What is the ideal range on a single charge?

[jharrell]

Though I don't know this for a fact, I think many of us that have been riding a couple of years or longer, have a pretty good idea of what it's going to take for battery range for our purposes. I know that personally, my AVERAGE range is about 35 miles on a charge, under all of the conditions I normally ride in. Sure it will vary slightly under unusual conditions, but 35 miles is nearly twice as far as my butt wants to go, so it's a pretty "safe" target range for my required battery size - without being too excessive/heavy.

Yep if you do the same route all the time and wind nor temperature changes much you can really tune the watt-hours needed to the bike you use and not carry any extra. I know for me I have a usual set of local rides I do from my house and it pretty consistent in battery use, however had a couple of times the wind was really blowing and it threw that off quite a bit or the temperature was lower than typical down here.

I also like to take my bike with me camping in the RV, its the perfect vehicle for exploring a new area and in those situations its very difficult to judge the amount of battery I will need for distance especially in the mountains. I also like off-road trail riding which varies wildly as well.

So my ideal bike is a "suv" that can do it all with plenty of battery capacity so that I simply don't have to think about it, I can get up to say 3 hours of riding in any condition without even thinking about managing battery capacity. Obviously this is not currently realistic just an ideal, for now I have to make some sort of compromise for weight based on the efficiency of the bike.

 

[Handlebars]

In Toronto I have seen, since about 2 yrs ago, a huge increase in ebikes. Back then I would see maybe one ebike in a day but now I might any clear day of the week, see 3 ebikes in a row, most doing deliveries.
I don't do deliveries but I do certain routes almost daily. I have two 17Ah batteries and most days one battery charged to 80% is enough, but on some days I have had to recharge once. Now that I have two batteries, I could stay between 80% and 25% any day. I keep the 2nd battery at medium storage level for now.
That 2 x 17Ah or even 2x 20Ah is what delivery riders would need if they are doing a prosperous business and doing it quickly, I think.
I like the idea of two medium size batteries vs one huge battery.
Even If I go camping some year if they ever reopen, two 17 Ah batteries of riding would probably be my comfort limitation anyway. 2 chargers, 2 batteries does it all.

 

[jharrell]

Yes a good dual battery option gives a lot of flexibility.

Also how about just offering two integrated battery options? One with the lighter 21700 config and the other more expensive 18650 config with more watt hours? Maybe even a new 21700 config with some sort of bump out with higher watt hours? I would probably choose a 1000wh 21700 config with bump out while others would rather have the lighter 650wh. Many ebikes like my Juiced offer choice of battery size but is usually more of a cost choice than the slight weight savings (2lbs on a 70lb bike).

 

[dmark]

I want to travel from Edmonton to Calgary (200 miles) in one day with a stop for lunch. Ideally, I would get 100 miles easily out of a dual battery set up and carry two chargers for a quick lunchtime re-charge. Ideally, I could use just one battery for regular day-to-day shorter commutes to reduce weight. I am interested in posts about people who have pushed range to the limit because I find that sellers generally overestimate range.

 

[PedalUma]

I want to travel from Edmonton to Calgary (200 miles) in one day with a stop for lunch. Ideally, I would get 100 miles easily out of a dual battery set up and carry two chargers for a quick lunchtime re-charge. Ideally, I could use just one battery for regular day-to-day shorter commutes to reduce weight. I am interested in posts about people who have pushed range to the limit because I find that sellers generally overestimate range.

Pedaling technique makes a HUGE difference in range. The pros focus on 7-O-clock to 10-O-clock. That is from the drive side perspective. It is the back sweep and up sweep part of the stroke. It makes pedaling like swimming, not stair climbing. This prevents spikes in the controller's requests for power its draw is low and steady. Speed, efficiency, range are improved significantly while lessening rider fatigue and potential knee issues. Smooth pedaling feels so good when you get it. Suddenly cadence jumps up even at low electrical assistance level whilst in a high gear. Grippy pedals are almost as good as being clipped in, which is not required.