Advice on buying
an electric bike
June 2017| 33
from the Technical Experts:
How Much Range Will I Get?
The most common question asked when choosing an
electric bike is, “How much further can you go on it
compared with a normal bicycle?”
No one can really tell
you the range in miles…
The short answer is that your range in miles really
depends on a number of things. Annoying I know, but
it’s true! On a standard electric bike, the distance you go
before the battery runs out could be anywhere between
15 and 60 miles. It depends on many factors, including,
of course, how hard you pedal, but also the way in which
you use the motor, how much drag do you get on your
bicycle, the kind of terrain, how much wind is blowing...
The list goes on. Even the temperature can have an
effect, because lithium ion batteries can carry more
charge when warm than when they are cold.
power before it runs out, or two hours at medium power.
So your range in hours is easy to estimate, the question
is how to translate this into an expected range in miles?
Well, assuming you never go faster than the legal limit
of 15mph, then your maximum range is simply 15 miles
multiplied by your range in hours. We’ve crunched these
numbers for you in the table below to help you quickly
estimate your maximum range.
Don’t be fooled!
These days, almost every eBike says it will give you a
“30-mile range” even if the battery capacity is tiny. Don’t
just believe the range that you see on an advert. Sense
check the quoted range of an eBike first using the table
below as a guide.
BUT! We can tell you the range in hours
The main factor that affects your range is obviously the
battery capacity, which is usually measured in Amp-
hours (Ah), not to be confused with Amps (A) which is
the discharge current. If your battery capacity is 8Ah,
then this means you can draw 8A of current for one hour
before it runs out. At full power (250W), a motor will
draw about 8A, so this means you get one hour of full
How Much Range Will I get? - Range Estimator Tool
Contact the experts at Panda eBikes for more info
www.pandaebikes.com
Hotline: 0115 888 2270
[email protected]