How far will the battery take me on and ICE Adventure

[Wallys Adventure]

After a great deal of research I bought an ICE Adventure and am very happy with it. I haven't done any long rides to see what the limits so was wondering. It has three levels of boost. How far can I expect on flat, level terrain at each level.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Do you mean one of these ? ie a trike with e-assist?
I know nothing about trikes/recumbents but did a lot of research into e-bikes before I ended up not getting one.

It will depend on a host of factors, even on flat level terrain. Specifically the model of trike, which e-assist system, the size of the battery, the age/condition of the battery, the all-up weight, the wind speed, how much you contribute by pedalling, the temperature, the surface you're running on, the overall condition of the trike etc etc etc such that there will only ever be estimates which may be more, or less, accurate.
Look at what the manufacturers suggest is the range then adjust it appropriately.

I think it might be better for you to post this in the e-bike section and/or the recumbent section.

 

[ericmark]

My wife and I both have e-bikes and both very different. Mine works on speed, and if I slow down I get assistance, and wife's works on effort, with a motor in the crank, when she was riding with me Dolgellau to Barmouth on a disused railway track we did the return trip around 20 miles with loads of battery to spare, could have likely done it a second time.

But Llanfair Caereinion to Welshpool 16 miles return, I have used over half of the battery.

I took wife's bike from Shotton to Mold to Chester, and the first part Shotton to Mold the battery was hit hard going up the hills, but to Chester and I hardly used any battery.

16 MPH is achievable on a good bike without electric assistance on the flat, and once you hit 16 MPH the motor has to stop helping you, however the Shotton to Chester run along side the Dee it depends on the state of the tide, as wind seems to blow up/down the estuary with the tides. So at 8 MPH you can be near enough total electric power, you need to turn your legs, but very little effort. And even on the flat battery can be hard hit.

Up to 20 miles however you would be unlucky to run out of battery, but you could make the battery last 70 miles on some routes. And the trike has less wind resistance than standard bike and a larger battery, weight is hard as I weigh 22 stone so my range on hills less than wife who is far lighter, not just weight of bike.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Dolgellau to Barmouth on a disused railway track we did the return trip around 20 miles with loads of battery to spare, could have likely done it a second time.

Sorry completely of topic, but we went on holiday with our Grandchildren & took our bikes, I was going to do this with my grand son, but it was the week of storm Eunice & it didn't stop raining all week, I want to go back & ride it.

 

[ericmark]

The problem is parking, Dolgellau has a time limit, so need to park along the route, and the car parks are small, so often full by time we get there. Wonder if reverse may be better and Park in Fairbourne? There are not that many access points, Penmaenpool was always my favourite, but so limited how many cars can park there.

Last time the bikes came back grey, with all the dust, and the bridge always seems to have sand on the path, and loads of people walking, not really good for a trike, and at Barmouth you need to cross the main road where it is narrow, as you come off the bridge, so Fairbourne to Dolgellau may be better, then use ferry to get to Barmouth.

 

[savannah3107]

Riding with my Mum at the weekend with her on her ICE Adventure trike we covered 13 miles with only about 300ft of climbing and using high assist mode her battery was still showing 5 bars at the end. I’d guess it was about to tick over to 4 bars out of 5. So on that sort of terrain she could expect to get 50 miles and still have a buffer. But whilst in theory the Shimano motor will assist to 15.5mph in practise for Mum on the flat it’s more like 9mph. I think that’s because the Shimano system multiplies what you put in and for Mum that’s not much. That lower speed is fine for her and it only drops to 7mph on the hills and most importantly it keeps pace with her eyesight!

I think it’s something you need to test on your own routes at your own pace to get a handle on what it will do for you.

