Q: What decides the quality of an electric bicycle?
Answer: The quality of four parts (motor, battery, controller, and charger) decides the electric bicycle quality. With the rapid development in the electric bicycle field in recent years in Asia and Europe, there are more and more bicycle factories flourishing, and different quality products and prices appear. Some companies ignore the quality of these four parts in order to pursue higher profits.
The quality of the entire electric bicycle cannot be assured if the customer only focuses on price and ignores the quality of the above four parts. Customers cannot afford to only consider the lowest price while choosing an electric bicycle. They need to consider the quality of the bicycle as well.
Our City Bike comes complete with a warranty on various parts.
Q: How should I correctly use and maintain my electric bicycle?
Answer: There are three secrets to wisely using your electric bicycle: diligent charging, wise assisting and good maintenance.
Diligent Charging: It is good to form a diligent charging habit; it is best to charge your bike every night. It is best to never leave the charger connected to the battery for more than 10 hours.
Wise Assisting: Our electric bicycle can easily drive up bridges and slopes without any extra force. If you want to prolong the battery usage, it is good to pedal when starting out, when heading into a strong wind, or when going uphill.
Good Maintaining: Electric bikes can operate in the rain and snow, but the motor and controller cannot be submerged in water. Keep the tires properly inflated. Regularly check the tension of the spokes. Do not ride with loose spokes!
How Electric Bikes Work
How e-bikes perform depends on many factors. The most important factors are listed here with the (generally speaking) most important at the top:
- Terrain (number and incline of hills)
- E-bike speed (range at 10 mph is 8 times as far as at 20 mph)
- Wind conditions (going 10 mph against a 10 mph headwind feels like 20 to the bike)
- Voltage amps of the electric bike
- Correct tire inflation (under-inflated tires slow you down)
- Battery size (measured in volt-amp-hours)
- Weight of rider and baggage
- Motor/controller/drive system efficiency
All else being equal, range is a function of either 1) battery capacity (amp-hours X volts) or 2) speed. There is a close relationship between battery capacity (A/hrs) and both weight and physical size (total volume). Generally speaking, the bigger the battery, the greater its capacity. For hill-climbing, expect about 3 feet of elevation gain for every volt-amp-hour. For example, a 24-volt, 10 amp-hour battery pack will take you up about 720 feet (3 feet X (24 X 10)). Our 48 volt would take you up twice that (1440 feet). Another way to compare performance is the ability to gain elevation.
All else being equal, speed is a function of motor (watts) and controller. Most scooter motors are capable of higher performance characteristics than the controller allows. [Beware: Some scooter advertising touts their high-power motors, but only a much lower amount of watts through the controller.]
As for power, consider that Lance Armstrong's average speed over a 2-hour ride is 20.5 mph. That's just over the legal speed of e-bikes. Lance expended about 1/2 horsepower, or 373 watts continuously. E-bike motors can peak at several hundred watts, but most operate continuously in the range of 300 - 600 watts. Most e-bikes, therefore, will make a big difference in getting you down the road and up the hill!
Why do our bikes have no regenerative braking as in the hybrid cars? Regenerative braking doesn't yield much "juice" back into the battery. Even hi-tech hybrid electronics on electric automobiles regain less than 10% of the original charge. Therefore, given a choice of either regenerating or freewheeling, you will get more range with freewheeling unless you have a very hilly route. Due to the nature of batteries, you can double the battery life expectancy by discharging only 50% of capacity instead of 75%; you get 6 times the battery life at 30% capacity usage per cycle. Think of battery lifetime as having $1000 in the bank and withdrawing a dollar with each 50% discharge cycle and withdrawing $10 every time you deeply discharge the battery.
Rules of Thumb:
Range is proportional to battery size; twice the battery size = twice the range.
For every two miles you go, plan on about one cent of electricity.
When speed increases, range decreases even faster; 1/3 faster = 1/2 the range.
A 400-watt motor takes an average rider up all but the steepest hills.
One of the few parts that needs replacement is the batteries. Depending on the setup of your electric bicycle, you will need to replace your battery every 1-5 years. 90% of bikes today use sealed lead acid batteries, which cost about $45 to $99 to replace. They are good for up to 300 recharges. Some use Li Ion, (500 recharges), those batteries can cost as much as $600 but have 3 to 4 times the life of a standard battery. Some bikes may ship with lead-acid but can be upgraded to Li Ion (then you'll need a Li Ion charger) at a later time if you desire.
