of range and I use about 80 percent of two 500wh batteries making this climb. Round trip is about 25 miles.

 

[DDBB]

I can see how the range estimators are quite useless with huge elevation changes but would hope they might be better assuming fairly level terrain, tarmac and no or light winds. Of course there are still other factors to consider but I was thrilled when I saw my Haibike estimated 50mi. on high assist starting at 100% state of charge. I'm starting to realize even under ideal conditions, that's probably not possible.. I appreciate all the replies.

 

[6zfshdb]

When I purchased my Pedego Interceptor last spring, I was disappointed to see the battery gauge had only a series of 5 bars which indicated a percentage of charge remaining. I had hoped there would be a "miles Remaining" indicator but none was provided. In a conversation I had with Pedego tech support, I was told they didn't provide such a gauge because there were too many variables involved making them notoriously inaccurate. They suggest "getting the feel" of the bar gauge and estimating the remaining range based on riding conditions. It sounded like a cop out to me at the time.

It took a couple of hundred miles but I'm now pretty good at making mileage estimates based on the 5 bar system. If I'm planning a ride which comes close to the 55 mile max range I usually get, I carry a spare battery. So far, I haven't needed it on rides of that length.

My LBS recommends a voltmeter to fine tune the reading on the 5 bar gauge. So far, I haven't found one suitable for use on the Pedego though.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I can see how the range estimators are quite useless with huge elevation changes ....

None of those (well, maybe the last one, the Slate Peak tour is a Beast) are necessarily huge elevation changes for the distance in question. If you do a little nosing around you can easily find absolutely insane elevation profiles:

Granada, Spain - Pico de Veleta, Spain -- 2773 meters of elevation gain in 43.7km.