What is your efficiency/ Watt hours per mile with your ebike

[Eric Luna]

This post is for guys who own a cycle analyst or Battman with a speedometer attached.

These devices will actually calculate your watt hours per mile which is an amazing number which tells you the efficiency of you and your ebike.

When i ride my high power bikes heavy on the throttle... i get about an amp hour per mile which equates to about 50 watts per mile which is pretty poor efficiency.

What are you guys getting on your ultra efficient DIY ebike builds?

Read my knowledge base post on how to increase efficiency

[GeorgeS]

Every ebike needs a watt hour meter. Mostly on paths, pretty slow, I get a mile for ever 17 watt hours. I put the total wh in the label for my tracker program, so lots of data.

If you like annoying little stats, there are 33 kwh in a gallon of gas. If I ride 20 miles, it is 20*17wh = 340 wh. So a third of a kwh, or 1% of a gallon of gas. About 1.3 ounces of gas, basically.

[gman1971]

Thank you! Very nice.

[gman1971]

30-32 Wh on Cyclone 6kW eTrike at 28 mph average speed.
46-48 Wh on Cyclone 3kW eBike at 30 mph average speed.

[Eric Luna]

Really great to see real numbers that are not exxaggerated etc.... its really good information....anyone have watt hour info on a bbshd or bbs02?

[CPG]

Riding the BBSO2/ Montague combo the other day, from 6 K up to a bit over 8K in nine miles, dirt/gravel road, all uphill. 28.98 WPM PAS 1 and a little 2, pedaled the entire way, but not hard. Nade about 10 mph most of the way.

[gman1971]

Yeah, wow, once you go uphill the battery range goes downhill real fast!!

[skymon]

BBS02 using 14s4p shark pack GA cells (700+ Wh) on Trek 29er hardtail (49lbs incl motor and battery, 150 lb rider)
2.5" tires @ 20psi

Mountain fire roads. 3000'-4000' elevation gain.
PAS level 3 (of 9).
Moderate pedalling.
8 mph average

I can count on 30 miles. Can get as much as 40.

So thats between 17 and 23 Wh/Mile

20 Wh/Mile



For comparison on a road bike:

Same motor and battery
Cannondale Hybrid (43lbs incl motor and battery, 150 lb. rider)
35mm tires @ 60psi

Asphalt bike path 700' elevation gain.
PAS level 3 (of 9)
Easy pedalling
15 mph average

Uses about 350 Wh on 37 mile ride


9.5 Wh/Mile


(I should add that those numbers are calculated using a Luna Watt meter and the Bafang odometer.)

[gman1971]

What speed? or average speed?

[skymon]

Using the mtb on fire roads (were talking about as much as 20% grade) 5-10 mph uphill, as much as15 mph downhill. Avg prolly 8 mph
Using the hybrid on the pavement--15 mph avg.

i.e. pretty slow

[brucemetras]

Both of my road going e-bikes see 10 to 12 Wh/mi at average speeds of low to mid 20's mph depending on the wind.. usually around 23 mph .. BBS02 52v .. using the 7ah Mini-cube on my Reach and the 13ah Shark on my Airnimal .. both bikes hover around 41+lbs RTR .. 100 mile+ /wk .. on road only with 15 mile loops and 700' ascent/decent .. PAS only, no throttle .. 66 years old, relatively fit..

[gman1971]

Those are great numbers, 23 mph average is really good. More inline to what one would expect with PAS...

G.

[brucemetras]

Doesn't take me much to get to 14 or 15 Wh/mi .. like when I cruise at 25 or 26 mph instead of 23 mph.. or hit lots of headwind .. then my .2 amp/mi goes to .266 amp/mi in short order .. one day I'll run for awhile at 30mph and see how much juice I use.. I'm sure it'll be a substantial difference.. but I like 23 and pedaling at a cadence of around 85 ... bikes feel pretty good to me there .. although lots of times I just run 25 to 27 and not fret over my amp drain..

[CraigAustin]

Just ball-parking it, about 28 Wh/mi today

52v 11.5ah battery = 598 Wh
17 miles, drained about 80% of the battery from 58.7 to 49v; empty is 46 to 47v
598 Wh * 0.8 / 17 miles = 28 (did I do that right?)

Set-up: BBSHD on a hybrid with commuter tires
Weight: 225lbs total, bike and rider
Route: all streets; half flattish, half rolling hills with the odd steep one, roughly 25 stop signs & lights round trip
Pace: 25-30 mph on flats, 12-18 uphill, 35+ downhill
Motor Power: PAS 5 the whole way but almost no throttle, maybe 40 or 50 seconds total
Pedal Power: the whole way but not hardcore

*if you live in a flat area, you might consider these to be steep hills; but around here this is about the flattest 17 mile ride without running into crowds or traffic lights every two blocks

[commuter ebikes]

I consume about 59 Wh/mi.

[JPLabs]

BBSHD. Yesterday I went 50.5 miles in PAS, mostly between 15-20 mph, not working hard but pedaling. Fatbike on 80% paved trails, 20% grassy roadsides. Tubeless tires. I used 703 Wh. That's 14 Wh/mile. That equates to about 70 miles range on my pack.

