I've found that in the cold winter weather I'm only getting 25-30 km range out of my Challenger. So I'm thinking of carrying a spare battery to double the range. Has anyone done that?

My current plan is to carry the spare battery on the footplate above the first one, held on with numerous bungee.

I see Veloteq is coming out with a new and improved battery. Anyone heard anything about when it comes out? I may hold off buying a second battery until a better one comes out if that will be anytime soon.

Kevin

Yes I heard about that. NiHM batter technology wil increase range, shorten recharge time and make the bike lighter! Save those pennies!!

If Veloteq's battery system isn't proprietary, you could probably do well by setting your own pack up, but I don't know about what they might have rigged up. I just looked at the Cavalier, as it was the first one on the page, but its packing 48v@20ah of SLA. That would be pretty easy to recreate, and that much battery in lithium for instance, would provide 30% more range, work in all typical temperature conditions, last several times longer in service life, and weigh about 14lbs, as opposed to 62. Downside?

Well, extreme price. I would think you would be facing quite a large price tag.

I don't know that it will me NiMH. Where did you get that idea from?

Some quotes from Veloteq's website

Veloteq is also teamed with Powergenix of San Diego, CA to develop a revolutionary new power supply offering greatly reduced size, weight, and recharge time and also a greater usable life, more than double that of conventional lead acid battery power supplies. It will permit a much longer travel distance between recharges. This project will come to reality in the last quarter of 2007. It serves as another example of world leading Veloteq electric bicycle technology advances.

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10. Are there new emerging technologies which will improve the performance of power supplies?
Definitely yes. Veloteq and PowerGenix Corporation of California are engaged in the development of a revolutionary new type of power supply that will offer the advantages of technologies such as NiMH and Lithium Ion, without the high cost and much publicized dangers of lithium. The power supply weight will be reduced by over 50%, recharge time will decrease to 80% of power capacity in one hour, size will be reduced, and the travel range will be increased. In addition, they will contain no toxic or polluting materials. This project is on track and scheduled for release in early 2008.

Extreme price is right!

For us non-millionaires, SLA rules.

The low-cost alternative, until their new battery comes out, is to simply buy another Veloteq battery. Put it on the footplate, held down with beaucoup bungee. When the first battery runs low, then simply swap batteries.

a new battery would make the bike handle better. now all thay need to do is come out with better brakes.
and im not talking about the cheesy pocket bike brakes thay all use now. disk brakes would be nice for the price you pay for one. well that and safety.

Hmmm... I have not had any problems with the brakes. Perhaps yours need adjustment?

There is a major braking section of the Veloteq website at:

https://veloteq.com/faq_main-menu.htm

no my brakes where adjusted and working right. no problems there i got stuck in the rain maybe twice.
after that brake dust built up on the brake drums and the performance was so so after that. but i see
thay covered riding in the rain as well

im just saying you would notice a difference in braking if thay used disk brakes everyone gets stuck in the rain sooner or later

Good disk brakes aren't a cheap endeavour though, and bad ones can just be.. bad.

If they're going to revise the wheels though, having a larger rim diameter than 16" would really help with the handling characteristics, likely more than shaving those pounds from a battery upgrade would.

Whats wrong with small wheels in the handling department?

Larger wheels provide a better gyroscopic effect, given that the weight of the rotational mass is relatively equal. They also track over uneven terrain more evenly.

Thats not to say that small wheeled vehicles can't be stable, but rather that in moderation, bigger tends to be better. Vespa moved its wheelsize up from 8" to 12" over the years I believe, owing to this same trend.

Now, 16" is obviously bigger than 12", but when you're talking about the handling characteristics of low speed handling in regards to a bicycle, its still a fairly small wheel. I would personally expect an improvement with 20"

The store that I bought it from.

Went a total of 28 km on my Veloteq Challenger today.

For non-natives of Toronto, there is a map to follow my travels at:

https://www.toronto.ca/cycling/map/pdf/2007_map.pdf

You are allowed to be suitably jealous of Toronto's cycling infrastructure.

Started out at Yonge and Wellesley at 1000, went up Bay St. then along the Davenport Road bike path (Route 18) to Oakwood then up to St. Clair Ave. W. Went into the vacuum cleaner shop there and bought replacement vacuum cleaner bags.

Then I went east on St. Clair to Mount Pleasant, north to Moore, east to Bayview and then north on Bayview to Sunnybrook Hospital where I got drugs. Then south on Bayview to Rosedale Valley, west to Yonge and south to Wellesley. Finish time 1130. Total distance on first trip 20 km. Not a bad trip, except for some morons honking their horns on Rosedale Valley. The Davenport Road bike path had been well ploughed out. There were several other bicyclists on it. Since this route is generally uphill along the old Lake Iroquois bluffs, I passed a lot of bicycles, but traffic was generally light enough to do this. In some places, bicycle density required me to move into general traffic and take the lane.

Plugged in the ebike until my next trip at 1400. Went west on Wellesley, through the U of T campus and under Soldier's Tower to Hoskin. Went between the two rival Anglican seminaries glowering at each other across Hoskin and west on bike route #14 (Hoskin/Harbord) to Ossington. Then along the yellow line on the map to Dufferin Mall. Went shopping for various presents for next day's Christmas party with some of my relatives. Then I went back the same way with a more heavily laden ebike, arriving at 1630. Total distance on second trip 8 km. Needless to say, far more time was spent shopping than riding. Once again, with a few exceptions, the bike lane was well ploughed out.

This is a longer total distance that I usually go, but I had a few errands to run!

It's not a bicycle.

