[Closed] Ebike help (again), battery range is disappointing!

That doesn’t sound bad to me tbh.

i have managed 33 miles while still having 40% battery remaining (with around 1400 feet climbing)

all in eco mode.

i have also, on the same route, managed to flatten the battery in 14 miles, by leaving it in turbo all the way.

i weighed 20 stone at the time, and had all my work kit with me, probably 25lb of stuff.

I've found it very much depends on the steepness and total climb. I've done 100km with 1400m climb over 5 hours or 15km with 1200m climb over 1.5 hours and used similar amount of battery.

I'm eco modes you get much further the harder you pedal. In higher power modes it makes less of a difference.

Thanks guys, I guess some perspective helps!

Both climbs are hard so probably make a massive difference to battery life.

I could have squeezed in another climb at BPW but I was knackered from chucking a 53lb bike around on the descents!

Just got your message mate. Shamefully, I haven't had a chance to ride mine yet, but I'll do some testing and update you. I guess physique and fitness will be a factor, I'm about 14.5 stone and reasonably fit but not a big pedaller, mainly into DH.

My OH get's 30+ miles out of half a charge on her cheap carrera E-bike and I take the piss out of her for not having to pedal hard enough!

So, erm, pedal harder!

The reason that if I could afford an ebike, I'd only get one that could piggyback another battery, such as a Focus Jam.

Doesn't seem much point having the ebike when you can't do a decent mileage.

Without wishing to be rude, is your mate carrying less moobage?

Snap colp. I'm 13 stone and more of downhiller too.

I only pootled up in eco at BPW because I was with a mate who was pedalling. I probably could have pedalled faster and squeezed out some more juice life!

Haha at retro83, quite the opposite, I'm in better shape but we probably weigh the same.

Just had a quick blast around the local woods with the dog. No really climbing there but the battery was rattling terribly. Took it out and there was a bolt missing that holds the lock in place, I’d check yours.

First impressions are that it pedals fine switched off, it’s bloody heavy but keeps great momentum.

Stock tyres aren’t great.

I left it mainly in the e-MTB mode which is the auto adjust one I think?

I’m taking it out to Austria in a few weeks so it’ll get a proper workout there.

There is a range calculator on the Bosch website.

https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/service/range-assistant/

Just looking at that, there are so many variables that affect the range it's ridiculous! If you set everything to the worst case you end up with a range of 16km in turbo, 31.4km in eco (E-mtb, performance cx line motor, powertube 500 battery, heavy rider). So if you're heavy and ride in mountains all the time you'll have a very different range to someone light who only rides on the flat.

ignore distance, it's climbing that uses most Ebike battery.
5000ft+ is a good range on one battery no matter how few miles you do it in.
You'll get more using eco but where's the fun in that?

Your mate almost certainly isn't climbing as many feet as you are.

Your battery will take quite a few charge/discharge cycles before it operates at peak efficiency, likewise i imagine your motor will need a few hundred miles on it before it frees up (my bosch cx motor scott egenuis certainly did).

65kg rider and i used to be able to get round a local route in galloway with 5500ft of climbing and 24 miles with 2/5 bars left on battery using tour/sport

It also depends on how hard you pedal given that its torque sensing  so say eco mode is + 50%.  If you put out 200 w then the motor is adding 100w, if you put out 50W then the motor is only putting out 25 W

My record is 8 miles to flatten a 375 watt / hr battery.  I derestricted it and pedalled as hard as I could with it in turbo mode.  Less than 1000ft of climbing as well  I was hitting 40 mph at times and catching some german motorcyclists!  Highly stupid but fun and an experiment I won't repeat ( Country roads and I was in a hurry)

I usually get around 30 miles out of it

What was it about that ‘numpty’ that was doing something illegal by only having 1 brake?

Sanctimony and hypocracy is a awesome combination 😜

Two things I have found that have an impact on range is cadence and tyre pressure.

Low cadence uses more power so you need to maintain a high cadence like 70rpm and above and then lower tyre pressure = more grip / more drag so more power req, a higher tyre pressure will give more range.

Its a juggling act to get the range but still have the bike handle right.

