What's your range ?

[VirgilCaine]

I'm interested in seeing what kind of range you are getting with your bike.
Please list your bike model, motor,battery size,along with your average speed,terrain,riding surface,level of assistance use,rider weight and range.
2017 easy motion atom lynx 6-brose- 600wh/36 volt... 7.5 MPH on mountainous singletrack-220 pounds---range 26 miles.
That's with conservative usage, staying in level one and level two most of the time, only hitting 3 and 4 on steep hills.

 

[Alaskan]

Riese & Muller Nevo Nuvinci GH - Bosch CX, 500watt x2 batteries, fairly level (800 foot gain & loss), paved trail, mostly touring (2nd lowest level), some EMTB (auto assist mode) , bike weight 75, my weight 208, 43 miles.

 

[PowerMe]

Easy Motion Evo Street (2015), 350w geared hub motor, 36v 12ah battery, ride a combo of Eco & Standard 97% of the time, something higher 3% of the time. Terrain is various asphalt paths and street, slight rolling hills under 5% incline. With this setup I can get about 30 mi range total as long as I work those pedals hard. Otherwise it's more like a range of 25 mi.

 

[VirgilCaine]

So here's the thing, if you adhere to the 20/80 rule on your battery use, then what ?
My actual range drops under 20, but, Easy Motion's estimated minimum range is 45 miles.

 

[Over50]

As posted in my owner forums over my last few commutes which were all under almost ideal weather conditions, no hills (only slight grade change), 165 pound rider with maybe 5-10 pounds of gear and mediocre pavement conditions and all using the Bosch PowerPack 500 on a full charge. The actual distance is around 35 miles in each case so using the range estimation and extrapolating to get range estimate:

Haibike - Bosch CX - 60-70 miles of range estimated - mostly equal mix of Eco and Tour - avg speed around 15.5 mph and top speed around 21
R&M Charger Nuvinci HS - Bosch Speed - 50-55 miles of range estimated 65/35 Tour/Eco - avg speed close to 16 mph and top speed around 24
Tern Vektron - Bosch Active Line - 60 miles of range estimated - 60/40 Tour to Eco - avg speed around 13.5 to 14 mph (I was talking to another cyclist and riding slow for a portion) - top speed about 20.5 mph

 

[irishnutter]

2017 Haibike Xduro Trekking 4.0
Bosch CX
Flat terrain - 95% asphalt / 5% grass
160 lbs + 5 lbs gear
85/10/5 - Tour/Eco/eMTB mode
Range 60+ miles

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Virgil ...

My ebike is a Kalkhoff Integrale i11 (Alfine Di2) - click for details with EU certification...

• 250 W; 80 Nm
• 25 km/h maximum assist speed
• battery: 17 Ah (approx. 600 Wh at 36 V)
• tyres: 47-622; 3 bar (Schwalbe Marathon Plus)
• gross weight: 100 kg (bike, rider, cookies)
• four assist levels
• range: at least 80 km in Ultra (highest assist).

The terrain ridden is typically undulating and quite often with a jarringly rough surface. Almost all of the time, the bike is left in Ultra, the highest of four assist level. This might seem profligate to most EBR readers but bear in mind that Kalkhoff's Impulse Evo RS motor has a mind of its own (actually its programmer's): assistance fades above 25 km/h and disappears at 27 km/h. The motor also eases up as pedalling cadence exceeds 70 revolutions per minute. In brief: the motor rations its generosity which is probably why I am rewarded with an above-average range.

... David

 

[Citycrosser]

2017 Magnum Metro+, 500 Watt Das-Kit, rolling terrain, rail to trail path, PAS 4, 190 lbs + 10 lbs of stuff, 40 miles using the 80/20 (and I'm pedaling along fairly hard with an average HR of 140 or so (same as 9:30 pace running if that helps).

My commute is 36 miles and I'm normally starting with an 80% battery charge and ending at about 25%, and generally use PAS 4 for a top speed of about 20. I'm guessing it will make it at least 4 more before dropping below 20%. I have a giant 1.5 mile long climb on the way home right before my house so I'm always a little conservative to leave plenty to get up that hill.

With PAS 5: 35 miles (using the 80/20 rule)

PAS 6: 30 miles tops but I haven't tried it.

48 volt battery, 13.5 a-h

I'd love to try it on PAS 6 but would need a 2nd battery or a larger battery to make it to work.

