Rock323

Hi, I just got an eZee sprint for commuting. I love it, but I feel a bit puzzled as to how I might maximize the battery performance. Supposedly, the bike has a range of about 28 miles on a single battery charge. I pull my daughter in a burley trailer, and our ride is ten miles, with a gentle uphill grade much of the ride. In the two days of inaguaral riding last week I found that I was draining the battery pretty thoroughly in the ten miles even pedalling steadily the entire way. I'm wondering from any of the seasoned ebike riders out there: would cold weather affect battery performance to some degree? (it was in the mid 30sF) Would the burley trailer make that big a difference in the range of the bike (between kid, gear, & trailer it's probably close to 50#)? Any tips for maximizing the battery on the trip? The trip home, more downhill, seemed to be less draining, though it still took more of the charge than I expected.

any feedback appreciated, particulary if you're familiar with the eZees.

thanks!

cerewa

not familiar with ezee's but having your range go down by half seems fairly normal for climbing a slight uphill grade.

That burley trailer is not only raising the weight of your bike but raising the air drag.

The big things that really affect range most of the time are total weight (rider plus bike plus motor plus all cargo)... and energy lost to air drag. If you keep your speed to about 12 to 15mph all the time then it is likely your motor will be operating within the range of speeds it's made for (increasing motor efficiency) and you won't lose too much energy to air resistance, which really kills your batteries if you go full power all the time.

Depending on the battery, cold may help or hurt your battery performance. If possible, start your ride with the battery at room temperature. most batteries work best if they stay at room temperature and work much worse if the battery temp drops to 40 F or rises to 130 F . Depending on your setup, you may find that the battery tends to be 10 degrees or so above ambient temperature, more if it's insulated or if it's running really high power levels.

BroadwayJoe

Welcome to world of electric bike range! Some days are better than others - it all depends on weight, grades & wind. But not always in that order.

A few things - do you have NiMh batteries on your eZee? That chemistry needs some use before they realize full capacity. Rest 'em a couple days or more in between use and the range will suffer greatly. NiMh likes to be used daily and charged when cool for best capacity.

That might not give you the range you need but it should help. If your commute needs more battery you can add a parallel pack with a little work and that should get you where you need to go. Also, pedal hardest at startup or anytime you sense the motor loading.

I've seen/owned packs that could go 10 miles on one day and only about 2 miles on another day. The only difference was in how I used the motor and fighting wind.

Rock323

Thanks for confirming my thoughts! I was figuring the drag would have something to do with the fact that battery seemed to drain quickly, also the extra weight, spring head wind, and generally uphill tragetory would compound the problem. All that aside, I LOVE the bike; it's an answer to my commuting dilemma, trying to cut down drastically on car trips, plus get some good exercise in the meantime. The electric boost is enough to make it do-able! I just need to learn the nuances of conserving the battery power for the hills where I need it most.

p.s. I'm voting for obama too!

Rock323

Good info, thanks! I suspected, and actually was sorta warned at the shop where I bought the bike that the range would vary. I just don't want to get stuck pedaling a 60# bike & 50# kid+gear+trailer, miles from work with the biggest hills still to climb! I do have the NiMh battery, as the guy at the shop recommended it over the Lithium bat. Good to know that the range is better with more constant use and the tips on charging. Also the wind, it is spring and the wind if pretty much a given! As I said in the other message, love the bike, just needing to figure out the intricacies...

I look forward to learning more about ebikes through my riding experiences and following the conversations here.

dman-ebike

Hi. I've thought of hooking up trailer up to my ebike but its already at about 80 lbs. I'm sure it would probably kill my range but you might consider installing a ammeter so you can actually see where you draw the most amps and then pedal accordingly. I did this and noticed that I can drop the power consumption quite noticably at times but problem is I don't have the endurance to hold it yet. Right now I can only drop it 20% over like 12 miles at full speed.

