Battery Size and Range Research

[VELOMONT]

If you have 2 minutes to spare we are trying to collect some data about battery sizes and ranges. If you can spare the time to answer these four questions we would be really grateful.

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
2. What size is your battery?
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer.

 

[skinnyboy]

Just had a relevant conversation with a riding buddy as we were both having the same experience. No numbers since I don't spend my ride time worrying about it, and so many factors at play.

Initially a 540 wh with an EP8 drive seemed way more than enough range, easily covering a regular ride day, and then some. Now, we are having to cut rides (approx. 2-2.5 hrs.) short due to range limitations. I'm attributing it to adapting to the emtb and pushing harder, therefore using the brakes more in our normal riding area. Not sitting and letting the motor do all the work, contributing fairly in the medium setting, and often out of the saddle. And I'm 130 lbs. geared up.

Recently did a more techy/rocky day out and could have rode another day on the charge. So it all depends.

That being said, going forward I would not consider a bike with less than 700, but would much prefer 900 wh, because it honks having to cut a beautiful fall ride short. Can't even imagine having 360 without a range extender.

Cheers.

 

[Haveland]

So much depends on elevation.

Here are three different rides:

Ski Hill (pedal up) - 29.8KM - 2hr move time - 1,400m climb and 10% battery left
Enduro Day - 24.8km - 1.9hr move time - 900m climb with 60% battery left
Trail Ride - 27km - 2.25hr move time - 290m climb with 70% battery left
Ski Hill (chair lift) - 17KM - .75 move time - 0m climb and 97% battery left

All on a Turbo Levo

 

[Koban]

I don't know what my distance and altitude meters are. I do not ride with a Garmin or similar any more. I do not have the need to track this. What I know that I have fun
With my Trail emtb. That is 1 year old. Has know more than 5000km on the clock. And on the Enduro emtb that is 3 months old. I have 900+ KM.

I have two 720Wh and a 900Wh battery for my bikes with EP8. But most of the time I ride with the 720. Reason this one is 900grams lighter and makes the bike a bit more playful. When needed I go back to the care and exchange the battery for new one ;-)

 

[TimC7]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)? 4hrs/40km
2. What size is your battery? 540mAh
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge? No, ~60%
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly? Minimun motor.

 

[VELOMONT]

So much depends on elevation.

Here are three different rides:

Ski Hill (pedal up) - 29.8KM - 2hr move time - 1,400m climb and 10% battery left
Enduro Day - 24.8km - 1.9hr move time - 900m climb with 60% battery left
Trail Ride - 27km - 2.25hr move time - 290m climb with 70% battery left
Ski Hill (chair lift) - 17KM - .75 move time - 0m climb and 97% battery left

All on a Turbo Levo

May we be cheeky and ask the Watt-Hours of your Levo battery please?

 

[B1rdie]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?

30 km 1000m elevation 1:30 hr

2. What size is your battery?

400 wh (504 with 80% capacity actually)

3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?

90%

4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

100% assist average

 

[VELOMONT]

30 km 1000m elevation 1:30 hr

400 wh (504 with 80% capacity actually)

90%

100% assist average

Awesome detail, thank you so much!

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
3-5 hours, 25-35 miles, 3300-5500ft elevation
2. What size is your battery?
700wh (with 500wh spare for bikeparks)
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
yes, unless its a power hour
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?
both, power hour is both, big mountain rides are all legs, bike park is motor and two batteries

activities call all be seen here as some are obviously outside of 'the average': Jaden Rose | Strava Cyclist Profile

 

[VELOMONT]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
3-5 hours, 25-35 miles, 3300-5500ft elevation
2. What size is your battery?
700wh (with 500wh spare for bikeparks)
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
yes, unless its a power hour
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?
both, power hour is both, big mountain rides are all legs, bike park is motor and two batteries

activities call all be seen here as some are obviously outside of 'the average': Jaden Rose | Strava Cyclist Profile

Hi Jaden!!

Thank you for taking the time to supply so much detail, that is extremely helpful. I hope you are keeping well.

 

[Zimmerframe]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
2. What size is your battery?
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

Hi Monty !

Determining battery size will always be complicated as no two people have the same ideals (range, altitude, time out, assistance, weight) you can only hedge your bets. Range extenders obviously help with that and give more flexibility to the adaptability to the bike, as does offering variable battery sizes - though this is generally quite niche as most people will go with more is better. Range extenders often require you to choose between water bottle or extender and not everyone is happy with a hip pack or back pack for fluid.

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?

Average rides 1-3 hours. 20-60km's 1000m/1500m range depending on terrain. Peak rides 100km's/3800m Normally too exhausted to continue after that and it's no longer fun.

2. What size is your battery?

500wh Spesh/Brose (Actual now 460w and holding steady) 630w Focus/Bosch (Actual new 605 but has diminished over 2 years, not sure what it is now) . Vitus/Bafang 630wh (Actual new 610wh after several charge cycles to stabilise)

3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?

Unless it's a quick potter, yes, invariably state of charge will determine how far/high I go/number of descents then lack of power stops play - though usually happy to stop by then.

