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Old 06-17-14, 07:58 AM
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Kopsis
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20 miles at 25+ MPH needs a lot of battery. Ebikes live by the same laws of physics as regular bikes, so power required for 30 MPH is 4 times the power required for 15 MPH. A 185 lb rider on a 50 lb ebike is going to need about 250W to hold 20 MPH (on a flat route with no wind). At 25 MPH that increases to 440W. A lot of the typical ebike solutions only target 20 mile range at 20 MPH, so you'll need something with significantly more battery (about 500 Watt hours). Your own pedaling contribution (in order to stay non-sweaty) is probably no more than 100W. That's enough to go from 20 MPH to 22.5 MPH, so you can't really rely on pedal assist to add much range at the speeds you want to travel.

Plenty of hobbyist ebikes can do that kind of range/speed, but not many commercial models (since more than 20 MPH usually runs afoul of regional ebike regulations).
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