BroadwayJoe

NiMh over Lithium? 'Might wanna check into a different shop. I've extensively used both and NiMh is my least favorite. In fact, I would rather have SLA (lead) batteries over NiMh simply because NiMh doesn't save enough weight (due to the fact that range varies so much when not used regularly I need to carry more capacity just to be on safe side which negated the already minimal weight savings over lead) and the charge/discharge characteristics are almost as complicated as lithium.

Lithium - complex charge/discharge requirements and EXPENSIVE but they do save a LOT of weight and in my personal experience 3AH of Lithium will deliver about the same range as 5AH lead or NiMh running similar voltages. Plus, in most cases they can be fast charged unlike any battery system I've ever seen before. Nano-phosphate lithium cells from A123 Systems is what I have experience building my own packs from. Very, very impressive...

I would suggest a reserve battery - stow it in the trailer or someplace so you have an option if/when the main battery dies.

Learn as much as you possibly can about battery chemistries and pack construction. Motors and controllers have reached an extremely high level of development in recent years but the batteries are just in the beginning stages of becoming what they need to be. Lithium packs are the future to eBikes IMO.

Rock323

Hey, thanks for that battery feedback. Kind wish I'd have done a bit more research on it. My plan was to buy the lithium battery, but ended up following the advice of the guy at the shop. He said that they seem to have trouble with some percentage of the Lithium batteries, and since I live a good 5 hours away, the reliability of the NiMH would probably make sense. Anyway, I think I will end up becoming a lot better versed in battery technology than I ever imagined! I wish they weren't so dang expensive, because it would be fun to experiment with both... thanks for the feedback!

Rock323

Actually, the bike has a simple (red, yellow, green) meter on it, which definitely helps me keep track of how much power I'm drawing off the battery. I think what I'm gathering as I ride a bit more is that I may end up going slower than I hoped, especially when I'm riding into a strong spring headwind, pulling the burley. But yeah, like you say, my own personal endurance is gonna be another key factor.

BroadwayJoe

One thing I found useful about my hub/throttle eBike is to find the spot where the motor makes up for most the drag/weight of it's own components. That's the sweet-spot for max range from a battery pack and you'll wanna run it that way whenever it looks like you may run out of charge.

Whenever I need maximum range I resign myself to the fact that my legs will do the majority of work but with the idea that the battery will at least last long enough to make up for the added weight/resistance of the electric components. In other words, sort of a "reserve" mode of riding.

Kinda defeats the purpose of having assistance but when you think about pedaling an "unmotivated" eBike it can pay off to have an emergency battery rationing plan in place before the situation becomes critical.

I don't mean to sound like NiMh is junk. It's good stuff too but it really likes to be used daily for max capacity.

Wind is a HUGE range killer. Just look up the physic formulas for every 10mph of wind resistance? Grades too along with dead starts from stop. All those things can add-up to very different range figures for the same vehicle.

Get out there - safely keep riding!

blippo

You'll find out in the warm weather you'll get more miles.

jerryt

Rock323 I have some experience with eZee since I own a Quando with NiMh batts.

Your salesman gave you good advice about trouble with lithium. It appears that Wai Won Ching, the CEO of eZee has stated publically that eZee Li batts have shorter life spans and they cut out on hill climbs. He is changing suppliers and expects the new Li's to be better. I don't know when they will be available in the USA but I intend to switch to Li's in a few years.

The Pedelec forum in Great Britain has a strong eZee community and thats where I got the info. You can read some of it here plus do a search on eZee.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/elec...highlight=ezee

Rock323

Hey, thanks for that info on the li battery. I like the idea of the lighter battery, but not added complications! I'm actually having trouble with my NiMh... but I think it's just this particular battery, and I believe the shop is going to replace it. It just stopped holding the charge... battery only goes about a quarter mile, if that! I'm anxious to replace it and get riding, as the weather has finally warmed up.

thanks for the tip on the pedelecs forum. I'll definitely check that out.