How to increase the range of electric bicycle

How to increase the range of electric bicycle

You like your electric bike, but wouldn’t it be great if you could go a little further while charging? So how do we increase the range of electric bicycle? With the development of new technologies, electric bicycle batteries are constantly improving, but it seems that no matter how far you can go, the range of electric bicycles is always better.

The good news is that you can take many simple measures to improve the range of an electric bike and find the last electron in the battery. Although you can upgrade the parts on the electric bicycle at any time to increase the range, simple changes in riding behavior will also have a huge impact on the range of the electric bicycle, giving you value for money!

1. Lightly step on the accelerator

I know it’s fun to turn the throttle all the way back and fly towards the sunset, or just torn off the traffic lights. But you speed up the comparison method you use each time with more energy than just the standard cruise. If you have a cycle analysis or other wattmeter, you will see that cruising on flat ground may pull 5 or 10 amps, and acceleration can easily bring you to the limit of the controller, usually 20 or 30 amps.

When you want to accelerate, don’t use full throttle, but try to relax the throttle and accelerate slightly. By spending a few more seconds to speed things up, you can reduce the amount of power used by the battery a lot. This not only leaves more energy for the battery to extend the driving time, but also helps keep the battery temperature low, so that the same energy can be used more efficiently. Higher efficiency = better electric bike mileage.

2. Try to step on the pedal while accelerating

Because acceleration is the largest battery consumption on an electric bicycle, if you step on the pedal for a few seconds while accelerating, your energy consumption during this phase can be reduced by up to half. This translates into some considerable energy savings, especially if you are riding in a lot of stop-and-go traffic.

Many people are obsessed with the accelerator and don’t like pedaling, but you can think of it as a few seconds of free movement, which can also extend the range of your electric bike (and save you from having to pedal when the battery is depleted in the future) .

3. Glide greatly increases the cruising range of your electric bike

When you know you want to park in front, for example, before a traffic light or stop sign, release the accelerator in advance and taxi to the parking spot. Riding at full throttle until the moment you start braking is wasting precious battery energy. You have to stop anyway, why not save your energy by reducing the throttle by an extra 50 yards before you stop?

It may add a few seconds to your total travel time, but if you can’t live without those three or four seconds, then the range of your electric bike may not be the biggest worry in your life.
4. Slow down (enjoy life)
If you are not in a hurry and do not want to keep up with traffic for safety reasons, try to slow down. Even driving a few miles per hour will significantly reduce the energy you use to maintain that speed.

Energy consumption and speed are not linear, so reducing speed by only 5% can actually save more than 5% of energy. In other words, decelerating a few miles per hour can have a significant impact on your electric bike’s mileage.

4. Keep your tires pumped up

Tires that remain at the maximum air pressure rating have lower rolling resistance, which means your battery wastes less energy for you to move. I’m still trying to find research on bicycle tire pressure and energy use, but similar studies using car tires consistently show an increase in range of about 3%.

If this data also applies to bicycles, it means that if your current e-bike mileage is 30 kilometers, then keeping your tires at maximum can increase your mileage by a full kilometer. Who wouldn’t walk an extra kilometer for free?

5. If your electric bicycle has regenerative braking, please use regenerative braking

Regenerative braking of electric bicycles can only use direct drive (gearless) hub motors, but if you have one, make sure to use it. And make sure you brake early when you encounter a red light or stop sign, so use it wisely so that most of the braking can be done by the motor. To do this, it is only necessary to squeeze the brake lever enough to activate regenerative braking, but not enough to apply the brake pads to the rim or brake disc. Remember, this only applies when you have time to brake leisurely. If you need to stop quickly, of course make the most of the brakes!

On my bike, through regenerative braking, I can save up to 5% of energy. This means that no matter what the range of my electric bike is, due to my regenerative braking gain, I can go 5% more.

6. Fully charge the battery as much as possible

Lithium batteries, like any battery, will obviously get the maximum range when they are fully charged at 100%. It can be said that you will not go that far with half a tank.

