My daily commute

[paraganek]

Hi everyone,

Some basic stats:
Riding Trek PowerFly 5 Speed (28mph version with Bosch PowerPack 500) daily from home to work and back.
It is only 7.5 miles one way.
I am not heavy, 155 pounds to be exact.
Only carrying a small back on my rear rack with a lunch box.
Only using TOUR (flat road) and SPORT (uphills only) modes for assist (never TURBO).
There is a hill in the middle I have to cross, 1100 feet elevation gain riding out and 500 vertical feet coming back.
Riding on smooth pavement the whole time.
No stopping and taking off.



The battery charge drops close to empty just after three rides, that is only 22 miles.
Seems to fast to me.
Does that sound pretty normal? Anything wrong with my riding style?
I was really hoping that Bosch's most powerful battery would give me longer riding range.

I appreciate sharing your experience when riding in similar conditions.

Daniel

 

[Over50]

What kind of speeds are you maintaining on the flats and uphill? Headwinds? Speeds over 20 particularly in Sport mode will burn that battery pretty fast. Nevertheless 22 miles seems like pretty poor mileage. On my Haibike which is class 1 and with mostly flat commuting. Keeping my speeds at 19 mph or less gives me about 60 miles of range. On my Riese and Muller class 3, a single 500 WH battery (bike is set up for dual battery) gave me about 40 miles of range (only once I've ridden with one battery vs two) and that was with some decent headwind and sometimes riding around 23-24 mph. So just based on some unscientific observation of commuting on two of my bikes, a small change in headwinds and some higher speeds has a big impact on range.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Just to be clear, is your commute 1100 feet of elevation gain each way?

If that is the case, I suspect that what is biting you is all of that elevation gain (3300 feet), not the distance.

I'd also echo what @Over50 said about speed. The sweet spot for efficiency seems to be 12-18mph. At faster speeds most of your battery power is going into pushing air. And high speeds on uphills have a vampiric effect on your battery charge.

 

[paraganek]

22 mph on flats and 15 mph on uphills. There is only about a mile of somewhat flat section, the rest of my commute are just hills.
Almost no headwinds, the road goes through dense woods most of the time and is well protected against winds.
Riding 14 miles total each day but only 7 of those are climbing up with assistance (Tour and Sport modes).
The other seven miles is just long downhill with no pedaling.
Each day I have to climb 1600 feet total.
The battery only lasts for two days = 4 rides = 14 miles of uphills with 3200 feet elevation gain.
Seems too low to me considering the battery is brand new (bought the bike a week ago).

Either there is a way how to extend the riding range (without digging a tunnel through my mountain) or I have to get used to charging every other night.

 

[E-Wheels]

Hi everyone,

Some basic stats:
Riding Trek PowerFly 5 Speed (28mph version with Bosch PowerPack 500) daily from home to work and back.
It is only 7.5 miles one way.
I am not heavy, 155 pounds to be exact.
Only carrying a small back on my rear rack with a lunch box.
Only using TOUR (flat road) and SPORT (uphills only) modes for assist (never TURBO).
There is a hill in the middle I have to cross, 1100 feet elevation gain riding out and 500 vertical feet coming back.
Riding on smooth pavement the whole time.
No stopping and taking off.

View attachment 24186

The battery charge drops close to empty just after three rides, that is only 22 miles.
Seems to fast to me.
Does that sound pretty normal? Anything wrong with my riding style?
I was really hoping that Bosch's most powerful battery would give me longer riding range.

I appreciate sharing your experience when riding in similar conditions.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,
Did you try the Bosch virtual range assistant to see how it compares to real life range https://www.bosch-ebike.com/au/service/range-assistant/

 

[paraganek]

Hi Daniel,
Did you try the Bosch virtual range assistant to see how it compares to real life range https://www.bosch-ebike.com/au/service/range-assistant/

Hi E_Wheels,

Based on your suggestion I tried the Bosch virtual range assistant and it looks like I shouldn't be concerned about low mileage.
It shows me almost exactly the range I am getting in real life.

Mileage on one charge on my commute: 28 miles
Bosch virtual range assistant: 44.6 km (27.7 miles)

To me it means I have to charge the battery every other night at home.
Don't know if that interval is too short so it would negatively affect the battery life.
I hope it's going to last a couple of years.

 

[pocomo]

Lots of info on this site about battery life, but in short: if you charge every night but only charge to 80% of full, the battery life will be extended by 10x or more.

Here's a cheap way to accomplish this task: https://electricbikereview.com/foru...ttery-saver-satiator-a-10-outlet-timer.22564/

 

[paraganek]

Lots of info on this site about battery life, but in short: if you charge every night but only charge to 80% of full, the battery life will be extended by 10x or more.

Here's a cheap way to accomplish this task: https://electricbikereview.com/foru...ttery-saver-satiator-a-10-outlet-timer.22564/

Thanks Pocomo. I will set it on a timer, great idea. Now the key for me is to find out how much time to set it to so it turns off at around 80% charge.