4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?
Try to do fairly. Sometimes try extreme leg bias for range/altitude, Sometimes lack of time, determination, energy means more motor orientated. Kenevo often involves lots of Turbo rides (1000m in 20/30k in an hour or just over). Bosch is more often EMTB as it works so well or Eco for stupid long/high rides - the bosch is generally the most frugal/efficient/clever in how it delivers power. Bafang M510 FC2.0 also works incredibly well and not far off the Bosch for range. Generally mode 3. Though lost all of my settings and had to guess them back and it was using more battery a couple of rides ago, experimenting with Acceleration at 3 instead of 4. Mode 1 gives me 1000m/50km with 50% used.

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?

Afternoon rides during the week are 10-15 miles with 1,000ft and ride for 1-1.5 hours. Weekend rides average 20-30 miles with 2,500 ft.

2. What size is your battery?

500wh

3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?

The afternoon rides use 30-40% and the weekend rides usally take most of it. I did a 31.7 mile ride a couple weeks ago and was left with 6% battery, but this required alot of eco.

4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

I normally do half the ride in eco (I'm not sure the percentage of assist for my bike, but I can tell you I'd rather ride an acoustic bike) and the other half in standard. I got into riding embt's for exercise and treat it as so.

 

[Redlemon]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)? 30km / 1200m
2. What size is your battery? 800wh
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge? Yes, 0-10% left
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly? A little bit too much motor, should focus on reducing assistance.

 

[Tooks]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
2. What size is your battery?
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

I’ve got two e-bikes, ride them on various different routes, answers below;

2019 Focus Jam2
1. 1.5 hours/16-24km
2. 378Wh
3. No
4. Minimum motor to make progress, especially up hill!

2022 Levo Gen 3
1. 2 hours/15-30k
2. 500Wh
3. No
4. Minimum motor etc.

 

[Wallybean]

Average ride length: 20 miles/3000'/100kg ride weight/2.5 hrs
Battery size: 800wh
Battery used ~ 40-60%
Predominantly ride in sport mode with occasional use of power mode for steep, techy climbs. Use active mode for transfer sections of 2 track.
try to get both the motor and my ass kicked every ride.

 

[GET2019]

I ride a 2019 Giant Trance E+ Pro 1

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?

Answer: Average ride =14 to 24 miles, time = 2-3 hours.

2. What size is your battery?

Answer: My battery is 500wh

3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?

Answer: No, depending on the ride I normally have 2-3 of 5 bars remaining.

4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

Answer: I normally ride in level 1 of 5, but when I come to a steep, long climb I will go into level 2.

 

[Mrj35]

ep8
540wh : 1100 meters climb, 20kms. - down to 1 bar after using trail and some boost.
900wh : 1800 meters , 35 kms - 2 bars left. - mostly trail some eco and a bit of boost.
I weigh 215lbs

trail mode is 70nm , fairly responsive
eco mode is 50nm, fairly responsive

 

[sam.spoons]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
10 - 20 miles, 1 - 2½ hours
2. What size is your battery?
540 W/h
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
No, rarely much more than 20%, usually 10 - 15%
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?
Mostly legs in that I usually run in eco mode only using trail or boost on climbs. I don't ride particularly hard either and, obviously, the harder you work in a given power mode the more battery you'll use.

 

[kipperkendall]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
25 miles, 3 hours
2. What size is your battery?
635w
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
No, maybe 5-8 miles left
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?
Legs contribute fairly

 

[Dave G]

If you have 2 minutes to spare we are trying to collect some data about battery sizes and ranges. If you can spare the time to answer these four questions we would be really grateful.

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
2. What size is your battery?
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer.

View attachment 128317

Hello, I ride in South Yorkshire, UK. (Quite hilly)
1. Average ride 1hr 15 mins
2. 500Wh battery.
3. No I usually have 60 percent left (this is due to a change of tyres from Specialized tyres that came on the bike fron new purchase, that are tractor style for woods/rough tracks to commuter style, Continental Double Fighter 3) previously the same time would leave around 30 percent left.
4. Legs contribute on flat/level trail including downhill sections. This includes road.
Any further info, just shout up

 

[michael.kozera]

Generally speaking. Assuming ur pedaling and using average amounts of assistance and going on flat to moderate (average) elevation changes.

500wh will get you 50kms.

If you on mostly flat and pedaling alot you can double that so 500wh will get u 100kms.

If you are using a lot of assistance and going up a lot of hills and not really pedaling then half that. So 500wh will net you 25kms.


I build ebikes almost monthly, and these numbers have been confirmed by almost 100+ ppl.

Me personally with my 1,600wh i usually never get any less then 100km. Worst I ever got was 42km of range. Best I ever got was 450kms.