If you only travel for short distances in a week, some people only need to charge the battery once a week. The problem with this method is that the battery is in a partially discharged state for most of its life. This means that if you suddenly want (or need) to travel a long distance, you may be in trouble.

My rule of thumb is “If you used your bike that day, charge it that night”.

When I ride home, my battery is usually placed directly on the charger. This also helps me not to forget to charge the night before, and I woke up in the morning and found that the battery was almost exhausted. This feeling is not the worst thing in the world, but it is very close.

7. Put a smaller charger on your electric bike

I like to use a powerful charger with a big cooling fan at home (although my wife hates noisy fans…) but if I know I will go out somewhere to charge after a while, I sometimes carry it with me A smaller charger for long trips. This just helps me keep the battery full. Even putting 10-20% of the power back into the battery during the day will help maintain the health of the battery, let alone increase the range of your electric bike by 10-20%.

All these tips can help you increase the mileage of your electric bike without breaking the bank. If you have money and really want to increase the range of your electric bike, then the second battery is irreplaceable!

Extend the range of electric bikes by keeping the battery cool

Everyone wants their electric bicycles to go further. It doesn’t matter how far your electric bike can go; we always want to run an extra mile.

Of course, the best way to increase the range of an electric bike is to install a larger battery, but upgrading the battery is not the only way to get more range. There are many ways to increase the battery’s range, including simple but important ways to keep the battery cool.

The electric bicycle battery gets hot. This is a fact in life.

Lithium batteries in electric bicycles naturally heat up during work. This is normal for any lithium battery. However, the characteristic of lithium batteries is that efficiency decreases as the temperature rises-when trying to increase the mileage of an electric bicycle, efficiency is the name of the game.

As your battery’s efficiency decreases, it must use more stored energy to power your electric bike the same distance. By using more energy, it will heat up more. This will continue the vicious circle, while depriving your lithium battery of its own energy and cutting into the driving range of your electric bicycle.

So what can be done? The answer is: cooling.

The best way to improve battery efficiency and keep the last electron in the battery away is to keep the battery cool while it is running. The easiest way to achieve this goal is passive air cooling. Passive air cooling simply means letting air flow through the batter to help cool the battery while riding.

Many people store the battery in a bag in the center of the bicycle frame or in a suitcase on either side of the rear wheel. Although it is convenient to carry the battery, the bag also traps heat inside the battery. This fabric limits the amount of air that flows through when you drive, which in turn heats up the battery.

What’s worse are some custom cases people build to hold their batteries. Large plastic or wooden boxes are great for securing batteries to electric bicycles, but they can also act as huge insulators, eliminating any chance of air movement. If you put the battery in the sealed box of the electric bike, try to reach into it at the end of the long-distance ride. It may feel like a low-end oven-the opposite of what you want.

From a cooling point of view, a better choice is an aluminum hard-shell battery pack. The air in the aluminum case still heats up while the battery is running, but the aluminum allows it to transfer most of the heat out of the case through convection. Aluminum shell batteries are also mounted directly on the frame or rack of the electric bicycle, which means they are exposed to the air flowing through them, rather than isolated in a bag or scooter shell.

There is no local installation solution for shrink-wrapped batteries, so they are often placed in those bags and custom boxes on the back of electric bicycles. But even in this case, some measures can be taken to improve air flow and provide much-needed cooling for the battery. Try to drill some holes in the front and back of the scooter shell or custom battery box to allow air to circulate. If you use a bag, try cutting some vents in the non-structural area of the bag. At the end of the next ride, you will notice the temperature difference in the box or bag, and your battery will thank you!

If you install the battery in the hanging basket on both sides of the rear wheel, consider using a metal cage type hanging basket instead of a bag. The cage will provide stronger support and allow air to flow unimpeded, thereby cooling your battery and helping it operate more efficiently.

Increase the range of electric bikes through more airflow

All this is to lower the temperature of the battery and let more air flow to it. Since we may not be making customized turbulent oil-filled battery housings anytime soon, passive air cooling is our best choice to keep the battery cool and make the most of the range of the electric bike.

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