 

[mrgold35]

two 2016 Radrovers 4" fat tire max PSI and +4400 miles between them both
48v/11.5ah battery and always top off at 100% before a ride +15 miles
750w/80nm geared rear hub
Me: +270lbs
ebike: 75lbs with accesories and rack+rack bag+flat kits
Altitude 5000-5400 feet and usually windy 10-15 mph with gust +20 mph most days

Depending on inclines and headwinds:
PAS 2 with 175w at 10-15 mph: 28-35 miles
PAS 3 with 375w at 15-20 mph: 25-30 miles

Only use PAS 4 at 550w if I have a +20 mph headwind to maintain my mph +15. Usually only get less than 20 miles when I do that. My wife is only 130lbs and she will use 25%-30% less power on the same ride together. I sometimes switch out batteries 1/2 way into a ride if my 5 bar battery indicator gets below 40% (she will be between 60%- 80%).

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I'll give a different take on battery range.

Brand-new R&M Charger GX Rohloff dual-battery. I weigh 100kg.

A steep, exposed, dusty, 2-mile track that gains 1000 feet uses about 17 percent of the battery charge in Turbo mode at an average speed of about 8mph. So I should expect to be able to climb for six thousand feet and twelve miles in Turbo mode.

No matter where I go, home is always uphill.

 

[Pluto]

Some of the ranges being reported here are very impressive. My wife gets about 80 km from her 460 Wh battery when riding a Specialized Como 4.0 mid-drive in mainly ECO mode on gently undulating terrain.
As I've remarked in answer to a question in the thread "Rider's contribution to power in pedal-assist mode", in her case the limiting factor appears to be the low efficiency (32%) of the Brose 1.2 motor-unit when operating under the stated conditions. A more accurate estimate of this efficiency could be obtained if the energy consumed by the control electronics, display and lights were known. Does anyone have any data on this? Thanks.

 

[PowerMe]

So here's the thing, if you adhere to the 20/80 rule on your battery use, then what ?
My actual range drops under 20, but, Easy Motion's estimated minimum range is 45 miles.

I think the estimates by easy motion are exaggerated. I think of it as the range someone about 100 lbs soaking wet, riding on completely flat terrain, with a tail wind, on only eco, and carrying nothing else with them, would get. Meaning -- not real world conditions for 95% of the people. I get far less than is estimated for my particular model, barely scratching the minimum.

 

[Chris Hammond]

So any assessment of range needs to have some sort of standardization in order to make comparisons useful. This means variables affecting range are controlled for, in order to actually assess the bike, not the confounding factors. This means wind, hills, tire pressure, tire type, aero factors including rider and clothing, rider weight, and most importantly rider pedal input power, etc.
Essentially the Ebike industry needs something like EPA estimates of fuel economy on cars.
Not likely to happen anytime soon.

That said here's my experience on my Juiced CrossCurrent S with the 52V / 21AH (1092Wh) battery.
I will standardize as much as I can here for clarity, The following is based on my ability to maintain stated speed comfortably for hours on flat terrain with no wind. Also I consider 20% capacity to be my zero level, because the battery is harmed by going lower, and bike performance is negatively affected by low voltage. Thus this allows me a realistic 873 Wh of usable capacity at full charge (I normally only charge to 80%)
In Eco (level 1 in Juiced) average 22 mph using ~225 W = ~ 85 miles
Level 1 (level 2) average 25 mph using ~ 375W = ~ 58 miles
Level 2 (level 3) average 27.5 mph using ~ 475W = ~ 51 miles
Level 3 (level 4) average 30 mph using ~575 W = ~ 46 miles
Level S (level 5) average 32 mph using ~ 700W = ~ 40 miles

These are conservative estimates on my part as my experience tells me I can go farther, but this represents a reasonably fair estimate.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

I ride a Juiced Bikes CrossCurrent S. I'm a heavy guy so that has to be factored in.

I'm careful in most situations to accelerate under my own power as much as I can, because acceleration uses a lot of battery, especially with a lot of weight. It takes a little longer to get up to speed but makes a measurable difference in mileage. (How did I measure it? I tried going from 0-15 mph in all five levels of assist. Not surprisingly, it used up more watts at the higher levels.)

