Range Extenders

[DaveHertle]

I bought a Vado 3.0 2020 last month and have already hit the 5% battery barrier twice. Since the last mile back to the house is uphill, I need to avoid that depletion if possible.
I am learning to utilize the Smart Control on the Mission Control app to save me some battery, but today I am reading about a SL Range-Extender Battery that sits in a bottle cage and allows a connection to the internal battery. What I have read so far are comments for Levo riders, but Specialized sells cables for both MTB and road turbos.
I am curious of any others have gone the Range Extender route. The other option would be to purchase the 604 wh battery and use it as a main instead of the original 460 wh that came with the bike. Either way, I might get a 30% increase in range.
What I have read is that Levo riders using a range extender plugged into the internal battery. The range extender is capable of 2amps output while the internal battery can put out 9. In practice, the batteries work in parallel, with the range extender normally being depleted first.
Any experience, thoughts, advice. Thank You in advance.

 

[bazzapage]

Dave, the Levo SL/Creo range extenders aren't an option at all. Apart from have a different plug, they are 48V where your Vado is 36V. So not great...
There are a couple of people looking to make Levo range extenders, which ought to be compatible then with Vado (actual wiring interface length etc with a possible twistie). I think there are some discussions on eMTB Forums. Here is a link to one of them. https://levo-range-extender.com/en/

 

[DaveHertle]

Dave, the Levo SL/Creo range extenders aren't an option at all. Apart from have a different plug, they are 48V where your Vado is 36V. So not great...
There are a couple of people looking to make Levo range extenders, which ought to be compatible then with Vado (actual wiring interface length etc with a possible twistie). I think there are some discussions on eMTB Forums. Here is a link to one of them. https://levo-range-extender.com/en/

Thank You. I would hope the basic economics of supply/demand might fix this.

 

[bazzapage]

Giant is also doing a range extender and of course Focus were the first in with the concept. I'd love to see modular batteries stacked in the downtube, so you can choose your capacity.