Commuting to work in the 20-25 mph range with frequent stops I use more like 25 Wh/mile. Also PAS.

Riding hilly dirt bike single track roughly 10-15 mph with some sand and mostly throttle I burned closer to 30 Wh/mile.

Edit: about 200 - 210 lbs typical total weight.

[gman1971]

Today we did our usual long range 40 miles weekend adventure (20 mile each way), bike paths with hard clay and fine gravel, no paved roads. Madison to Mt. Horeb and back... Only used throttle to barely assist on hills and keep the pace at 8-10 mph during the go trip, and during the return trip just to keep the pace at 15-20 mph, return trip was mostly downhill or flat tho. Average speed came about 12 mph for the 40 miles, towing a trailer. It clocked 7.8 Wh/mile so that's about 307 miles on a charge. On a previous adventure we averaged 8 mph and 5.7 Wh/mile on my trike, towing a trailer as well, it would've been well over 400 miles on a charge...

[ironjack]

Mxus 3000w on a ;Mongoose Hitch fat bike with a 21s6p(78v) riding somewhat conservatively 20 -25 mph in the rolling Ozark hills I get 23 to 27 wh/mi rider and bike weight approx. 300 lbs. I usually check the wh/mi after a ride. During a ride I like to measure my ride by miles per amp hour. The 3000w mxus generally gets me 3 miles per amp hour. I have restricted amps to 15 max in the ca and have pedaled along with the bike on some relatively flat trails and have gotten 5 miles/amp hour. When I feel like 'stepping on the gas' and having some fun the numbers drop to the 2 mlles/amp hour.

​I have a crystallite 2000w 52v 27.5" mtb from HPC that isn't anywhere as efficient as the mxus it generally gets 1.5 to 2 miles/amp hour at a 20 to 25 mph pace and its a much lighter bike maybe 50 lbs vs 100 lbs for the fat bike.

Needless to say the feeling of exhilaration that comes from the mxus under power is super addictive. To be able to power up a hill if I want to and not have that feeling that the bike is struggling is awesome.

​

[gman1971]

It is better to use Wh / mile than Amp hour/ mile; which requires to multiply the voltage of the pack. Your bike gets 26 Wh/mile according to the 3 miles per one amp hour.

The Wh / mile goes up when you "step on the gas", not down... so those are some impossible numbers; the only way I am aware of for anyone to get 2 Wh/mile is to pedal all along by themselves...

G.

[DRMousseau]

I gotta say,... this is REALLY nice info for me to compare with.

​29er 7spd Beach Cruiser w/Big Apples@40lbs
1500W Leafbike hub, 40A max controller w/PAS and Throttle
LunaCycle 52V 11.5ah Panasonic PF
Weight-85lbs (me-155lbs)
Flat runs with insignificant rises over any distance.

SO,... balls out, with a fresh charge at 58.7v, I've hit 41mph with controller at full rated amps at some 2200w+. This is a shocking speed that amazes other motorists when they see "an old man on a bicycle". Can't help but to show off a bit, but these are usually quick short runs locally and jus blasting down to the corner store for a soda. Range-about 12mi a charge when riding hard like this. That breaks down to a whopping 50wh per mile!!!

Now,... if I regulate my controller to a 20A limit and speed to 20mph max, I'll see a HUGE improvement to about 35mi per charge with an average speed of about 12-13mph. I'll never exceed a 1000w, and ​if I set my PAS settings carefully, I can further limit my max wattage use, and see an average of about about 17wh/mi.

BOTH of the above circumstances is very casual, with minimal to no pedal effort, the first situation is jus throttle use, and the latter is mostly peddling to activate PAS.

I'm EXTREAMLY pleased with this setup and it versatility. IF, I were to complain, it would be in regard to very low speed situations. Those moments are actually rare and I usually shut the system down and use full pedal effort when necessary.

[Bicycle365]

32 lbs Motobecane 29'er w/ 3" knobbies
12 lbs BBSHD Kit
12 Lbs 20Ah Panasonic PF Pack
280 lbs Rider ( yeah I know...)
------------
336 lbs rolling out the door

PAS 1,2 mostly , brief throttle max ocassionally ( < 20sec bursts)

19 -21 kWh / miles +/- by my very rough estimates using only the start and end voltages to guestimate the % of my 1040 wH used.

WAY BETTER than I expected when planning the build and doing the rough calculations.

Just did a National Bike Travel Weekend ride ( June 4th) from Plymouth MA to Sandwich MA on Cape Cod. With the sightseeing 45.8 miles. The amazing thing is that in addition to the above numbers I was pulling a 60 lbs BoB trailer with my gear so that's about 400 lbs total ! Rolled into campsite under power with display showing 46ish V remaining, last few hills got it into the "yellow" under full load. There is no way I could be disappointed with those numbers....

[JPLabs]

This thread already has enough data points to help the majority of potential buyers better estimate the pack size (Wh) they need for their riding style, build type, and range goal. Nice.

Keep 'em coming!