Last week I got 50 miles on a charge, using mostly Eco but also 1, 2, cruise control, and Throttle Assist Boost. The latter two aren't dependent on what level of assist you are in. Cruise control uses more current than Eco or 1, but less than 2, 3, and Sport. Throttle Assist Boost uses more than Sport -- it's kind of a rush really. At the end of the ride, the resting voltage read 44.8 V. Since I avoid going below 44 V (roughly 30% of battery), I figure I still had another 5 miles left at the same rate of usage. Probably another 10 miles if I had used only Eco the whole time; it really makes a difference. More, if I went down to 42 V, which is 20% of the battery.

I've also experimented with turning off the torque sensor and relying on cadence sensing alone. Wow, that really boosts the mileage. On a recent ride, when I had forgotten to charge the battery, I started at 44.6 V and ended at 42.6 V after a 20 mile ride on Eco alone. That's just amazing mileage, especially considering that the lower the voltage, the faster the drop.

I charge my battery to 95%, BTW.

So I'm confident that I could get 60 miles with my usual riding style, making use of various levels of assist, cruise control etc., and even more if I started with 95%, used cadence sensor, and kept it in Eco the whole time. I guess sometime I'll have to try starting at 95% and do the Eco-only, cadence sensor mode, take it down to 42%, and see how many miles that is. Problem is, torque sensing is so much more natural and fun, there's not a lot of motivation to try this.

 

[christob]

Such a challenging question to answer, so far... it has been variable, of course!
My longest single trek was 36 miles (paved bike trail, rolling hills with one or two substantially challenging hills, for me) and the battery was not fully depleted at the end. That trip, I deliberately wanted to stay in Level 1 (of Levels 0 - 5 available) and rely on gear shifting as much as possible, to start to gauge my available distance on a charge. But another day (also on paved trail but with insane winds and a long, sustained, killer hill to go up) the battery depleted to dead at about 25 miles (I know I rode that day mostly in Level 2, probably calling up 3 and 4 at times.)

In general I mostly ride paved bike trails, and largely (apart from some joy riding just to have fun in the upper Assist Levels) I aim to stay in Level 1 whenever possible, as I want a workout from my rides, to help with weight loss. That is except when I commute to the office in the morning (also paved trail); I'll do that 6.7 mile ride mostly Level 2, to try and arrive less sweaty... But then going home from work, I extend the length to about 15-20 miles, and revert to staying in Level 1 as much as I can... Of course I'll dip into Level 2, perhaps even 3, when tackling substantial (my definition of substantial, that is!) grades, but I always drop back to Level 1 as soon as the grade is crested.

I started out at 303lbs when I bought the bike in March; just over 900 miles biked, and now down to 275.
Cafe by Vintage Electric Bikes, 48v 10.4ah battery, 750w direct drive rear hub motor. (Their website states "20-60" mile range.)
Bike + battery is about 56 lbs. I also carried a Abus Bordo Centium lock, Velo rack w/ canvas pannier, full water bottle (refilled along the way).

As an experiment, I decided Friday to see how far I could go on a single charge... not that I'd ride it til 100% dead again -- but I wanted to ride it until only say, 1 bar (of the 5-bar-display) was left. So Friday I did a 25.5 mile trek (paved trails). Again, largely in Level 1, using Level 2 sparingly and briefly. When I got home, with the bike at rest, there were 4 battery-bars left. I left it as-is overnight, and then Saturday rode that same route, again mostly in Level 1; a slight detour made Saturday's total 26 miles.

So that's 51.5 miles under this single charge so far... at rest, the battery gauge showed 3 bars still remaining (though, while I was actively pedaling in Level 1 today (Sat.) on flats near the end of the ride, it was showing 2 bars remaining...) Both days, the trips averaged approximately 13 miles per hour overall, each trip with max speeds (usually downhills or long flats) in the 22 - 25 mph range.

{Edit after post: couldn't resist adding an 11 mile circuit Sat. evening just to break the "60 mile mark" on the same single charge. During the ride I got down to 1 bar remaining (while pedaling) but still showed 2 bars at home with bike at rest. Decided that was enough for the experiment and ran it through a charge cycle.}

 

[AlanDB]

I posted this in another thread, but will repeat the story here as it is more relevant in this thread.

