When possible to buy a higher-capacity battery option?

[Dorkyman]

So I've been educating myself on these ebike battery pack designs, and once again YouTube has been my friend.

From what I can tell Lectric could easily offer an extended-range battery pack by using 18650 cells rated for 3.5Ah rather than 2.4Ah. One fellow on YouTube did extensive tests with a dozen brands of 18650 cells and found that (1) Chinese cells were junk, and (2) Sony and LG made cells honestly rated. And the LG cells were relatively inexpensive.

So it seems to me it would be easy to simply build new packs with branded high-capacity cells and you'd get 3.5Ah x 4 = 14Ah, or 14 x 48 = 672 Wh. Even a bit more than that if there was room for 14 battery packs rather than the standard 13 (would make a "52v" battery which apparently is within the tolerance range of 60v controllers).

I've only had my two ST Lectrics for a few weeks, but mighty impressed. I've turned off the PAS completely and rely on pedal and throttle as being far more controllable in traffic.

 

[PedalUma]

I generally use a mounting system that allows me to use a battery that is the smallest that I can get away with for a given ride. This cuts down on weight. I wouldn't take a ten-gallon bottle of water on a hike up a hill when half-a-liter will suffice. If you only use the last 20% of a given battery 2% of the time, then it is way too big. I put the throttle in the pedals and just push down to go like in a car. Here is one of my electric bikes. I put a bottle top on the battery for fun. Sanyo, Samsung and Panasonic make good cells also. Good cells have much less sag.

 

[harryS]

I opened up the battery in my Ecotric bike, one of Lectric's competitors. I think Lectric is better, but I only paid $700 for mine, so I'm not complaining. Anyway, I googled the cells in my battery and found they were a generic chinese brand that cost about $1/cell wholesale (2500 mah). My battery used 50 of them. 50 bucks. Your Lectric probably uses similar, Generic chinese cells are not always junk, They can make cells that run ebikes well enough. Those youtube "studies" are looking at ebay cells sold to vapers, often with outlandish 10000mah labels.

Right now, the retail price for a Samsung GA cell in the USA is $8.99/cell, up from $6.99 last June and up from $4/$5 back in 2018. We can see what it costs for quality,

 

[m@Robertson]

Something to consider when assessing cells is not just their overall capacity, but also their ability to take on a sustained load. For example, the Samsung 25R is old and inexpensive. Its not great on capacity at 2500 mAh. However, it can be flogged mercilessly because it has a very high discharge rate, and it doesn't heat up and degrade when you do flog it. If you are comparing a 25R to a Panasonic GA rated for 3450 mAh, the 25R looks like crap. But the GA has nowhere near the ability to be beaten on. They die a miserable, hot sweaty death if you try and put a GA thru paces better suited for a hi output battery.

Its a very rough rule of thumb that batteries are good for storage, or good for hard, extended output, but not both and its a sliding scale between the two.

Since its a 28 mph bike, your Lectric bike would probably be happier with a battery able to take a beating.

Among DIY circles, the Samsung 30Q is popular. It has 3000 mAh capacity and it can be beaten upon, although not as hard as the 25R which is sort of a champ at that for an 18650. Still, I have a 30Q pack with a 90a BMS that I use with my 2wd hub bike and it is big enough at 31ah that it won't heat up (and the voltage won't sag).

If you want to get into whats best for a battery, based on this and what @PedalUma is telling you... there's a lot to consider. Way more than just the storage capacity of the cell.