Electric Bike Range

While I was living in DC without a car, I bought an electric bike. A 2015 iZip ProTour.
An electric bike has been one of the best purchases I have ever made.

Nothing particularly special about this model. I think it cost me around $3000. It came with racks and lights. Had decent city tires for me and my cargo. 500W motor. Pedal-assist (no throttle). Assist limited to 28mph. I think that I have around 4000 miles on it by now. Depending on how much assist I would use, I could get 40-45ish miles on the flat trails and streets around DC with a full charge. After a couple years in DC and NM, the battery began losing some of its life, so I had it rebuilt in July 2019.

Since coming back to NM, I have been asked many times about its range--particularly in our hilly terrain. I use it around town and to work since the hill back to my house is substantial.

The Road Home. 1km long, 100m climbing.

But could it be used for longer rides and hills? I decided to test the range of my 5 year old bike in some less than ideal conditions.

• I know from experience that a 50+ pound bike is no fun to pedal once the battery goes dead. So I decided to use a long uphill grade as the test location so that when the battery dies, I could coast back to the truck.
• Battery performance is very much affected by temperature. I waited for a nice morning where the temperature would be 60 degrees or higher (it was 64 when I started). I also wanted the wind to be relatively calm.
• I started at the Tsankawi parking lot and rode up the Truck Route (West-bound on East Jemez Road) as far as I could
• I did not ride particularly hard. I just went out for a nice ride. I wanted to simulate someone riding from White Rock up to LA for lunch or dentist or bank--use the bike for transportation not necessarily for exercise.
• I did periodic checks of remaining battery life (recorded below)
• I tried to keep 11-12mph on the flatter sections, 10mph on the moderate climb portions, and 9mph on the steeper climbing sections

So what is the Full-to-Dead Range?

The short answer is that the bike took me further than I expected. From the base of the Truck Route, all the way up to the bottom of the Townsite Lift at Pajarito Mountain. Only 10 miles of distance, but nearly 1/2 mile of climbing.
I expect that it could make a round trip from my house to White Rock and back on one charge. Could it do the big loop? Not so sure about that. It would be pretty close.
With all the hills we have, I will certainly consider having regenerative braking on my next eBike.

But let's take a look at the entire ride in more detail

I decided to break the ride up into segments that I could measure and evaluate separately.

• Truck Route light to where the west-bound (uphill) lane splits into two
• Truck Route lane split to the entrance of LANSCE
• LANSCE to the LA County Eco Station
• Eco Station to the Ski Hill turn off
• Ski Hill turn off to wherever it died.

I parked at Tsankawi and started the ride at the light. This is what the bike computer thought is the range (in miles) at each power setting with a full battery. I found in DC that for flat, no wind, good tires, decent gear and speed, these numbers were not too far off, but a little optimistic.

Segment 1: Truck Route light to the lane split

Segment 2: Truck Route lane split to the entrance of LANSCE

Segment 3: Truck Route LANSCE to the LA County Eco Station

 Segment 4: Truck Route Eco Station to Ski Hill turnoff

 Segment 5: Ski Hill turnoff to Battery Dead

 At this point, I was pretty surprised that the battery got me here. So I kept going. The battery was just about to give out by the time I got to the small parking area at the base of the Townsite Lift.

Last Week I Had A Car

Last week I had a car. 

That, in and of itself, is nothing special. Except that for the past four months I have been living in DC without one. Walking. And biking. And Metro-ing. And rarely catching rides.

While having the car was productive, I was happy to give it back. Really happy. Don’t get me wrong, having a car in the city allows me to get everything I need done. I can get to big box stores. I can get to the military installations. I can get anywhere I need.

But after 400 miles of driving I realized that from the safety and comfort of the rolling steel cage, DC looks just like Oak Park IL, and White Bear Lake MN, and Peoria AZ, and Stamford CT, and any number of other metroplexes. The highways and roads are just the interconnecting tubes of a large urban human habitrail. I can get where I need, but where to park? Toll roads? I felt utterly disconnected from the world around me.

What the car really did was point out to me that I have really enjoyed the walking and the biking. Being part of my surroundings. Hearing the compressors running for the Whole Foods refrigerators. Smelling the garlic and harrissa at the Lebanese place. Watching the tourists meandering on King Street. Feeling the bumps on the roads and trails on the Bikeshare bikes. There is an intimate connection to my neighborhood that is missing when I strap myself in the driver’s seat. I missed that. I was glad to have it back.

I don’t know that I can really live in the big city completely without a car, but I am not sure that having a car would at all increase my happiness or satisfaction. If I stayed in DC long enough, I might need to have one for real. I would likely get music gigs that would be off the metro lines and likely after hours. There are some purchases that are just not realistic to carry on bikes. Sometimes the weather really does suck and I turn into a wuss. My daily life can certainly be done car-free however. Uber, taxi, and occasional rentals can fill some of those gaps.

I could see that having a car would allow for more freedom to explore. See friends and family in VA. Go to Gettysburg, Williamsburg, or the Blue Ridge Parkway. Get lost on the back roads in West Virginia. Trek down to the shore of Chesapeake Bay or the Outer Banks. But surely I can accept the cost of a weekend rental for those times? Isn’t that far better than having a vehicle sitting in the parking garage 95% of the time? Would I turn into the hamster in the habitrail if I had a car full-time? Perhaps I would. There sure is ease and comfort and convenience in it.

But for now, I am enjoying the return to my walking. And biking. And Metro-ing. And rarely catching rides.