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4 Ways To Increase The Range Of Your E-Bike
Range! It’s a very common question that we receive...
What’s the range of your e-bikes on a single charge?
There’s a huge misconception about electric vehicles that people tend to think that electric vehicles are just like gas-powered vehicles, just powered with electric. Therefore, they have to have an exact range that’s labeled by the manufacturer.
First of all, even gas powered cars do not burn the same amount of gas as the manufacturer’s spec sheet.
There are a few key points that affect your range such as; weight carried by car, road conditions (slope & weather).
Besides traffic and road conditions, we don’t really see the difference in oil consumption of our cars, caused by other situations that much.
The reason is; an average car weighs about 4000 lbs* in the US.
So if you put 200-300 lbs of weight in the car it doesn’t affect the overall oil consumption that much.
However, when you look into electric bikes, which weigh significantly less than an average US car, every pound added will affect your overall range. 
Below are some of the reasons that will actually affect your range on your e-bike:
- Riding behavior (Throttle - pedal assist frequency)
- Overall load on the electric bicycle.
- The weight of the rider.
- Weather
- Traffic
- Slope
Reasons listed above will change the juice you’re getting out of a single charge drastically. So much so that, you can actually increase the range of your e-bike by almost 5 times if you use pedal assist on level 1 instead of cruising full throttle with the same load on it.
Next time you’re planning a long trip with your eBike and need utilize every bit of juice stored in your battery, here are a few things you might want to consider before leaving home:
- Keep it light: Just take what you actually need with you.
- Do not use the throttle: While it’s a lot of fun to full throttle down the beach, opt for pedal assist (level 1). You’ll be surprised how easy it is actually.
- Familiarize yourself with the route beforehand: If it’s a route that you’re taking for the first time, you might want to check the traffic conditions on that road. Not only for staying away from stop-go-stops but also for your own safety.
- Be ready: Double check that your battery is FULLY charged.
*The average car in the U.S. weighed over 4,000 pounds in 2010, up from an average of 3,221 pounds in 1987. Source
** Personal advice: I, personally own a C-250 which I use literally every day. Since I’m working very close to the office, my commute isn’t even 20 minutes. However, sometimes I do have to charge my bike 2-3 times a week. Where under normal circumstances it should be just once. The only reason is, I weigh 220 lbs (Hey! I’m 6′ 2″), and I carry my work bag which usually has my camera, laptop, iPad, a notebook and a gazillion unnecessary stuff which usually ends up weighing about 37 lbs (we seriously just weighed it), my gym bag which also has a ton of unnecessary stuff in it, 3 meals, and usually my online shopping spree deliveries which I usually get them delivered to our office. So all in all the stuff that I carry including me weighs about 305 lbs. And sadly within that less than 20-minute commute, there are exactly 11 traffic lights which I usually end up stopping at each and every one of them almost Every day (I’m really lucky like that). If you don’t believe how much I shop online, the above photo of C-250 isn’t a prop photo, it’s an actual scene where I was carrying these boxes home and wearing my other 2 bags on my back and shoulder.
[caption id="attachment_15585" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
My typical Monday afternoon.[/caption]