 

[steveindenmark]

When looking at the price of your trike. I am suprised you did not know every little fact before you handed your money over. I am looking at buying an electric Koga World Traveller as I also have the non electric version. I am using researching as an excuse not to lower my hand into my pocket to get my wallet

 

[Deleted member 26715]

When looking at the price of your trike. I am suprised you did not know every little fact before you handed your money over. I am looking at buying an electric Koga World Traveller as I also have the non electric version. I am using researching as an excuse not to lower my hand into my pocket to get my wallet

People buy things differently

 

[Roseland triker]

They do around 75 miles here or so.
Just make sure you run the battery completely flat a few times before charging as this will help with the distance you get.

 

[ericmark]

Just make sure you run the battery completely flat a few times before charging as this will help with the distance you get.

Are you sure that is good advice? In the main the battery management will not allow one to over discharge the battery, quite annoying with computers as they get older, when it says 10% left then switches off, but not sure with e-bikes if there is a switch of some kind to stop over discharge?

With lead acid you could get away with reverse charging a cell which had sightly less capacity to rest, but not with the modern battery, although you can buy cells, can't really change a cell, all cells need changing together, as of yet never run my battery until bike stops, for one thing last bit getting home is steepest bit, so want power at end of trip. But even if I could cycle home, not sure fully discharging is a good thing?

 

[CXRAndy]

Lithium cells have best longevity when kept in the 20-90% charge range, don't let battery get too cold. Store half charged battery indoors over winter if not riding. Once a month check charge or charge if voltage is dropping.

That said my E-bike batteries have upto press held their charge all winter sat on a shelf indoors.

 

[ericmark]

Last weekend for the first time I actually ran out of battery, I have two battery meters, on the left on handle bars with the speedo there is a bar graph, with 5 segments, and on right with the key switch there are three LED lights, why it has two not a clue, but it seems the LED lights are the important one on the right, as soon as last light goes out, assistance stops.

I have a 48 volt 12 Ah battery, and was cycling Shrewsbury to Welshpool using google maps, with a few wrong turns, so did around 22 miles before it switched off, I then did around 2 miles without assistance, when it then allowed me to re-engage the electric assistance so did so only at number 2 of 5, and it did a further 2 miles before I arrived at the pub I had arranged to meet wife at and put bike in the car boot.

The route had some steep hills, so I had used the electric a lot, I am sure had I used the main road, it would not have run out, but then I would have likely tried to do last 8 miles home up golfa bank and still run out before getting home.

I could carry my battery charger, and I am sure I could recharge it in the pub, but on charge there is simply a green/red LED that turns to green once charged, unlike my wife's bike which has LED's on the battery pack to show state of charge, I did monitor charge once

but it was not completely flat, but seems likely needs at least 3 hours to fully charge, but 2 hours would give a good amount. So stopping for a meal would give it a good chance to re-charge.

I had expected the motor to slowly give less and less assistance, but that was not the case, there was a switch off point. I know with my wife's bike (Bosch mid motor) it is claimed to switch off traction but still allow one to use lights. Did not try light on my bike, but lights don't work until on button pressed on left, and the on button would not engage once battery was discharged, so assume both light and horn would also stop working?

 

[CXRAndy]

I'm doing a 64 mile trip today. Quite hilly in places. My bike has a range circa 50 miles. I will charge for the several hours I'm at the event to ride back later in the evening

 

[CXRAndy]

65 miles round trip, far hillier than expected from route profile. There was a block headwind going out so speed was a lot lower. Glorious ride coming back, huge tailwind. The hills really ate into the battery life, so arrived with only 7% both ways. Not a problem as battery immediately went on charge.

 

[ericmark]

Interesting, how do you know 7%? My display

is rather lacking at saying how much left. On the right hand side I have a key and three LED lights, all three full battery and when last one goes off, the drive is disconnected, the two battery level indicators do give a bit of a warning as to when it will run out, but from one LED to no power there is really nothing to show how much left, the bar graph shown above seems to go up/down depending on how hard motor is working, so may show three bars going up hill and all 5 going down, right hand three LED is all three around 70/100%, two around 40/70% and one zero/40% so not that helpful.