I have a new Gazelle Arroyo that has the Bosch/Intuvia Performance motor and 500 Powerpack battery. I recently made a 21 mile ride on a paved rail trail that is fairly flat. The day started quite windy with sustained winds of about 15 mph and higher gusts, mostly from the side, but slightly head on. As you might know, the wind subsided for the return part of the ride where it may have been a slight advantage. I am fairly heavy ... total weight of me, bike and gear would be close to 300#. I rode the entire 21 miles with the eco assist mode. It was a casual ride with just a few stops. My average moving speed was about 12 mph, based on the Garmin Oregon GPS I had with me.

This range analysis is based solely on the Intuvia range estimate in Eco mode. I started the ride with the battery fully topped off. The Intuvia calculated my range in Eco mode at 62 miles as I started the ride. As I continued on the first part of the ride, the range calculation continued to increase. About 8 miles in, it topped out with an estimated range of 84 miles, and then started to gradually go down. At the end of my 21 mile ride, the Intuvia showed that I still had a range of 72 miles. The battery meter still had all 5 bars.

So ... 72 miles plus the 21 I rode gives 93 miles. I realize that this is not a very scientific test for range, and I wouldn't really expect to be able to go 93 miles under assist. But all-in-all I was quite impressed and it gives me some confidence that I could take a much longer ride without worrying about losing assist.

 

[Roxlimn]

Rider: 195 pounds
Bike: 2016 Giant Dirt E2, Yamaha base PW motor
Battery: Energypak 400 (400 Wh, rounded off)
Battery usage: 90%-30%
Cargo: 25 pounds, panniers
Power usage 80% Sport(max), 20% Normal(mid)
Terrain: mostly flat, stop-and-go city traffic, 3 bridges
Wind: nonfactor (traffic, buildings)
Speed: 13-14 mph

Range: 28-32 miles

 

[DanInStPete]

Rider: 225 lbs.
Bike: Juiced CrossCurrent S, 650W rear hub motor
Battery: 48V, 12.8 Ah, 614 Wh
Terrain: Flat, one bridge

Eco, little wind, staying under 20 MPH: 45-50 miles

Eco, 1, 2, windy, speed 18-23 MPH: 30 miles

 

[Trail Cruiser]

Ebikes from different manufacturers have different ways of modulating power output from the battery into the motor. The controller programming is so varied that the mileage can be all over the place. However, one thing that certainly increase the range is dialing down the assist level to the minimum and with a light weight rider giving a good share of pedaling effort with lower average speed. That is how you get the manufacturer's exuberant claim on range per battery charge.

Most ebike riders quickly realize that speeds above 20 mph decreases range exponentially. I prefer to stay within the 18-22 mph window depending on the grade and headwind. Incidentally, my battery consumption is also between 18-22 watt hours per mile.

There is a manufacturer claimed range and there is the real world range. Many sources say that the realistic range (riding the ebike at about 20 mph) is 20 watt hr / mile.

https://www.electricbike.com/watt-hours/

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Ebikes from different manufacturers have different ways of modulating power output from the battery into the motor. The controller programming is so varied that the mileage can be all over the place. However, one thing that certainly increase the range is dialing down the assist level to the minimum and with a light weight rider giving a good share of pedaling effort with lower average speed. That is how you get the manufacturer's exuberant claim on range per battery charge.

Most ebike riders quickly realize that speeds above 20 mph decreases range exponentially. I prefer to stay within the 18-22 mph window depending on the grade and headwind. Incidentally, my battery consumption is also between 18-22 watt hours per mile.

There is a manufacturer claimed range and there is the real world range. Many sources say that the realistic range (riding the ebike at about 20 mph) is 20 watt hr / mile.

https://www.electricbike.com/watt-hours/

Good points, Mark. I use 20 Wh per mile as a rough rule-of-thumb, too.

Another, based on some data I recorded in April and May, is that watt-hours per mile is roughly equal to miles per hour. This seems a little counter-intuitive; wouldn't it go up when using a higher level of assist? But what actually happens is that to go, say, 15 mph in Eco, I pedal a lot, but in level 2 I pedal one or two turns, get a burst of speed, coast until it gets a little below 15, pedal one or two turns, etc. So I'm pedaling one-half the time that I would be in Eco, thus using more watts per stroke but fewer strokes per mile.

I wouldn't stake my life on this; I've developed a good feel for how many miles I've got in the tank based on the voltage level, and that's what I go by.