Great feedback, thanks all.

It does have massive 2.8 tyres on 40mm rims at about 18 psi so pretty draggy compared to my 2.4 tyres on 26mm rims.

I'm off to Nant yr Arian today so I'll try a higher cadence, on the climbs, because I'm cycling alone. I'm quite happy with eco mode and have no interest  in turbo.

The tyre pressure is perfect for my ability/riding so that stays, maybe things loosen up a bit.

Despite my range concerns, it is a great bike. I normally have quite negative thoughts when climbing long climbs, as a result of my mind wandering, but for the first time in years my mind stayed clear and positive which was very welcome!

I wasn't expecting mental health benefits!

Thanks again for the feedback and advice.

Hey colp, I stripped my bike down and torqued/added loctite etc before my first ride so I found it reasonably quiet. Agree about the pedalling, the gearing is superb and, despite the weight, you can pedal pretty easily!

You aren't doing bad, from what I've read elsewhere, 4 runs at BPW kills it for most. I've got a Kenevo and have killed the battery in 18 miles/2500ft. I am 95kgs with kit though

The other option is buy and carry a spare battery. I have done this, a few people I know have also done this.

Similar to my OH's, (his is a Cube with a Bosh battery) roughly a 20 mile ride in the Peaks with around 3500ft climbing used mostly on eco, odd bit of tour and very little turbo and the battery is done in, there's been a few times where he's been nipping his butt cheeks wondering if he'll make it back to the van! lol

It's a generic issue that comes with the territory. We're used to riding our bikes all day but that's just not possible with the current crop of e-bikes.

My mate's got a Spesh e-bike and it's got their top-end stuff on it (due to tall the warranty replacements - whole other story) but that only manages a 2.5hr ride on the ridgeway - hardly mountainous stuff. So while it's great that we can ride together, we are somewhat restricted by battery-life rather than legs. Give them a few years and the industry will have something sorted, until then he'll just have to miss out on the all-day rides.

Well, looks like third time lucky! Messing around at Nant yr Arian today, only using eco again and turning off for the descents.....

17 miles, 2700 ft climbing and only used one bar!

I maintained a much higher cadence and turned off power when descending rather than turning off the system, if that makes sense?

A much more undulating place than the brutal long climb at BPW and clearly more ebike friendly than Brechfa!

At least I don't feel like I've bought a pup. Still can't believe how positive and happy I feel after each ride. And guilt free knowing I won't "need" an enduro motorbike again when my kids leave home!

Still, roll on battery tech to tease out more miles on the future.

Blimey, you’re into enduro motorbikes too?

My lad and I both have Gas Gas 300 enduros.

This is getting weird!

Haha, damn, I thought I was unique and awesome!

I got 30 mile out the Pivot ebike recently, giving it some proper testing (abuse) along the way. It still had 2 bars left after the ride, prob on the edge of 1. High cadence, not smashing turbo. Wouldn’t want to run out of battery mid ride with the ups I was hitting.

They seem good for toys early in their product development lifecycle. Next gen will be interesting.

In all the chat up there ^^ nobody has mentioned battery capacity. 300wh, 400wh, 500wh are roughly the standard sized and you’ll get different ranges from each one. How big are your batteries??

Specialized now have a hike with a 700wh battery too.....

This has been a useful thread as i was vaguely considering an e bike but as i have range anxiety when my cars fuel gauge drops below 90% full I don't think the current crop of bikes would be any good for me.  I watched the recent GMBN thing where two of them tackled some pretty epic stuff over two days and that gave the perhaps false impression that they rode for two solid days and just recharged overnight which perhaps wasn't really the case?

My battery is 400wh.

blimey, I didn’t realise that anyone did a battery as big as that specialized

850wh here, it's glorious! 😆

Heavy AF though I'll bet

My old battery was 910wh.

Was ludicrously heavy .

Replaced it with a 700wh as no one needs to be able to ride 150km assisted I figured

Saved 3kg and a few hundred quid.

Equally I met a couple of guys from the lakes who rode kingussie to tomintoul via ryvoan all off road slept over night while charging then to braemar then to Blair atholl on third day.