Unless you disable the motor and pedal on 'bike paths' you will be charged by Toronto Police Service.

stokell you are sounding like a broken and wrong record.

E-BIKE:
ELECTRIC BICYCLE!!!

It says it on the sites....it says it on the manuals and it is DEFINED as one right on the stickers, so regardless of what you and everyone thinks it IS an E-Bike.

Give it up for once. Sheesh.

In the year 2000, Transport Canada initiated a study on the feasibility of legalizing ebikes in this country. I have the report in pdf format for those interested. The escooter was no where in the picture. The little black sticker only states that the vehicle passes minimum federal requirements. The provinces have the power to ban or otherwise regulate them. By simple definition the ebike is first a bicycle. A scooter is not a bicycle.

In the Ontario Pilot project initiated in October of 2006 and running until 2009, ebikes were plainly shown as bicycles and described as being primarily pedalled. If you go to that site now, the wording reads “The addition of the power assist enables the rider to pedal with less effort, to achieve a greater distance, to climb hills and ride against the wind more easily. In its size, weight, speed and the driving skills required, the e-bike is similar to the conventional bicycle”. That does not describe an electric scooter.

As already recorded here, the Ontario Minister of Transportation plans on closing that loophole at the end of the pilot project. My concern is this: Anyone purchasing one of these scooters in Ontario will have to ride it on private property only after 2009. That is not how they are being marketed.

Let’s stop pretending these vehicles are bicycles. Do the leg work and lobbying required to get them regulated and approved and get them powerful enough that they are not a hazard on the roadway. I consistently pass these monstrosities on my bicycle without power assist.

I understand where you're both coming from. It is indeed technically an "e-bike", with a drivetrain that allows for human powered movement.

However, Stokell believes that they should not be considered e-bikes, primarily due to definitions in legislation. I don't see any such direct mention of the weeding out of e-bike scooters though, simply that they were going to be required to have fully functional drivetrains rather than aesthetic ones:

E-bikes, like conventional bikes, are designed to be propelled primarily by muscular power. We are aware of some scooters that have had non-operational pedals attached for aesthetic purposes, in an attempt to circumvent the licensing and insurance requirements for scooters

Depending on how they take that, it could mean a revision for product coming out, or simply that police might start requiring you to prove that it operates. The latter would mean very little.

Based upon basic criteria, e-bike scooters have a drivetrain, a legal weight limit, and an electric motor, which fits them in under law. Despite the abstract definitions provided in legal speak, typically those are the only solidly defined definitions which place the vehicle in the class. However, once you add 140+lbs of weight, reduce the gyroscopic input of the wheels at low speed, introduce a drivetrain which isn't typically fully rounded out and a crankset which is too wide for comfort, the bicycle experience has been quite greatly diminished. As Digikid says, he doesn't pedal his. Thats not particularily surprising.

So yes, its defined as one. But in reality, its an exceptionally poor bicycle.
Not everyone lives in Ontario either, and for the rest of Canada, most of us have our own independent regulations.

Does anyone have skills in interpreting the battery gauge?

Under load it dips down. I have been running under the assumption that when it pegs out on the bottom under heavy load that the battery is almost exhausted.

Does anyone have a more sophisticated analysis?

is that with a full charge? if so if it just started test each cell after charging you may have a bad one.
or one going bad anyway.

under load it should dip down a bit. but not bottom out. its more of a cheap amp meter.

how old is the battery pack?
how manny charges has it had?
do you leave the charger plugged in?

Yesterday's ebike riding.

In the morning I went to St. Thomas Huron Street. Round trip distance, 3 km. Then in the evening I went first to the Eaton Centre, then to the Distillery District. Round trip distance, 7 km.

The Distillery District was fascinating. I can see why people would like living there in a car-free environment.

Sorry, no.

Perhaps I phrased myself poorly. What I meant to say is that after using it (typically in this cold weather after the 20 km mark) the battery is, of course, depleted. That is when the gauge will be showing in the green at the top under no load, but bottom out under load.

I am making the assumption then that the battery is almost exhausted. I have no real desire to be stranded with a dead battery somewhere verifying this assumption.

ok in that case cold weather does effect led acid batterys. whatever performance you had in the summer will drop in the winter its normal

Dear me,

I really don't seem to be making myself clear tonight.

Yes, I anticipate losing about one third the power capacity, per the owner's manual.

What I am really interested in is how to interpret the gauge. In other words, what does it mean when it starts to bottom out under load? What do I have left?

I suppose that I could drive around the block until it got to absolute zero, but that is somewhat hard on the battery. SLA does not like going to zero.

the controller has a cutout voltage so it wont run the batteries flat. so theres no fear in that.
the voltage meter on the ebike is analog and Cheap.
you could setup a digital volt meter or a braindraine.->https://www.ebikes.ca/drainbrain.shtml


even if you had the same ebikes with the same km on them the meters would read different do to there quality.

go digital

The only way to know how to interpret the gauge is to ride until cutout, once off it won't harm the batteries greatly and atleast you will have a feel for the gauge.
The bike will cutoff power at a preset voltage that also tends to vary (like the gauges) a touch but should be above 80% discharge (one of my controllers cuts off at 50% it is annoying but great for battery life).
A digital gauge will be a little better but you would still have to run to cutoff to find the cutoff voltage.
Bare in mind as well that an increased load ie. up hill a heavy bag of groceries will affect the cutoff due to increased voltage sag, temperature and battery age will also affect sag and thus cutoff.
A reduced throttle setting will often get you home if you hit cutoff by lowering the amount of voltage sag due to load.