Electric Bikes - ebike cost - .50/mile - same as 3/4 ton Pickup

I've got 450 miles on my Ezee Torq (battery now seems to be about 1/2 gone) and based on a new battery costing $450 it looks like my cost of operation will be about .50/ mile.

Any thoughts on that?

Something doesn't sound right. You should be getting much better than that, regardless of what you have for equipment.

what kind of battery are you buying?

lead acid batteries are only good for about 100 cycles, but they don't cost $450, they are closer to $100. Is your $450 price tag an proprietory plastic box with SLAs in it? if so, dont replace the box, just the batties.

Litium ion are good for 1000 cycles of more, so you can expect to run them for several years. If you are buying them for $450, then you are getting one hell of good deal, but somethig is wrong if they only lasted 450 miles.

IF that didn't help, could you answer of few of these questions: When you battery has completed a recharge, what is the unloaded voltage? How far are you getting on a charge? How long are you letting them charge? whats the unloaded voltage when you consider them discharged?

Thoughts are that it kind of sucks. I've done similar calculations on my Bionx + recumbent. It will take many years to re-coup costs, and I will have to buy a new battery at some pont.

There are still pros, however. I get exercise that I wouldn't have gotten if just taking the car. My mother said to just consider it a "gym membership" fee. I also get the enjoyment of the ride, which is priceless. Plus, I'm burning a lot less fossil fuels, and the battery can be recycled.

...And I'm thinking that the costs will go down over time, especially as hybrid and electric cars become more popular. Only time will tell on that one.

From what I've gleaned from this forum, the Bionx Li-Mn batteries lose capacity pretty quickly. They only claim a 500-cycle lifespan, but it looks like the capacity drops off in a straight line, or worse. The reality is, the main expense in any electric vehicle is battery depreciation, and that will continue to be high until battery price/performance improves.

I'm currently assembling parts for an electric, but I'm planning on buying a motor & controller kit separately from a battery. I'd like to keep the cabling and mounting arrangement flexible, so I can upgrade batteries easily when the time comes.

If you are looking for economy, I would stick to the lower end ebikes and avoid expensive modifications and batteries to go faster. In July of this year I bought my Schwinn Izip and used it for all my errands. So far half of the bike has paid for itself. If I would have started at the beginning of the summer, I would have one ebike for free. I love free stuff.
This is where the sweet spot is, in the lower end, but still needs to be reasonable quality.
My guess is that I will have a few free ebikes in gas savings by the time the battery gives out.

If you are looking for economy, I would stick to the lower end ebikes and avoid expensive modifications and batteries to go faster. In July of this year I bought my Schwinn Izip and used it for all my errands. So far half of the bike has paid for itself. If I would have started at the beginning of the summer, I would have one ebike for free. I love free stuff.
This is where the sweet spot is, in the lower end, but still needs to be reasonable quality.
My guess is that I will have a few free ebikes in gas savings by the time the battery gives out.

Your advice is right on. The schwinn izip is cheap and reliable and even more reliable if it's not modified.

Once you start modifying, nothing is cheap anymore!!! It then becomes a hobby like what I'm doing.
Heck, I could have bought a cheap car brand new by now, so it don't make monetary sense in my case.

Keep it simple and it's a good deal.

:)

heh i lost track of how much i spend ;) its addictive

add a tank bag another lifepo4 pack and contoller to the list:thumb:

The $450 is what Electric Bikes NW charges for a replacement Lithium Ion battery. Based on what SONY says about Lithium Ion Batteries, they only have about 200 full charges in their life and quickly go down hill from there. I don't know if Bikes NW even makes any money on the 36V / 10 Ah battery at that price - but it would certainly help a lot of the price were in the $200 range. The charger that came with the bike (Ezee Torq) appears to be top of the line. As ebikes become more popular everything should get better for the ebiker.:love:

The $450 is what Electric Bikes NW charges for a replacement Lithium Ion battery. Based on what SONY says about Lithium Ion Batteries, they only have about 200 full charges in their life and quickly go down hill from there. I don't know if Bikes NW even makes any money on the 36V / 10 Ah battery at that price - but it would certainly help a lot of the price were in the $200 range. The charger that came with the bike (Ezee Torq) appears to be top of the line. As ebikes become more popular everything should get better for the ebiker.:love:

Do you pedal with the bike? Or does the electric motor do all the work? You won't get many miles out of the battery if you don't pedal. But even if you didn't, you should get a lot more miles than that.

On my old Bionx which uses a Lithium Ion 24v 10Ah battery, I got 7000 miles out of it. But I pedal with it. It's only at 70% capacity now.