If you treat it like a motorbike it'll rip through the power .if you use it as designedthey are fairly conservative.

Mine's 500wh and if my Nant yr Arian thrash can be replicated elsewhere I'd be quite happy.

I wanted more miles and smiles for the 2-3 hours I typically do, as I've two little children at home and I also want lots of quality time with them.

Treat mine like an uplift van.
Miles are dull (even on an Eeb. smiles as always for me are biggest on the way down where assist is fairly irrelivant.

dont be surprised when it rips through the batteries then. just buy another and leave it in the car. swap when it gets tired.

Wow ^^^

910wh is like 40 miles flat out for me.

im not sure I could sit on a bike for that long tbh.

martymac, mines on a cargo bike. but at a 15mph cut off I've ridden it 80km no bother without getting close to a flat battery i find it only kicks in on the climbs. on the flat i was exceeding the 15mph without getting icky.

mostly the power assist is for when its loaded up with either the weeks shopping or me and the wife going to the pub/a friends etc

910wH was poor advice from others during the build phase assuming i wanted a motorscooter not a bike with assistance and i guess misjudging my ability as a cyclist also.

Treat mine like an uplift van.
Miles are dull (even on an Eeb. smiles as always for me are biggest on the way down where assist is fairly irrelivant.

That’s exactly what mine is for. Had a little session today in Delamere on the Old Pale tracks. It’s wicked. On Eco mode, it’s fairly similar to pedalling my Capra up, on tour or higher it’s brilliant, saves my energy for the descents and means I get loads more runs in.

Downhill it shifts, obviously a bit different to jump etc compared to a regular enduro or DH bike but loads of fun.

I lowered the tyre pressures on the Nobby Nics and they’ve actually really good on loamy stuff.

Where it’ll mainly be used in Austria there are charging stations at most mountain restaurants so no worries about range.

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got rid of the triangle battery now and just waiting on a jumbo shark 14.9Ah to arrive.

Why would I be surprised?
it's my bike. Only I ride it and I know it's limitations better than anyone else.
I'm not really interested in another battery. 4.5km of climbing/descending in an hour or two is why I got it.
If I wanted more I'd take an ordinary bike and take longer doing it or jump on uplifts for the day.
TBH I can't actually be bothered riding much more than the battery gives me most of the time.

Another battery is £400 and would sit unused apart from maybe 4 times a year. With a shelf life of 2 years that's £50 a ride. The bike is perfectly rideable switched off, just a bit heavy. (Did a 3hr ride at Ae with it switched off for 90% of the ride a couple of months back)

Are Austrian restaurants renowned for slow service?

well given the discussion is about how poor the OP's range is ..... im saying your intended use makes a big odds to how far you go.

people using it for assistance get further than folk using it as uplift shock horror.

I maintained a much higher cadence...

This is the single thing that makes the biggest difference I reckon.

The motor has an optimum cadence and will use loads of battery power if the cadence is too low.

I think the Bosch CX optimum range is 70-90 rpm. Although that’s just from memory, but it’s something around there.

Below 70 for long periods, it will churn through a battery quickly.

Are Austrian restaurants renowned for slow service?

Not particularly. But handy to recharge while having a break.

Meeting some other ebikers in Hope tomorrow for a planned 23 miles including climbing the Beast. I'm going to have to be very conservative and/or plan an escape route

So, I'm plotting to get a South Downs Way out of one battery....... lets find out how I get on in the next few weeks of preparation.

The plan is to get a sub 12 hour SDW done, once I've learnt to be efficient on the Scott Spark;  the fun bit will be to turn round at Eastbourne and hoon it back to Winchester in under 7 hours. I will have to average 15mph for that leg and I think it will take 5 batteries to get it done.

It is a standard Spark but I will run it with no dropper post, my own bars, stem and saddle so the bike is set up correctly and some skinnier tyres (Racing Ralph's or Rocket Ron's depending on feel). I'll leave the tri-bars at home.

The lights are going to be USE e bike lights for the return leg and they just get their juice from the bike battery.

Should make for a few weeks of fun training and racing!