Winter touring on e-bike?

[FrothNinja]

Anyone toured on an eBike in the winter. Still thinking of doing a c300 mile tour before the end of the year (Lancs to Scotland) and thinking of doing it on the hybid eBike but I have never toured it in the winter. When I ride it I usually get 70+ miles per charge and expect I will probably loose about ten miles per charge with the luggage. Will the cold cut into the range too?

 

[gzoom]

Short answer, yes. You will see a range drop of anything between 15-30%, it depends on how cold and road conditions. Bewarned the last 30% of charge can disappear very quickly if temperatures are around 0.

 

[cougie uk]

At leastif the battery does run out the extra effort will help keep you warm !

 

[Brandane]

Are you talking "real winter" here, i.e. wind, rain, snow, ice, sub zero temperatures?
If so, I can't imagine it being any fun at all. I have a motorbike, so no worries about range. But winter touring in such conditions is something I would not be prepared to do. Icy roads make it dangerous, for a start.

 

[CXRAndy]

Yes, quite a lot. To help mitigate range loss have the charging finish just at the point of riding. This will precondition the battery cells. They will be warm and at max capacity. Another thing is make a velcro blanket around the battery on the bike to keep cold air reducing cell temperature.

Charge the battery indoors over winter to keep them at room temperature

 

[Drago]

^^^ sage advice. You can lose 15-20% of electrically assisted capacity on cold weather, so be prepared to either carry a spare battery (which you will ideally need to somehow keep warm), stop more often for charging, or pedal a depeleted bike a lot more odten.

 

[Pale Rider]

I've not done tests, but on my Bosch bikes I've not noticed the large range reductions spoken of on here.

My journeys nearly always start with the bike at room temperature, which will help preserve range.

 

[FrothNinja]

velcro blanket around the battery

Oooo good idea

 

[FrothNinja]

Bosch

It is a bosch and I usually charge indoors as I don't want to lug an extension around

 

[FrothNinja]

"real winter"

As I said, before year end, so probably not. If I run into unforecast blizzards, high winds, etc, I'll bail out.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Last winter I noticed that I got less range
Basically I normally do 2 rides percharge but have a reasonable amount left when I charge - but last winter I would only just get 2 rides - i.e. about 45-50 miles
It did have the advantage of encouraging me to change my 'normal' riding mode to Eco rather than Tour - I am awaiting the result of the same rides this winter
Bosch system by the way - always charged indoors but no coat for it when riding

 

[Drago]

I've not done tests, but on my Bosch bikes I've not noticed the large range reductions spoken of on here.

My journeys nearly always start with the bike at room temperature, which will help preserve range.

Samsung cells here. I always start with a battery thats been kept and charged indoors, and the range drop noticeable. The brand of the controller, motor, etc, doesn't really factor into temperature slowing the checmical reactuons that lead to the movement of electroms inside the battery.

 

[cougie uk]

As I said, before year end, so probably not. If I run into unforecast blizzards, high winds, etc, I'll bail out.

If you can get a good forecast it'll be brilliant. Was great out yesterday in the North West but woken to frost today and I'd not be up for an early start on days like this.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Range is not just the battery, you’ll be wearing more and flappier clothing and that’ll, reduce range due to poorer aero dynamics. Same with panniers.

 

[Blue Hills]

Thinking aloud, and I stress that I didn't do much better in reality than scrape O level physics, but would there be a case for some switchable mild heating (paired with removable insulation) for the battery, powered by the battery but taking less power than was gained by the battery being warmer?
I do know that batteries in general suffer from the cold - important issue for ebikes.
Also, another very possibly ignorant question - won't this cold weather issue shorten the life of the battery? Maybe substantially? ie the more charge that is lost to nowt the more the batteries will have to be recharged - and they do of course have a limited number of effective charge cycles.
Seems to me all of this could be a rather significant issue for folks in more northerly parts.