Hub Drive/Mid Drive Battery specs??

Ron from BC

Active Member
I'm slowly getting a basic understanding the E-bike technology however one of the things that's confusing me is the different battery terms of reference between the hub and mid drives.

The bike I just bought for my wife is a hub drive, Pedego Interceptor, with a 48v 10Ah battery and I get that in that bike the 48v provides more power for hills etc and the Ah ratings gives her more time riding per charge relative to how much peddle assist/throttle she uses. I get that.

Now when looking at the mid drive bikes their battery seem to be of the 36v variety with no mention of Ah but instead mention 400 or 500 power pack (Yamaha and Bosch)

Now are the mid drive bikes more efficient than hub and a 36v will provide the same power in the same environment as a 48v in a hub drive? Is the 500 Power Pack similar to the 14Ah battery in that it 'can' offer more of an 80Km/50M range.......and the 400 Power Pack akin to the 10Ah range?

Hopefully this question makes sense.

Thanks in advance for your input.....

Ron
 
The thing you need to do is look at watthours. That tells you the available energy. If you're looking at just voltage or just amphours, it doesn't give you the whole story. Total power is the voltage multiplied by the current. 10AH at 36 volts is 360 watthours,, where 10AH at 48 volts is 480 watthours.

So if they say a bike's "power pack" is 500 watthours, it's about a 13.9 AH 36-volt battery or a 10.4 AH 48-volt battery...they're about the same in total electricity available. BTW...it makes no difference whether they're talking about a hub drive or mid drive, it's the same formula.

As you note, there are other differences that make a higher voltage battery desireable. For example, if your motor pulls 15 amps, you're getting more power at 48v than 36v.
 
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