X35 ebikemotion range extender

[G3CWI]

Just received a range extender for my Orbea - ready for some longer runs in the summer. It's an odd beast. It does not look like a water bottle and is a bit clunky to use. It's not simply another battery but rather it works as a charger for the main battery. That sounds less efficient to me. It also seems to go against ebikemotion's own advice in that it charges the internal battery to 100% and I assume that it will run itself down to zero (safety low-voltage cut out I hope).

My bike has a small frame and that means that with the range extender installed, my normal bottle does not fit in properly as it hits the range extender. It has a rubber strap but the cage is poorly designed for the strap to attach. Apart from that it seems to work. Did I mention how incredibly expensive it is? Score 5/10.

 

[aldus]

Wow! Just saw the price on that unit... I could buy a non-discounted second battery from Bosch for that!

 

[G3CWI]

Wow! Just saw the price on that unit... I could buy a non-discounted second battery from Bosch for that!

You could buy a half decent bike for that!

 

[youngoldbloke]

Odd that Orbea (and others) go to a lot of trouble to make their e-road bikes look like 'normal' bikes, then produce an add-on battery that looks so awful. The cage isn't very attractive either.

 

[Scaleyback]

I'm guessing they are not going to sell many ? economies of scale will keep the price high.

 

[Pale Rider]

It's not simply another battery but rather it works as a charger for the main battery

At first blush that does seem an odd electrical engineering solution.

However, the Gain's integrated battery means there's not any other practical way to attach a 'spare' battery.

Those of us with ebikes with detachable batteries can simply change to a fully charged one when the first goes flat.

The twin battery installation on my Riese and Muller ebike is quite clever.

It has different wiring loom and software which sips from each battery alternately until both are flat.

The system charges in the same way.

 

[G3CWI]

At first blush that does seem an odd electrical engineering solution.

I rather doubt that you actually get the full benefit of the stated capacity. I also note that the extender charges the main battery a lot slower than the main battery discharges - and on a more challenging ride that could be an issue. It seems like a bodge to me.

 

[Pale Rider]

I rather doubt that you actually get the full benefit of the stated capacity. I also note that the extender charges the main battery a lot slower than the main battery discharges - and on a more challenging ride that could be an issue. It seems like a bodge to me.

I suspect that's right, apart from anything else there's always losses when you shunt electricity from one storage medium to another.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Is there any reason the X35 range extender couldn't be shared with a second bike? eg - used with one bike on one ride, then charged and attached to a second bike for another ride.

edit: - to avoid confusion - both bikes using the X35 system of course.

 

[Biker man]

At first blush that does seem an odd electrical engineering solution.

However, the Gain's integrated battery means there's not any other practical way to attach a 'spare' battery.

Those of us with ebikes with detachable batteries can simply change to a fully charged one when the first goes flat.

The twin battery installation on my Riese and Muller ebike is quite clever.

It has different wiring loom and software which sips from each battery alternately until both are flat.

The system charges in the same way.

That is brilliant I was wondering how it works thanks .

 

[Biker man]

Just received a range extender for my Orbea - ready for some longer runs in the summer. It's an odd beast. It does not look like a water bottle and is a bit clunky to use. It's not simply another battery but rather it works as a charger for the main battery. That sounds less efficient to me. It also seems to go against ebikemotion's own advice in that it charges the internal battery to 100% and I assume that it will run itself down to zero (safety low-voltage cut out I hope).

My bike has a small frame and that means that with the range extender installed, my normal bottle does not fit in properly as it hits the range extender. It has a rubber strap but the cage is poorly designed for the strap to attach. Apart from that it seems to work. Did I mention how incredibly expensive it is? Score 5/10.

How many miles do you think you could do now.

 

[CXRAndy]

Is there any reason the X35 range extender couldn't be shared with a second bike? eg - used with one bike on one ride, then charged and attached to a second bike for another ride.

edit: - to avoid confusion - both bikes using the X35 system of course.

The ebike website says the extender comes with a quicklock release mechanism.

As long as the both bikes are equipped with the necessary connection point, then I can't see a problem.

The answer to the question, is do all x35 have the connection installed?

 

[youngoldbloke]

I was wondering if the software was set up so that once connected to a particular bike the extender would be linked electronically to that bike specifically.

 

[CXRAndy]

I was wondering if the software was set up so that once connected to a particular bike the extender would be linked electronically to that bike specifically.

I wouldn't be so surprised if they did have some sort of handshake verification with each battery pack.

It would be just like Bosch

 

[gzoom]

I rather doubt that you actually get the full benefit of the stated capacity. I also note that the extender charges the main battery a lot slower than the main battery discharges - and on a more challenging ride that could be an issue. It seems like a bodge to me.

That sounds like a pretty awful setup, I presume if you were actually pushing the main hard with usage the range extender charging rate wouldn't be able to keep up?

Battery setups can get complicated especially with trying to add additional capacity, which is why I suspect the X35 system has gone for essentially a USB recharging battery pack approach rather than a proper shared/parallel additional battery setup.

You will 100% 'loss' power by recharging a the main battery from the range extender versus driving the motor direct, DC to DC energy loss are going to be at least 10%+, so right from the start the actual usable capacity of the range extender will be 10% less than advertised. You than need to add in batter to motor losses which will be around another 10%, so if the range extender is 250wh advertised you will be looking at around 200wh actual usable. You will also loss the first 5% of usable battery quite quickly in initial degredation.

Am not sure how much the range extender is, but if it costs £300, than you are essentially paying £1500 per usable kWh!!! For reference an EV traction battery 78kWh usable (85kWh gross) will cost you around £250 per kWh, installed in a car. So eBike batteries are crazy expensive compared to car batteries!!!