Hope this helps

 

[Lee Dove]

People are giving you a lot of data but it will not be much use. You also need to know rider weight, elevation change vs distance and tyres. These items make a huge difference to range. My wife can get 30% farther than me on the same ride profile due to her lower body weight and less draggy tyres. Range is really difficult to assess. In reality bikes with the same battery capacity and NM torques probably have the same range so don't get range anxiety

 

[RiderOnTheStorm]

@VELOMONT In the same token, I'm also curious how will the data you're collecting here about battery size and range be used? What's the objective/ purpose of this informal survey?

 

[Mr-EPIC-3]

Here my numbers for a Polygon T6e, Shimano EP6, I am 160lbs, ride Eco - Trail, single speed.
I added elevation as that makes a big different how much battery is used and how many miles I can ride.

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)? 20miles or 1 1/2 hours
2. What size is your battery? 504Wh
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge? consumes 90%
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly? Being a single speed setup I have to give it some legs when climbing.
5. What is my average elevation? 3000ft

 

[sam.spoons]

Generally speaking. Assuming ur pedaling and using average amounts of assistance and going on flat to moderate (average) elevation changes.

500wh will get you 50kms.

If you on mostly flat and pedaling alot you can double that so 500wh will get u 100kms.

If you are using a lot of assistance and going up a lot of hills and not really pedaling then half that. So 500wh will net you 25kms.


I build ebikes almost monthly, and these numbers have been confirmed by almost 100+ ppl.

Me personally with my 1,600wh i usually never get any less then 100km. Worst I ever got was 42km of range. Best I ever got was 450kms.

Hope this helps

Surely the less hard you pedal the less battery you use? Either way your numbers don't tally with mine, I get 20 miles (32km) on around 1 bar, so 20% of my 540 Wh battery or about 110 Wh. This on road with around 800-1000 ft of climbing. Maybe 30% for 20 ,miles off-road.

The only time when peddling harder uses less battery is if you are maintaining over 25kh.

 

[michael.kozera]

Surely the less hard you pedal the less battery you use? Either way your numbers don't tally with mine, I get 20 miles (32km) on around 1 bar, so 20% of my 540 Wh battery or about 110 Wh. This on road with around 800-1000 ft of climbing. Maybe 30% for 20 ,miles off-road.

The only time when peddling harder uses less battery is if you are maintaining over 25kh.

Crazy. U must not be very fit then. Most people that ebike are relatively fit and the 10wh per 1km is a pretty accepted standard.

 

[michael.kozera]

I'm 70 so not too unhappy with my fitness but, no, I'm not especially fit. But I don't see the relevance of your rudeness... A very fit friend of mine this summer peddled 80 miles on 20% of the 300Wh battery in her Ribble CGR. You yourself said you have achieved 42km and 450 km out of your 1600Wh battery which suggests your statistics are a actually pretty meaningless?

Rudeness? Not rude at all. Wear a helmet if u think that was rude. I'm simply stating the facts that have been well established Over the last 10 years.


A other thing to consider that's also been well established over the decades is that the battery % left meter on most ebike is notoriously inaccurate. So u claim 20% left. But in reality you got 30-40% left.

this has been well documented. And is irrefutable

 

[sam.spoons]

Sounded pretty rude to me...

 

[theremotejuggernaut]

Last few rides. 540wH battery + optional 252wH range extender (792wH combined) on a Shimano EP8rs

41.8 miles/ 5387' ascent (792wH with extender) finished with 26% left of main battery.

42.2. Miles/ 4882' ascent 792wH with extender) finished with 20% left of main battery.

31.2 miles/ 3015' ascent (540wH) finished with 22% left of main battery

39.5 miles/ 6473' ascent (792wH with extender) finished with 18% left of main battery.

25.7 miles/ 2874' ascent (540wH) finished with 40% of main battery.

Some of those are bigger days than usual. In general, I'd say 25-30 miles is about a normal ride with somewhere between 2500 and 4000 feet of climbing. I'll generally finish with at least 20% of the battery remaining.

30 miles + means I finish the ride tired. I use minimal assistance.

I've got the following power settings.
Eco 22nM
Trail 42nM
Boost 60nM

If I leave it in trail (42nM) I'd expect to kill the battery in 40 miles/3000' feet or 30 miles/ 4000'.
Beyond those numbers in either distance or elevation, I'd consider taking the extender.

I know from this that 50 miles/ 6000' is achievable. Although I might die in the process.

If I stick it in boost (62nM) I'd probably kill the battery in 15/20 miles but I've never tried.

 

[rzr]

1. What is your average ride length (time or distance)?
2. What size is your battery?
3. Does your average ride consume all of your charge?
4. Do you let your motor do as much of the work as possible or do your legs contribute fairly?

1. I count mine rides in elevation (1000-2000m for 500Wh, 1500-2500m for 700Wh)
2. 500Wh and 700Wh
3. most of the time, yes, I set my modes according to available time or trails I want to do.
4. depends on a day, if I want to rest, I let the motor do more job (and I keep my HR ~60-65%HRMax), on other days I can push myself more (70-80%HRMax), on difficult technical climbs HR can go up to 90%.

~1000m on 500Wh battery - full turbo, 700Wh ~1500m of elevation on turbo. If I want to ride more, I use lower modes and can double the distance/elevation.